Sir, - In view of the continued carnage on our roads, it is salutary to recall the concerns of those who opposed the introduction of the legislation which gave effect to the current drink-driving levels. Firstly, they pointed out that the lowering of the legal limit would have little if any impact because all those involved in drink related accidents had consumed more than the old level.
Secondly, they warned that the legislation might promote dangerous driving because it proposed to punish a relatively harmless activity - such as drinking a couple of pints - much more severely than potentially lethal activity such as excessive speeding.
Rarely has the assessment of any legislation proved to be so accurate. The incidence of drink-related accidents has not diminished to any great extent, but the legislation has radically altered our attitudes to motoring offences. While it has become generally socially unacceptable to consume any alcohol while driving, it has also become socially unacceptable to stop at an amber light, to refuse to pass another vehicle along an unbroken line or to drive within the speed limit. Indeed, it was remarkable how quickly the motorist adjusted to the values implicit in the legislation. Within weeks of it becoming law, people were remarking on a new aggressiveness among drivers; within a year, all records of road deaths had been shattered.
If the Government genuinely wishes to bring the slaughter to an end, it must scrape its misleading legislation and replace it with laws which punish motor offences in proportion to their contribution to death and injury on the road. If the Government would even assign the same penalties that are currently levied on those who have been convicted of the relatively harmless activity of driving at just above the current legal alcohol limit (i.e. a one-year driving ban and roughly £5,000 in additional insurance costs), to those who break the speed limit, the number of road fatalities would significantly diminish within a couple of months. - Yours, etc., John Mc Grath,
Kilbride,
Co Wicklow.