A zero-tolerance drink-driving limit should be introduced in the European Union to help prevent alcohol related road deaths, according to a new report.
The EU recently set a target to reduce deaths and serious injuries on the road by half by 2030. With a quarter of the 25,000 EU road deaths each year linked to alcohol, the study by the European Transport Safety Council calls for more to be done to tackle drink driving to reach the target.
“Almost 70 years since the first scientific evidence was published on the link between drink-driving and road deaths – it is impossible to accept that thousands of families are still being ripped apart every year in the EU because of it,” said Ellen Townsend, Policy Director of ETSC.
“In 2020, we want to see the EU and Member States coming up with a vision to end drink-driving once and for all with a combination of zero-tolerance limits, a big step-up in enforcement and wider use of technology such as mandatory use of alcohol interlocks in buses, lorries and vans.”
Currently only seven out of 28 EU countries have a standard Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) limit of 0.2 g/l or below – which are effectively equivalent to zero tolerance while still allowing for consumption of certain medicines, or drinks marketed as alcohol free. The UK currently has the highest standard limit of 0.8.
New EU legislation agreed earlier this year will require all new vehicles from 2022 to be capable of being fitted with an alcohol interlock via a standard interface between the vehicle and the device.
