Drinking And Driving

[jambutty]

I don’t use alcohol by choice because I do not have a need for it. However, to have a total ban would not be practical. Too many products and medicines contain small amounts of alcohol and this would show on a breathalyser test if it were zero.

A reduction to 40 mg is about right.

But the real issue here isn’t so much the amount of booze but the punishments for transgressors.

How many drunk drivers get a manslaughter charge if they kill someone or a GBH charge if they injure someone? Not very many is the answer. The rest having ruined scores of lives get off virtually scott free.

The first offence should be punished as it is today, unless it involves injury or death to someone other than the driver, with a ban for a period and a fine. This gives the miscreant a chance to mend their ways. But any subsequent drink driving offence should bring a term in prison, a lifetime driving ban and confiscation of the vehicle plus a hefty fine.