Lower drink-driving limit, Australian cop urges NZ

New Zealand should follow Australia and lower the drink-driving limits, a senior New South Wales police officer said today.

Next Monday, Cabinet is to consider a bid by Transport Minister Paul Swain to cut the legal blood alcohol level from 80 milligrams to 50mg per 100 millilitres of blood.

Mr Swain's colleagues have questioned whether that and other measures, such as demerit points for speed camera offences, would reduce the road death toll or be acceptable to the public.

New South Wales' acting commander of traffic services, Inspector Kerry Grainger, told National Radio that a similar move across the Tasman had drastically reduced the road toll there.

The reduction, with other initiatives, had halved the road toll in New South Wales, Inspector Grainger said.

Opponents here say the measures do not address the problems of repeat offenders who greatly exceed speed and alcohol limits.

Mr Swain said his job was to advocate for the ideas, but Cabinet would decide after asking him for more information.

"I think it is fair to say on a range of all these measures there is absolutely no cold hard data to say if you do that then this would absolutely happen," Mr Swain said.

"So what is happening is that Cabinet are looking across all the information and trying to come up with a package... which is going to get endorsement from New Zealand."

A package of measures of some sort would be announced before Christmas, he said.

Federated farmers vice-president Charlie Pederson has been highly critical of the proposed change, saying it would make rural people "criminals".

However, Alcohol Healthwatch director Rebecca Williams said today that reducing the blood alcohol limit would "not impinge on responsible levels of social drinking".

If the government did introduce the new policy package, those caught driving between 50-80mg would be given a fine rather than be arrested and face court proceedings, she pointed out.

"This allows people to go out and have a glass or two of wine with a meal and then drive, and definitely does not make criminals out of those already drinking small amounts when dining out," she said in a statement.

"The most important factor to consider in this debate is that reductions of deaths and injuries have been seen overseas when the limit is lower."

Ms Williams said research in Australia showed that lowering the legal limit stopped drivers progressing to higher blood-alcohol levels.

Currently New Zealand had one of the highest blood alcohol limits in the developed world.

Countries with a 50mg limit include Australia, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, and Spain.

Almost every country that had lowered the blood alcohol limit to 50mg or lower had experienced reduced crashes, injuries and fatalities, she said.

The greatest reduction has been seen in Queensland, with an 18 per cent reduction in fatal collisions and a 14 per cent reduction in serious crashes.

- NZPA