Letter: Lower drink limit

Robert Gifford
Sunday 10 January 1999 20:02 EST
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Sir: In concluding that the present legal drink-driving limit is right, you have overlooked the research linking blood alcohol levels and likelihood of involvement in a crash.

The Grand Rapids Study in 1962-63 and reviewed in 1991 and 1994 indicated that the relative risk of involvement in a collision is 1.5 times higher with a blood alcohol level between 50mg and 90mg.

Those risks are substantially higher for young and inexperienced drivers. That is why the lowering of the legal level is an important step forward in further reductions in drink-drive fatalities.

ROBERT GIFFORD

Executive Director

Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety

London SE1

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