Reduction in Drink Drive Limit

[doodab]

I don't think anyone would object to that late in the evening.

Except pissed people trying to drive home.

[Sysman]

It's the random testing that's going to be the killer - not the fact that people may be over the limit but the fact that coppers are going to be stopping people on a whim...

Snooker? Anyone?

Don't get a red car.

I was in Holland in the early 1980s and random testing was allowed. The main difference for me was that they had affordable and plentiful taxis, because everyone used them. I got used to leaving the car in the town centre and cycling back to retrieve it the next morning.

[Sysman]

Basically they looked at traffic accidents where someone died, checked how many had alcohol levels between 51mg and 80mg and decided all these accidents were alcohol related and from there tried to figure out how many would lower their consumption to obey the new laws.

Correct math, wrong logic

The other twist there is that once someone involved in an accident is convicted of drink driving, they are assumed to have caused the accident. Not necessarily true in all cases.

[Sysman]

I think it's time for a zero tolerance policy to law breaking in general. People (including me, if I'm honest) need to stop being of the opinion that the laws they obey are a matter of personal choice. We also need a more effective process for adapting the laws of the land to the collective will and punishments that deter people.

The tendency up to now has been to increased the penalties for those convicted. Again looking at other countries, the first offence doesn't have a minimum ban of a year. Coupled with random testing I would argue that the first offence should have a ban of no more than a few weeks. Don't wreck someone's life for being a point or two above the limit. Persistent offenders would see increasingly long bans of course.