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Scotland Drastically Reduces Drink/drive Limit

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mikey4444 | 11:21 Fri 05th Dec 2014 | ChatterBank
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-30329743

This a much-needed move in the right direction as far as I am concerned, but does every think ?
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There shouldn't be a "limit". Just simply do NOT drink and drive. Drink nothing alcoholic if you wish to drive. If you want to drink, then either get a taxi or get a designated driver for the evening. Take it in turns NOT to drink.
It would be difficult to disagree.
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100% agree Janbee !
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I'll bet someone will jack !
Well I am not exactly going to disagree, but there might be times when you didn't expect to but really need to drive, no alternative and have had a drink, not a huge amount but enough to potentially have some in your bloodstream. I have had to do this once in my life when i had to get a dog to the vet.
I do agree about nights out etcet though and would never plan to drink and drive.
I feel I ought to disagree as I can't be seen to agree with Mikey on anything, can I? It's against my principles! ;-)

However I do actually agree except, possibly, that the new limit could have been a bit lower. It would never be realistic to have a zero limit (since simply drinking a glass of fruit juice that had undergone a bit of fermentation could put someone over such a limit). However the 'blood level' limit has only gone down from 80mg to 50mg, whereas it's 30mg for driving a train (or simply working on a railway station platform) and 20mg for flying a plane.
"However, the UK government said it had no plans to reduce the drink drive limit in England and Wales as it said this would have no impact on "high risk offenders"."

I don't think it will be heading your direction for quite a while
It is very easy to disagree. It is more of a daft move in my opinion. It is just there to catch more decent folk who are already keeping to a reasonable limit. But of course fining decent folk is much easier than actually making the world a better place for all.
The nay-sayers appear to have latched on to the notion that the body produces alcohol naturally, so a zero limit is not feasible.

i would argue that there must me a measurement of naturally produced alcohol, beyond which it must be clear that alcohol has been introduced - so set the limit there.

Anyone who (and there will always be rare exceptions) has a legitimate reason for an above-limit reading can have their case assessed on its merits.

As long as we cling to this idea that people have to be able to drink and drive, so they will drink as near to the limit as they can, we are never going to assess the lunacy of driving a ton of metal at forty miles an hour when your judgement is impaired - however slightly.
Old_Geezer - "...more decent folk who are already keeping to a reasonable limit."

If they were 'decent' they wouldn't be drinking at all, because drinking and driving is stupid and dangerous.

You can't be 'decent', and drink and drive.
Definitely a move in the right direction, which I think England would do well to copy.

I'd support an even lower limit of 20mg similar to Sweden.

As an ex busdriver I was subject to a Company limit of 10mg enforced on a random basis during work shifts. I suppose I was tested about 5 times a year for both drink/drugs. It's something you adjust to and allow for.
I believe, Andy, that is an opinion, and one that can not be reasonably supported. It trashes many thousands, probably millions of people. This lowered limit is an over-controlling move by authorities to start with, let alone suggesting decent folk have to want even more draconian measures.
I do think it is a step in the right direction but feel that those that get bladdered and drive will still do so. What we really need is an increase in the penalties for those caught on a regular basis.
I agree 100% with janbee.
Ironically this could also be a nice additional argument in favour of driverless cars. People can go out and get totally blotto, and still be able to get home safely on the road (so long as they can get the car started, at least...)
jim360: I wonder how many of them would end up at their ex partners house, banging on the door at 2am shouting "babbbbyyyy I loooove you, you're my wouurrld"
Old_Geezer - "I believe, Andy, that is an opinion, and one that can not be reasonably supported. It trashes many thousands, probably millions of people."

I think then, we must agree to differ.

From my point of view, drinking alcohol and driving a car is not the action of a 'decent' person.

If by the term 'decent', you are referring to people who have a sense of social responsibility to themselves, their families, and the wider society in which they live, then you cannot sit that beside a fundamentally selfish and self-centered action - the unwillingness to forgo alcohol conusmption in order to drive properly and safely - in line with their social responsibilities.

The two are simply incompatable. If one person drinks and drives, the chances or an accident or fataility come into play. If more than one person does it, the odds increase mathmatically, and if, as you infer, millions of people are doiong it, then that is dangerous irresponsibility on a national scale.

Nothing decent about that.

What is the problem with saying 'I am going to drink some alcohol, so i wil not drive my car for the duration of the time that alcohol may be in my system.'

Is that so hard?
So you go out at night for a drink, pay for taxis or walk all night and find you're over the limit on the way to work next day. And that makes you an 'indecent' person?
Svejk: It certainly makes you a foolish person. This happens to so many people. I used to count the units of alcohol I consumed on a heavy night out at the pub and 9/10 I wouldn't be safe to drive till the following evening. Which is why if I'd go out on a Friday night I wouldn't get behind the wheel till Monday morning.
Svejk - "So you go out at night for a drink, pay for taxis or walk all night and find you're over the limit on the way to work next day. And that makes you an 'indecent' person?"

If you have drunk enough to be over the limit the next day and you drive your car, then yes, you are socially irrepsonsible.

People seem to have the approach that alcohol is as necessary as oxygen in order to enjoy an evening out - it's not.

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