The drink drive debate

A debate is raging about whether the legal drink driving limit should be reduced.

The limit has been at 0.05 since the 1980s, but campaigners are calling for it to be dropped to 0.02. So would this make a difference to deaths on the road?

Despite decades of campaigns and millions of random breath tests every year, one of five of the drivers killed on our roads has a blood alcohol level above the legal limit.

Inspector Greg Parr from Victoria Police said, "A 23 year old girl last weekend was seriously injured in a motor car collision. She would normally expect to be 80, but she will be 60 years a cripple. It's really sad."

Inspector Parr says not enough drivers pay attention to the laws.

"It seems to us that about a third of the people involved in fatal collisions are over 0.05 or over the prescribed limit. That's a measure in itself. If we could just get people to comply with the legislation that exists you could probably comfortably say a third of the fatals may not happen."

Penny Marshal lost her son in a drink driving accident eight years ago.

"Josh was a passenger in a car driven by a P plate driver who was drinking and very high speeds were involved too. I think that's often missed: the alcohol content often gives the Dutch courage to do the speeds they wouldn't normally do."

"I think it should be zero, it removes that guessing game out of it," she said.

The latest research reveals that with a blood alcohol limit up to 0.04, a driver's risk of crashing remains virtually the same as when sober.

At point 0.05, that risk nearly doubles and at point 0.08, an accident becomes much more likely.

"If governments were to invest in more random breathtesting, especially in quiet streets where the smart drink drivers are now travelling, I can tell you that would certainly reduce the road toll much more effectively than a reduction in the BAC limit," said Professor Max Cameron from the Monash Accident Research Centre.

But countries such as Norway, Sweden and Poland, who have lowered their drink driving limit, to 0.02, are reporting an eight per cent reduction in alcohol related incidents.

While the law can be changed relatively easily, the social and cultural change could be more difficult.

"The Australian psyche is different to the Scandinavian psyche. I don't know if we are ready in Australia for a 0.02 limit, nor do I think it's justified," said Professor Cameron.

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