Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Chief traffic officer backing tougher limits

Post Thumbnail

Tayside Police’s chief traffic officer says he would back government plans to cut the drink-driving limit, but the best advice to drivers is still not to drink anything if you plan to drive.

Chief Inspector Sandy Bowman was reacting to the announcement that an official government review of drink and drug-driving laws is expected to recommend cutting the legal limit to the equivalent of a pint of beer or one glass of wine.

Transport secretary Lord Adonis is set to back an official review of the law which he expects to recommend reducing the legal limit from 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood to 50mg.

The review, by Sir Peter North, is focusing on research at University College London into reducing casualties. It is claimed that the reduction to 50mg would save the economy £120m a year by reducing medical costs and lost working time.

North is considering recommending an even lower limit of 20mg for novice motorists and HGV drivers.

A new law on drug driving is also likely amid concern about the number of motorists driving under the influence of narcotics or prescription medicine.

The government believes the tougher law on alcohol would prevent up to 65 deaths a year and a further 230 serious injuries in car accidents linked to drink driving.

If implemented, it would be the biggest shake-up of drink-driving laws since the breathalyser was introduced in the 1960s.

Chief Inspector Bowman said, “ACPOS and the Scottish Government have already backed a move for a reduction in the drink-driving limit.

He warned though, “If there is a reduction in the limit we have to send a stronger message to drivers that it’s not about a pint, because it could be a pint of very strong lager which could take someone over that limit.

“That kind of reduction would bring it into line with most European states, but our position is what does that equate to for an individual.

“Personally I would say don’t drink and drive, then there’s no doubt.”

Penalties for breaching the drink drive rules are, however, likely to be watered down. At present anyone caught driving while over the limit faces a minimum ban of 12 months.

Most countries with lower limits fine drivers and give them penalty points for minor breaches. North is considering recommending shorter bans for breaches of between 50mg and 79mg.

However Chief Inspector Bowman said, “We would say the current penalties are appropriate.”