Government says no to lowering drink driving limit in UK

The government has decided against lowering the legal drink driving limit for alcohol in the United Kingdom, despite a recommendation from an independent report, which showed that this could save more than 300 lives a year.

The transport secretary, Philip Hammond, announced a package of measures on driving, alcohol, and drugs on 21 March, in response to the report by the legal scholar Peter North on drink and drug driving, which recommended reducing the limit from 80 mg to 50 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood (BMJ 2010;340:c3315, doi:10.1136/bmj.c3315).

In his report Sir Peter had …