Reducing impact of alcohol/drug impaired driving

• In 2008, 31 percent of fatal crashes and 21 percent of serious injury crashes were caused by drivers who were under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. These crashes resulted in 119 deaths, 572 serious injuries and 1,715 minor injuries.
• In 2008 it is estimated that the social cost of crashes where alcohol/drugs were a factor was $833 million.

How can we reduce the impact of alcohol/drug impaired driving?

Reduce the legal adult blood alcohol limit (BAC) to 50 mg alcohol per 100 ml blood (BAC 0.05)
The alcohol limit for drivers over 20 is 80 mg alcohol per 100 ml of blood (BAC 0.08). This allows the average male to consume around six standard drinks within 90 minutes. This means that people can legally drive while being significantly impaired. Overseas experience shows major improvements can be made to road safety by lowering this to 50 mg (BAC 0.05)

If the legal blood alcohol limit is lowered, then introduce infringement penalties for offences between BAC 0.05 and BAC 0.079

Maintain the current legal blood alcohol limit and increase the severity of penalties (this is an alternative to lowering the BAC to 0.05)
Instead of lowering the legal limit, we could make the penalties for breaking the current limit more severe. Experience shows that this may not be as effective as lowering the blood alcohol limit.

Inform New Zealanders about the impact of alcohol on driving
Giving people better information about how their ability to drive is affected by increasing alcohol consumption would help them to make better decisions about drink driving.

Introduce a zero BAC limit for certain drivers (drivers under 20 years, adults without a full licence, and commercial drivers)

Address recidivism (repeat drink driving) through a zero BAC for recidivists and move towards mandatory alcohol interlocks
We could make the drink driving limit zero for repeat drink drivers, and require them to have alcohol interlocks (these are breathalyser devices that prevent a car from being started if the driver is over a set alcohol limit).

Promote the use of alcohol interlocks
We could also encourage other drivers to use alcohol interlocks, such as commercial drivers, employers and parents of young drivers.

Random roadside testing for illegal drugs (as technology allows)
This would be similar to the current random testing for alcohol.

Download the full section on areas of high concern (PDF v7.0, 935kb)

Download the full discussion document (PDF v7.0, 2.50mb)