Liquor level set for ‘safe’ driving

Press, 2 December 1978, Page 3

Liquor level set for ‘safe’ driving

PA Wellington Three 200 ml (seven-ounce) glasses of beer, or three nips of whisky, is the recommended “safe” level for the average drinking driver under the new blood-alcohol limit that took effect yester-: day. The new limit is 80mg of alcohol for every 100 ml of blood. The previous limit

i was lOOmg per 100 ml. -Drinking drivers who exceed lithe legal limit will face a 11 maximum fine of $l5OO. The - previous maximum penalty >jwas $4OO. ■ i A new maximum penalty 11 for causing death or injury ;i through dangerous driving .or driving under the in- ’ I f luence of drink and drugs f j also came into effect yestert day — $4OOO, up from $2OOO. I The “safe” liquor coni' sumption quantities have (been set by experiments at ; Massey University, and are [accepted by the Ministry of Transport. i Three beers or three whisIkies is the safe level for [what is defined as the (“average” drinker — a few [beers between work and the I evening meal — but there [are variations. ’ Persons inexperienced in ’drinking and driving are [warned by the Massey experiments not to consume [any alcohol if they are going to drive. Men can apparently drink more than women without turning the breath-test crystals green, and heavier people can drink more than light people. The accepted “safe” level could possibly be exceeded safely, therefore, by a large, heavy male, or perhaps an overweight female, but nobody is prepared to say by how much. The chief research officer for the Ministry of Transport, Mr J. Toomalh, said yesterday that three factors had helped to set the new level: -— It was the common level used overseas — in Australia (although Victoria had a limit of 50mg), Britain, Canada, and many European countries; — Overseas evidence showed that drivers with an 80mg level were three and a [ half times as accident-prone as non-drinkers, whereas at lOOmg drivers were six times more accident-prone than non-drinkers; — The introduction of evidential breath testing, which introduced a new offence of driving while the proportion of alcohol to one litre of a

person’s breath exceeded 500 micrograms. When . the new testers, American-made Alco-sensors, [ arrived later this month, aj person would still be able to I I demand a blood test. Howlever, there would be a 40-1 minute minimum gap be-! [tween the breath-test and; | the blood test, during which [the alcohol content of a sus-l pect’s blood would diminish,; Mr Toomath said. An evidential breath test; of 500 micrograms would! approximate lOOmg to 100 ml! at the time the breath test; was taken. By the time the' blood test was made, the person’s blood-alcohol content would have diminished, but. not to lower than 80mg. Christchurch would get three Alco-sensors, said the Senior City Traffic Officer (Mr E. E. Dunlop) last evening. “These will be ample fori our needs, but until they ar-[ rive we will test the way we I always have, asking fori blood samples when necessary,” he said. When Christchurch traffic; officers began to use the sensors a screening breath test would still be used: first. If this proved positive,: the suspect would be asked, to blow into the sensor. I'