the question is should the uk have a lower limit?

Question

should the uk have a lower limit,for drink driving?a)no change b)yes c)higher..or d) a zero tolerance law( 1 vote already..mine)

Answer 1

I’m not aware of the lower limit, although as a driver (21 years old) I’d never consider driving even after the lightest shandy. Alcohol is a conscience altering drug the slightest drink (as with exhaustion) can have massive effects on reaction times.

Logic would depict zero tolerance, extra income at the sleaziest level should be enough to interest the police, tagged along with tough sentences. A year in prison maybe hard, but it’s a lot softer then a human losing 50/20/10 years of their life.

Answer 2

a) No change.
Some people can have just the one drink and that doesn't affect their ability to drive safely. The majority of those who do drink and drive already exceed the legal limit and I doubt if zero tolerance would suddenly make them respect the law.
Something that might have an effect is the closure of pub car parks. In the past a pub would be required to have a car park to be granted a licence. That originates from before the present limit was introduced.
Another way of doing it would be to change the law so that simply being in charge of a vehicle while under the influence would be the offence. This way if a police car passed a packed pub car park they could breathalyse the owners of those cars. I should imagine once the first few cases were reported in the media many drivers, who at present, gamble that they wont be caught would suddenly think the odds were stacked against them.
I live in a relatively small city and I'm sure that if the local newspaper reported that a pub in the area had been raided and anyone owning a car in the car park that was over the limit had been charged the effect would be instant.
Within days I imagine pub car parks would be empty. While some people would still risk driving over the limit I suspect, the great majority would realise the odds had changed and decide it wasn't worth it.
It would also be cost effective in that once a couple of pubs in an area had been hit there would be empty pub car parks all over town.

Answer 3

Don't know, drink is a media excuse to blame accidents that may well have occurred irrespective of whether the driver had a tot of alcohol. Certainly shouldn't be zero, as that leaves people that have breathed around a petrol pump open to prosceution. The stuff still gets into your system even if you haven't ingested it through your mouth.

Personally I would like to see bad drivers targeted before wasting more dribble, newspaper and propaganda on an issue that is very real, but is less significant than issues that don't get targeted because they are harder to read or don't involve earning a little money!! A perfect example, you go into a public toilet you probably will see one bowl with a toilet roll blocking it, and stains of s**t in the corner where people completly missed the bowl. If someone can't even work out how to use a toilet properly, and can't hit a target from 1 inch thats at 100times the size of their anus, what chance have they got when in control of a car?!!?

Answer 4

I'm not against the system as it is, but I wouldn't think zero tolerance was a bad idea either.

Most people simply don't realise that they are drinking too much because of confusion regarding units per measure etc. Plus, similar amounts of alcohol affect people in different ways, you can't predict how everyone will drive after one unit. The safest way is to not drink at all.

Answer 5

I think the drink drive limit should be Zero! Full Stop!

Answer 6

Zero tolerance

Answer 7

The drink drive limit should be zero.

Answer 8

Certainly lower, zero would be impractical as you could fail a breath test on a monday morning if you drank heavily on saturday night.

As it stands, I can drink the legal ammount and definately feel less aware when driving. I also would never drive with children or on the motorway after even half a lager.

Answer 9

d) zero tolerance. too many studies have shown driving is affected on one drink, and even after you have come below the limit after drinking. its really not worth it

Answer 10

The limit does not matter, the consequences do. If people are old enough to drive they should all be treated the same. The only way to curb drunk driving is by imposing draconian penalties.