Evidence gap in drink-drive call

The author of an influential report urging a cut in the drink-drive limit has revealed a gap in the evidence base that lead to his call.

Sir Peter North, whose report from June called for the blood alcohol limit to be cut from 80 to 50mg per 100ml of blood, was grilled by MPs on the Transport Committee this week.

The pub industry has urged the Government not to reduce the limit, fearing the impact on country pubs in particular.

Asked if he'd seen evidence from police records of how many accidents are caused by drivers whose blood/alcohol level is between 50mg and 80mg, North replied: "It's not something that was made available to me.

"My own judgment is that we don't need that sort of evidence to bring the limit down."

North estimated that cutting the limit to 50mg would save 270 lives per year, based on studies from Australia and Europe.

When it comes to drinking in pubs, North predicted that reducing the limit would "bring down, rather than stop" consumption.

He refuted the view that one drink will always put you over the limit if the 50mg level is introduced.

"There will be some people, in my view, who will take the view, 'I won't have anything to drink at all'.

"I think that with others, they will take that view that I'd like to go out for a for a drink, I need to be more careful, I will have one glass of wine then go home.

"If they did do that, they will be, in my view, manifestly within the limit."

Asked if it would be "helpful" for the licensed trade to increase awareness of unit content of drinks, North replied simply: "I agree."

North said that in an "ideal world" the limit would be 20mg - but he has "no confidence" that that's achievable "for a decade or two".

Elsewhere, AA president Edmund King backed the reduction but said: "We accept that the biggest problem is people well over the limit."

He supported "better targeting" of "hard-core drink-drivers".

The Government has yet to respond to the North Report, although media reports last month suggested the Department of Transport is to reject the limit reduction.