Thursday, May 18, 2006
Thursday Thoughts: Zero tolerance
The spiralling number of deaths on our roads is a major problem in this country right now, and one I have commented on quite a bit here on United Irelander, and while I welcome today's proposal by the Minister for Transport to tackle the problem, I don't think he's going far enough.Today Minister for Transport Martin Cullen said he wanted to introduce a zero alcohol limit...but only for first-time drivers.
Provisional drivers and young drivers would be on lower-level licenses, preventing them from drinking any alcohol before driving. The Minister said the zero alcohol limit would likely operate
Minister Cullen was speaking at a conference of European transport ministers being held in Dublin. He added that the system is already operating in Australia and aims to give new drivers good habits:
"It’s an idea I’d like to adopt here. I obviously have to look at the legal implications of how we might do it."
I welcome a zero alcohol limit. My problem is, why only a zero alcohol limit for first-time drivers? God forbid we get to a stage where people who have been driving for over three years then decide that they are now able to handle drinking and driving.
We should aim to have a zero alcohol limit for ALL drivers.
I've been checking other European countries to see what their alcohol limit levels are. In France and Spain it's illegal to have a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) greater than 0.05%, in Sweden and Norway it's illegal to be greater than 0.02%. In Ireland and the UK, it's only illegal to have a blood alcohol concentration greater than 0.08%. Why are we lagging behind?
I say it's time we here in Ireland show an example, as we did with the smoking ban, by banning ALL Irish drivers from drinking and driving. Let's have a zero alcohol limit for everybody.
Lives would be saved. And that's all that matters.
# posted by United Irelander @ 7:22 PM 
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