MotorsAnalysis/Government policy on drink driving:Ireland's official policy on drink driving limits is set for a shake-up - but will it bring the benefits needed, asks Paddy Comyn.
Ireland's policy on drink driving looks set to change, with discussions underway to reduce our legal limit of 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood to 50mg/100ml, but a more dramatic reduction to just 20mg/100ml has also been discussed.
The current Government Road Safety Strategy 2004 to 2006 concludes at the end of the month and the Road Safety Authority has been inviting the public as well as other relevant agencies to submit their suggestions for making Ireland's roads safer.
One of these is believed to be a reduction of the permissible blood alcohol concentration, or BAC, from 80mg/100ml to 20mg/100ml.
This could mean that one pint of beer would be enough to leave the average driver over the limit. But it would also leave many drivers facing a ban if tested in the morning after a heavy night of drinking.
The most common method of determining BAC is by measuring the alcohol in an exhaled sample of breath. This figure is then converted into a representation of BAC.
While many countries have legislated maximum permissible BAC levels, the threshold at which each country draws its line varies considerably. The threshold for the maximum allowable BAC for drivers ranges from a level of 100mg/100ml to a zero tolerance (0mg/100ml).
The United States has the highest permissible BAC level, with some states maintaining 100mg/100ml as the BAC threshold. Nine countries, Ireland being one of them, have their BAC level at 80mg/100ml, while 27 European countries use 50mg/100ml as their legislated BAC. Only Lithuania's BAC is 40mg/100ml, while three countries (Georgia, Moldova, Turkmenistan) have designated it at 30mg/100ml.
If Ireland sets the level at 20mg/100ml they would join Norway and Sweden who use this figure. Eight countries, including Armenia, Czech Republic and Hungary operate a zero tolerance policy towards drink driving.
However, it should be noted that in the Czech Republic, for example, the authorities treat anything up to 80mg/100ml as a misdeameanour not subject to penalty points, with anything over treated as a criminal offence.
The setting of these limits relies on clinical research showing impairment of driving-related abilities at certain BAC levels as well as a number of factors including weighting historical evidence and perceived risk against the public convenience and cultural acceptability of such restrictions on individuals' behaviour.
Last month, The Irish Times conducted its own experiments at Mondello Park, where it was shown that visual perception, reaction to braking and reactions to skid were impaired by even small amounts of alcohol.
There would most likely be a mixed reaction to the reduction of the BAC to 20mg/100ml, with publicans in rural areas, in particular, complaining that their businesses are suffering as drinkers are staying at home rather than risking a ban.
The reduction - which would effectively mean that as little as one pint of beer for a man or just over one glass of wine for a woman could be enough to have them over the limit - would be likely to increase this effect. However, road safety campaigners would point to evidence from countries such as Austria, Denmark, Germany, Sweden and the United States that have shown a reduction in the number of reported drink-driving journeys and injurious or fatal accidents after BAC levels were lowered.
Studies show that at a blood alcohol level of 20-50mg/100ml there is an inability to see or locate moving lights correctly, a problem in judging distances correctly and there is a tendency to take risks. At a blood alcohol level of 50-80mg/100ml there is an impaired judgement of distances and ability of the eyes to adapt to changing light conditions.
There is impaired sensitivity to red lights, as well as impairment of ability to react and of concentration. Any new level would, it could be argued, therefore cut out the risk of such impairment, which currently is perfectly legal with the current BAC of 80mg/100ml.
Conor Faughnan of the Automobile Association said that a reduction of the BAC limit, be it to 50mg/100ml or to 20mg/100ml, was not going to deal with the core of the problem.
"It is too easy to just say 'lower the legal limit'. We need to catch the guys who are already driving above the existing limit. We have the same BAC limit as the UK and that is one of the safest countries in Europe and best practice across the European continent is a BAC of 50mg/100ml, so while we would be reluctant to endorse leaving the limit as it is, we feel it won't really be addressing the problem, which is one of enforcement."