[ChiragM]

A new report has recommended a near zero-tolerance approach to drinking and driving to reduce fatal accidents in the EU. It is said that a zero-tolerance policy would reduce deaths by 5,000 across the continent.



The report by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) recommends a drink-drive limit of 10 or 20 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood. A 20 mg per 100 ml of blood limit is already in place in seven European countries including Sweden, but some countries like France, Germany and Spain have limits of 50 mg per 100 ml of blood. In the UK, the limit varies from 50 mg to 80 mg per 100 ml of blood.

The ETSC has also recommended making breathalyser mandatory in all new cars. This rule will be enforced from 2022.

Official figures state that 2,600 people were killed in alcohol-related accidents in 2018 in 23 EU countries. However, it is said that the actual figure could be much higher.

Link to Team-BHP News

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[Jeroen]

And a good thing too I would say.

Unfortunately, there are still endless myths and misunderstandings around how much you could / are allowed to drink. People come up with different numbers.

E.g. it is ok to have glasses of beer, unless I eat as well, or one glass a beer every hour etc etc.

It doesn’t help that the limit varies across the European Union either.

No drinking, zero tolerance is a lot more straight forward for everything and everybody.

I am not so sure about these breathalysers in cars though. If you are not allowed to drink, which means zero alcoholic drinks, why would you need a breathalysers mounted in your car?

Today in some EU countries the courts can order you to have a breathalyser operated lock installed in your car. This sometimes happens to repeat drink/driver offenders. The idea being they can not start the car if they have drunk. In practice it does not work, they get somebody else to blow into it, and the thing is not particularly accurate.

Jeroen

[V.Narayan]

Move in the right direction. A factory worker operating dangerous machinery is not allowed to drink before his shift. No reason a driver with a device weighing 1000 to 2000 kilos that could be hurtling at 100 kmph or worse should be allowed to drink before he/she drives. It may sound draconian to some because we are used to our social norms. But that is only because we are used to those norms and think of them as the normal.

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by ChiragM

The report by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) recommends a drink-drive limit of 10 or 20 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood. A 20 mg per 100 ml of blood limit is already in place in seven European countries including Sweden, but some countries like France, Germany and Spain have limits of 50 mg per 100 ml of blood. In the UK, the limit varies from 50 mg to 80 mg per 100 ml of blood.

Atleast the Babus in Brussels can't tell the Brits how much not to drink.

What is the basis for these figures?

Regards
Sutripta