December 8, 2014

New Scottish Drink-Drive Limit

Scotland introduced a new legal drink-drive limit on midnight Thursday which was reduced from 80mg to 50mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood. This has brought the limit in line with much of Europe but lower than the rest of the UK. Though the new limit was enforced at midnight, by 6am four people had already been arrested for breaching the level.

The new limit means that motorists could find themselves exceeding the limit after one glass of wine or pint of beer. This brings the law closer to a zero tolerance of driving after drink driving. This is something campaigners have been urging for some time, arguing that even the slightest bit of alcohol can affect driving ability and so much be avoided.

The change has resulted in a warning to drivers south of the border that they may be able to get behind the wheel legally after a drink in England but find themselves over the limit if they travel to Scotland. However, many argue that this shouldn’t be a problem as motorists should avoid alcohol altogether if they know they will be driving.

Drivers have also been warned to think carefully about driving the morning after a night of drinking. For most people, it takes about an hour to process one unit of alcohol which means it could take up to 12 hours to be safe to drive after drinking a bottle of wine.

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