Statement by: Paul Clark MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport Date delivered: 03 December 2009 Statement type: Oral
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Paul Clark): My right honourable and Noble Friend the Secretary of State for the Department for Transport (Lord Adonis) has made the following Ministerial Statement:
The Department for Transport has recently consulted on the strategy to improve road safety in Great Britain in the next decade and on a number of dangerous behaviours on the road. I have been considering carefully the responses to both these consultations.
Great Britain is among the best performers in the world on road safety. We have made very good progress in reducing the numbers of deaths and serious injuries over the last decade, and it is good news that we met in 2008 the targets for casualty reductions that we set for achievement by the end of 2010.
If we are to continue to make progress in this area, we will need to be effective in tackling the most dangerous behaviours on the roads. Although most drivers are safe and responsible, there is a minority that continues to compromise safety by driving while under the influence of drink and/or drugs. Drink-driving was involved in 430 road deaths in 2008 and research suggests that drug-driving is also a key concern for the public.
Many consultees to our road safety strategy have urged us to take a fresh look at the drink drive limit as part of wider efforts to reduce drink-driving. On drug driving, the police tell us that there are practical problems with enforcing the current drug-driving legislation, including the absence of reliable equipment to identify impairing substances.
Based on the evidence to date, I think there may be a case for reforming the current legal framework covering drink and drug driving However both topics raise complex legal and practical issues, and I have decided that before I publish a new road safety strategy I should seek further advice on both these topics from an independent expert.
I have therefore asked Sir Peter North to provide me with advice on the merit of specific proposals for changes to the legislative regime for drink and drug driving, reporting by the end of March 2010. Sir Peter is an internationally renowned legal expert whose previous studies include the review of traffic law which led to the Road Traffic Act 1991 and his 1997 report on marches and parades in Northern Ireland which led to the Public Processions (Northern Ireland) Act 1998. It will be a matter for Sir Peter how he proceeds; and he will act wholly independently in publishing his conclusions and advice.
This report will inform the final contents of the next road safety strategy. For drink driving, the report will advise on the case for changes to the prescribed alcohol limit for driving (either reducing the current limit, or adding a new, lower limit, with an associated revised penalty regime). For drug driving, the study will advise on whether there is a need for new legislation to make it an offence to drive with a named substance in the body. For both drink and drugs, the study will also set out the likely impacts of any changes on driver behaviour, and the practical steps needed to support introduction of any or revised offence. I have placed a copy of the terms of reference for the review in the House Library.
Once this review has reported, I will consult on its findings.
File photo of Transport Secretary Lord Adonis.
The U.K. Government announced today it has commissioned a report on whether the legal alcohol limit for driving, and whether the laws on driving under the influence of drugs, should be tightened.  The report, by Oxford University academic Sir Peter North, should be completed by April for the Secretary of State for Transport, Lord Adonis.  Lord Adonis said, "Drink-driving was involved in 430 road deaths in 2008 and research suggests that drug-driving is also a key concern for the public."

One option that will be considered is whether to lower the limit from 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood to 50 milligrams.  This would bring the UK into line with other European countries; a proposal to change the law in Scotland under devolved powers has already been put forward by the Scottish Government. A limit of 50 milligrams would mean that an average person would not be permitted to drive after drinking a standard measure of wine or a pint of beer.

The news was applauded by representatives of motoring organisations. The Automobile Association's President, Edmund King, said he was "pleased that these complex issues will be addressed". The RAC's spokesman said drug-driving is a "growing problem", and lowering the alcohol limit would reduce fatalities. However, the Conservative Party took a different view, with Shadow Transport Secretary, Theresa Villiers, saying they were "yet to be convinced of the case for an across-the-board reduction in the drink-driving limit", and, would certainly oppose any suggestion of penalties being reduced.

Sir Peter North, 73, is a former Principal of Jesus College, Oxford and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. A former member of the Law Commission, he chaired the Road Traffic Law Review between 1985 and 1988, leading to the Road Traffic Act of 1991.  His 1997 report on parades and marches in Northern Ireland led to the foundation of the Parades Commission. Commenting on his task he stated, "the challenge is to see whether changes in the law and its processes can reduce casualties", adding that whilst the issues "are not easy to resolve", he intended to consult "widely".