Drink limit cuts a sound proposal

“DON’T do as we did, do as we say.”

There is an undoubted element of that kind of thinking in the latest calls for a dramatic cut on the permissible alcohol level for inexperienced drivers. In recent years there has been a dramatic upsurge in the number of people driving as well as in the number of motorcars on the roads.

The Celtic Tiger economy has led to more younger and inexperienced drivers than ever before, and these statistics are reflected in the number of horrific accidents involving such drivers. Studies have shown that drivers in the 18 to 34 years age bracket are three times more likely to have a crash after drinking than if they had no alcohol.

Something needs to be done to protect not only the inexperience drivers from themselves but also society as a whole from them. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has advocated that the alcohol limit for drivers on a provisional licence and all drivers with a full licence for less than two years should be cut from 0.8 (80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood) to 0.2 (20 milligrams). He rightly put the emphasis on the level of experience rather than age.

The proposal would effectively mean that those drivers would not be able to drink any alcohol before driving. The 20 millilitres level would be the minimum that could be reliably detected with the breathalyzer test, and it would allow for innocuous substances such a cough medicines and mouthwashes that might contain alcohol. It is a sound, sensible proposal that merits the fullest consideration in the interest of everybody.