Greens urge Government to lower alcohol limit
green-party
Fri Apr 09 2010 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Greens urge Government to lower alcohol limit
Friday, 9 April 2010, 12:02 pm
Press Release: Green Party
Greens urge Government to lower alcohol limit
The Government should act to reduce the blood-alcohol limit for all drivers in light of strong public support for this change, the Green Party said today.
The latest poll found that a majority of New Zealanders support reducing the adult blood-alcohol limit from 80mg to 50mg per 100ml.
“We could save 15-33 lives a year on our roads by lowering the alcohol limit for adult drivers to 50mg per 100ml — a level recommended by the World Health Organisation and used by many countries,” said Green Party Transport spokesperson, Gareth Hughes.
“However, Transport Minister Stephen Joyce is not pushing hard enough to lower the limit for adult drivers.
“According to Otago University public health expert, Jenny Connor, adult drivers are four times more likely to have a fatal crash with a blood-alcohol level of 80mg than 50mg,” said Mr Hughes.
Recent progress on road safety has stalled and, for drink driving, has started going backwards. Driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol contributes to a third of all fatal crashes — 119 deaths and 572 serious injuries a year.
“Every drink drive fatality on the road is a tragedy. The Minister hasn’t made the safe call on bigger trucks. He needs to make the safe call about drink driving,” said Mr Hughes.
“The French Government achieved a 30 percent reduction in alcohol-related fatalities when it lowered its alcohol limit to 50mg.”
“We do not need to wait for further research. New Zealanders have said they are ready for the internationally accepted limit, and ready to reduce our road toll. The Minister needs to act now.”
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Link to the Safer Journeys Report:
http://www.transport.govt.nz/saferjourneys/roadsafetyreports/
Link to article about the Research NZ Poll:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10637225
ENDS
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