How drink-driving proposal compares to other countries

Bermuda is looking to slash its drink driving limit in half.

Here the Bermuda Sun looks at the experiences of other countries in tackling their drink driving problems.

The Republic of Ireland two years ago cut its drink driving limit by a third.

Previously — like Bermuda and the UK — its limit was 80mg of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

But the Dail — the Irish parliament — slashed the limit by a third in 2011 due to the high rate of alcohol-related deaths and injuries on the roads. 

Ireland also introduced a two-tier limit system, with learner, newly-qualified and professional drivers only allowed 20mg of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

Ireland — which is listed as having one of the highest alcohol consumption rates in Europe, according to a 2007 study — acted to cut the high number of deaths on the roads, many of them rural and with poor public transport.

The Irish Road Safety Authority said: “Reducing the blood/alcohol count will save lives and prevent serious injuries.

“It is one of many measures designed to bring Ireland into the company of ‘best practice’countries.

“Reducing the blood/alcohol count is most effective when the average speed limit across the road network falls – even by as little as 5 kilometres an hour.

“It is the combination of alcohol and speed that is catastrophic, particularly for young and inexperienced drivers.”

The Cayman Islands, also a UK Overseas Territory, has a limit higher than either Britain or the UK – at 100ml of alcohol per 100ml of blood.

Officers in the Caymans use roadside breath tests on suspected drink drivers, but like the UK, only printouts from a properly-calibrated machine at a police station are admissible in court.

Miami-Dade police in Florida enforce the same 80mg/100ml limit in force in Bermuda at present, but officers can set up checkpoints where random sobriety tests are carried out, which are announced in advance.

Drink driving laws across the European Union vary between a zero limit in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia and a 90mg of alcohol/10ml of blood in the island of Cyprus.

But most European countries, like France, Germany, Italy Belgium, Portugal and Holland, have a legal drink driving limit of 50mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood.

Both France and Spain have a lower limit for the drivers of trucks and public service vehicles like buses.

Sweden, Poland and Estonia, however, have opted for a lower 20mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood.

And Lithuania has pegged the drink driving limit at 40mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood — the same limit proposed by Transport Minister Shawn Crockwell.

The Scottish Parliament, which has devolved powers from Westminster, last year voted to cut its drink driving limit of 50mg alcohol/100ml of blood, lower than the rest of the UK, although it has yet to implement it.

Scotland also brought in powers in 2009 to confiscate and sell or destroy the vehicles of drivers caught at three or more times the drink-driving limit.

Barbados has no official drink driving limit and does not use breathalysers, either at the roadside or in police stations – but police do have powers to pull drivers over and charge them if they have taken alcohol or drugs “to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control of the vehicle”.

A committee set up by the then-Labour Government in the UK , which was chaired by legal expert and academic Sir Richard North, in 2010 recommended dropping the UK drink drive to 50mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood.

The new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government said it would have to investigate the “economic and public service resource impact” before responding. n