[Brake] Six in ten male drivers (59%) and more than four in ten female drivers (42%) get behind the wheel after drinking alcohol, research by Brake and Green Flag reveals. This high level of mixing drinking and driving is putting lives at risk and Brake is urging the Government to act now to save lives by reducing the drink-drive limit from 80mg to 20mg per 100ml of blood and by explaining to drivers that drinking no alcohol at all is the only safe option before driving as any drink impairs your ability to drive.

Drink-drivers can no longer be stereotyped as 'eight-pint men', and it is feared part of the problem rests with a high drink-drive limit and confusion over what is 'safe to drink'.[1] While women are less likely to run the risk of breaking the drink-drive limit, there are a rising number of female drivers being convicted of drink-driving.[2]

The drink-drive limit is set at a confusingly high 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood compared with other EU countries. The EU recommends a limit of 50mg per 100ml of blood, and several countries including Poland, Sweden and Norway have gone beyond this, by setting their limits at 20mg.

Road safety experts from around the UK have called on the Government to reduce the drink-drive limit, and Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill wrote to Transport Minister Ruth Kelly in March 2008 to urge her to reduce the limit to 50mg.[3] The Government has promised a consultation paper on drink-driving, but has yet to announce when it will be published.

The current dangerously-high limit and ambiguity over what drivers can drink is a lethal combination. On average, there are 200-300 road deaths every year associated with blood alcohol levels between 10 and 80mg.[4]

Case study

In 2004 Katie Evans, 21, was killed by a speeding driver who was one and a half times the legal drink-drive limit. Katie had been at a party with friends in Manchester and was heading home when she was offered a lift by a friend of the friend who was walking with her. The driver, Lee Evans [no relation], 23, had been drinking throughout the evening and had taken a taxi home, but then decided to take his new car for a drive and stopped to offer Katie and her friend a lift. The driver accelerated to 60mph in a 30mph zone before losing control on a bad bend and hitting a tree. Katie was killed instantly and the driver walked away with only minor injuries. Lee Evans was sentenced to five years in jail for causing death by dangerous driving.

Katie's mum, Helen Evans, says: "We were heartbroken to lose Katie in such tragic and unnecessary circumstances. I find it hard to believe that someone could be so irresponsible as to drink and drive when the dangers are so clear. Hopefully people will learn from the suffering these actions have caused and that we will see an end to drink-driving once and for all."  

Katie's mum, Helen, and sister Lyndsey, are available for interview by calling Lauren Collins at Brake on 01484 559909.

Brake is demanding that the Government:

• Reduce the drink-drive limit to 20mg per 100ml of blood, eliminating any ambiguity over the dangers of drinking and driving. Research shows there is no such thing as a 'safe' blood alcohol limit for driving.[5]
• Give police the powers to conduct targeted and random breath tests, so they no longer have to wait until a driver has been in a crash or shows visible signs of deterioration in their driving. These could be at times when there is a high risk of people risking drink-driving, such as pub or nightclub closing.
• Provide funding for extra roads policing officers to enforce the law. If people are considering drink and driving, then the risk of being caught and the resulting consequences should be a very real deterrent, not an unlikely event with drivers feeling 'unlucky' to be caught. While there are 33.4 million vehicles on British roads,[6] just 601,600 breath tests were carried out in England and Wales in 2006.[7] Without the police to enforce a new limit any change in the law will remain theoretical. 

Cathy Keeler, Brake's head of campaigns, says: "People think it won't happen to them, that they won't get caught, they won't be involved in a crash. We must challenge these presumptions in order to change drivers' attitudes and behaviour. The thought of getting caught, and the consequences, need to seem a very real prospect for drivers who through selfishness or ignorance continue to put lives at risk by getting behind the wheel after drinking. For drivers who do want to abide by the law, we must make it easy for them to do so by sending out a very clear message - that even one drink is one too many."

Dan Robinson, spokesperson for Green Flag says: "We would encourage all drivers, male and female, to think about the consequences of driving after having a drink.  Even one drink can impair judgement and affect our ability to drive. If you are planning on driving, the safest option really is to have nothing to at all to drink."

For more information, contact Green Flag campaign consultant Kate Baverstock on 020 8313 5741or Brake press officer Lauren Collins on 01484 559909.

Notes for editors:

Brake
Brake is an independent national road safety charity. Brake exists to stop the 8 deaths and 79 serious injuries that happen on UK roads every day and to care for families bereaved and seriously injured in road crashes.  Brake produces educational road safety literature, runs community training programmes and runs events including Road Safety Week (10-16 November 2008). Brake's Fleet Safety Forum provides up-to-date fleet safety resources to fleet managers and runs a year-round programme of events. BrakeCare, Brake's support division, cares for road crash victims through a helpline and other services.

Green Flag
·         Green Flag provides roadside rescue and recovery 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

·         Green Flag's incident management centre in Leeds manages around 1m breakdown incidents each year.

·         Green Flag has an average call out time of around 40-minutes based on research undertaken between February 06 and January 2007.

·         More than 85% of Green Flag customers get assistance within the hour (Internal monitoring between March 2006 - February 2007).

·         More than 80% of vehicles are repaired at the roadside (Internal monitoring between March 2006 - February 2007).

·         Customers have access to a national network of thousands of independent recovery agents in the UK and on mainland Europe

Breath test statistics - regional information

Police force areas varied widely in the number of tests carried out in 2006 per 100,000 population, from 240 in West Midlands to 3,600 in Cheshire. The police forces in England and Wales conducting the highest number of tests per 100,000 population in 2006 were:

·         Cheshire

·         North Wales

·         Cumbria

·         Cleveland

The police forces in England and Wales with the highest rates of positive tests per 100,000 population in 2006 were:

·         West Yorkshire

·         Thames Valley

·         Dorset

·         Gloucestershire

·         Metropolitan (including City of London)

More regional statistics are available in the Ministry of Justice statistical bulletin Motoring Offences and Breath Test Statistics England and Wales 2006 (see www.justice.gov.uk/docs/motoring-offences-and-breath-stats-2006.pdf).

Full Brake and Green Flag survey results:

Respondents were asked "Within the past 12 months, have you drunk alcohol before driving, and if so, how much?" 2,406 male and 2109 female drivers were questioned.

·         41% of male drivers said they had not drunk alcohol before driving, compared to 58% of female drivers

·         17% of male drivers said they have driven after a maximum of one small glass of wine, or equivalent, compared to 28% of female drivers

·         25% of male drivers said they have driven after a maximum of two small glasses of wine or equivalent, compared to 11% of female drivers

·         8% of male drivers said they have driven after a maximum of three small glasses of wine or equivalent, compared to 2% of female drivers

·         9% of male drivers said they have driven after four or more small glasses of wine or equivalent, compared to 1% of female drivers