MOTORING ISSUES

New Zealand is 30mg/100 ml for those aged under 20. Despite this, almost a quarter of the 31,000 people prosecuted for drink-driving last year were under 20 they certainly dont make up a quarter of all drivers. All of this goes to show that reducing the BAC limit can only be part of the strategy to reduce road trauma. One aspect where American researchers look at New Zealand as a case study in drink-driving statistics going the wrong way is the age at which drinking alcohol is legal. In the United States, the drinking age is 21 and the Federal Highways Authority estimates this law saves roughly 1,000 young American lives each year.

Sobering thoughts
Should we reduce our drink -driving limit? Peter King takes a look at the complex alcohol issue
NEW ZEALANDS DRINK-driving limit is high by world standards. 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood the same as Britain and the United States. Australia, Japan and most of Europe use a 50mg/100ml limit. Some countries have a zero limit. Should we adopt a 50 sometimes referred to as 0.5 limit, too? There are a lot of people who think so the Alcohol and Liquor Advisory Council, Monash University Accident Research Centre, Otago University Injury Prevention Research Unit and Waikato Universitys Trafc Accident Research Centre all concur that a reduction to 50 would be a step in the right direction although many would prefer zero. But it is not just academics. The late racing legend Peter Brock always drove the 05 car in support of the 50 limit.

OUR DRINKING CULTURE

It is interesting that just as the Otago University Injury Prevention Research Unit has found increasing levels of binge drinking among our students, the American UCLA Higher Education Research Institute study of freshmen found the lowest level of beer consumption in 41 years of surveying. Another problem is alcoholics and heavy drinkers. ALAC estimates this group to be about 17.5% of the adult population. Police say 80% of drink-driving convictions are new offenders. But studies on fatally injured drivers have found up to a quarter of crashes involved people with previous alcoholrelated convictions. All of which suggests that there is a hard core of drunk-drivers who cant be relied on to be responsible, no matter what the limit might be. At the moment Police alcohol checkpoints generally nd between ve and nine drink-drivers for every thousand vehicles they stop. If Police were simply interested in reducing the limit to improve their hit rate, it is unlikely that reducing the limit would achieve much. Road Policing National Manager Superintendent Paula Rose says its not about generating more revenue or issuing more tickets. She says she would be happy to see the penalty for drink-driving in the 50mg to 80mg band expressed in demerit points, and recovery programmes for habitual offenders. Police are also trialling alcolocks (a breath alcohol detector linked to an immobiliser) for habitual offenders. But, in the end, she says its about saving lives. And that is denitely an objective worth talking about. <
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ON THE FACE OF IT, REDUCING THE DRINK-DRIVING LIMIT SHOULD APPEAR TO BE A NO BRAINER, BUT IN FACT THERE IS MORE TO IT
BAC, has one of the lowest. The proportion of road fatalities with alcohol as a contributing factor in New Zealand is 27%, but, despite a 50 BAC and lower overall crash rates, Australias is 31%. If linking a lower BAC to a reduced crash risk werent confusing enough, there is even debate between countries about the crash risk increasing with the amount of alcohol consumed. Hundreds of simulator experiments around the world have found that alcohol doses increase crash risk from the rst sip on. On the other hand, an American statistical argument based on sampling around actual crashes suggests that adults aged over 30 years, with very low BACs (below 50mg), reduce their crash risk to below the level of ordinary sober driving! Ultimately, a limit is only as good as the perception that it will be enforced.

WHAT THE LIMITS MEAN

But what does a 0.5 limit mean, practically? Unless you are small or susceptible to alcohol, and so long as you havent taken any other drugs and are not tired, a 0.5 limit would allow an average driver to consume one or two standard drinks before driving. A survey conducted by the AA in 2006 found Members were unhappy with the idea of a legal limit allowing much more than this. On the face of it, such a move should appear to be a no brainer, but in fact there is more to it than rst appears. Unfortunately, there is no direct relationship between countries with a reduced Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) and a reduced crash rate. While the United States with an 80 BAC has one of the worst crash rates in the developed world, Britain, also with an 80
24 AA Directions Autumn 2009

Italy has a 50 BAC, but it is not policed with much enthusiasm. Studies in nations such as Canada, Austria and Denmark, which have reduced BAC levels, have found that there is typically a honeymoon period when drivers are conscious of the new limit and increased attention. But, over time, unless there are signicant ongoing changes to the drinking or driving environment, those who ignored the old limit start to ignore the new one, too. One of the key problems with drink-driving is young people. Young people start with a high relative crash risk from the outset, which is why the drink-driving limit in

BLOOD ALCOHOL CONCENTRATION THE FACTS

> New Zealands drink-driving limit of 80mg per 100ml of blood is high by world standards. Australia, Japan and most of Europe have a 50mg limit. > A 50mg limit would allow an average driver to consume one or two standard drinks before driving. > In New Zealand, the proportion of road fatalities with alcohol as a contributing factor is 27%. > Police report that 80% of drink-driving convictions are new offenders. > A quarter of fatal crashes involved people with previous drink-driving convictions. WHAT DO YOU THINK? Visit www.aadirections.co.nz to have your say on this issue.

ILLUSTRATION S COTT KENNEDY