The breathalyser testing is now in its 40th anniversary but the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said it was now time to step up the campaign against drink driving to stop any more needless deaths.
Thousands of deaths and serious injuries have been avoided in Britain since October 9, 1967, when the current drink-drive limit (80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood) became a legal requirement and roadside testing was introduced. At the time, it was said that drinking before driving led to about 13,000 fatal and serious casualties each year. By 1987, the figure for people killed or seriously injured in accidents involving illegal alcohol levels had dropped to 6,800 and by last year it had fallen to 2,500.
Despite this tremendous success, there is still a need for a cut in the drink-drive limit because the consistent fall in drink-drive fatalities ceased at the end of the 1990s.
On that note, ROSPA now want the drink-drive limit to be reduced to 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood - a move which would save around 65 lives and 230 serious injuries on Britain's roads each year.
The trouble with this, unless you carry a breathalyser kit with you, how can you gauge if a pint of lager will push you over the limit as some people, depending on their size, it may, whilst others it may not.
So cut to the chase, simply take a zero tolerance stance and no alcohol if you are driving.
FemaleFirst - Jackie Violet