Welcome news that the House of Commons Transport Select Committee have come out against the cut in the drink-drive limit proposed by the North Review earlier this year. As I have argued before, there is no guarantee this would save a single life, while it would undoubtedly result in the closure of thousands of pubs without addressing the real problem which is people driving when well over the current limit. Hopefully this will give further ammunition for Transport Secretary Philip Hammond, who is known not to be keen on the idea, to officially reject the proposals.
They did, however, say that they ultimately supported reducing the limit to 20mg, something that would impose quasi-prohibition on all responsible people with a driving licence and leave very few pubs still in existence outside city centres, but that is a long-term aspiration, not an immediate threat.
20mg? That would have shaved my £120 from a 'pub' (more restaurant, really) near me today.
ReplyDeleteIf I wanted a meal and not even a single drink to go with it, why go to a pub?
Smoking ban gets rid of the drinkers; pubs change and focus on food; government kills them with 20mg.
A perfect storm.
Good news, but I fear it's only a matter of time. If the political correspondents are to be believed, there is much support for a zero limit amongst MPs, but little political enthusiasm to push it through in the current climate.
ReplyDeleteAnd I wonder how many of those MPs are ones who make noises about how the Government should do more to help pubs.
ReplyDeletePeople don't seem to appreciate the slow metabolisation of alcohol, which would mean that with a 20 mg limit you'd have to think hard about having more than a couple of drinks if you planned to drive the following morning.
I've just read a couple of hours ago the tragic story in our local paper about a young woman who died in a car driven by someone three and a half times over the limit; her uncle was in the fire crew that attended the crash.
ReplyDeleteReducing the limit further will do nothing to prevent people like that driving. As a pedestrian, on several ocasions I've had to jump out of the way of cars driven at speed by young males late at night. I've no doubt they were drunk. THAT is what we need to deal with, not punishing careful drivers who drink within the law.
Any government, by its very nature, is fated to be fundamentally opposed to human pleasure. Smoking went first, drinking is their present target and beyond that - "sex is next." They will eliminate anything that costs them money which they could otherwise be spending on nuclear submarines and private moats large enough to for nuclear subs to accidentally run aground in. In short, all our fun and freedom is doomed. Great site, will be following from here on!
ReplyDeleteThe Spoons do a nice Root Beer. Nicer than any pong.
ReplyDelete