Drink drive theory challenged

THE letter from the road safety group PARC (August 10) quotes statements by Dr David Bedford which he claims are based on research.

To say “there is no blood alcohol level at which impairment does not occur” is patent nonsense. Small quantities of alcohol occur naturally in some foods and are produced in the body by certain metabolic processes. People function perfectly normally after consuming small quantities of alcohol, depending on the individual and the amount, and even commercial airline pilots are allowed 20mg/ml.

Dr Bedford’s statistics assume that if a crash victim has any measurable amount of blood alcohol, then this is the cause of the accident, without regard to whether or not it was his fault.