At a recent debate about young driver safety, Transport minister Lilian Greenwood revealed the government is looking into introducing a zero-alcohol limit for those who’ve recently passed their test.

Currently, the drink-drive limit in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 80mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood. However, much of the rest of Europe has a maximum of 50mg per 100ml with some countries even adopting a zero-alcohol policy. Meanwhile, Scotland dropped its limit to 50mg per 100ml back in 2014.

Laying low

Such low limits have caught the attention of the government that is now looking for ways to increase young motorist road safety with Greenwood stating: “We can… look to international experience. For example, a number of countries have a lower or zero-alcohol limits for young drivers.”

Arguably, such a move can’t come soon enough. Official figures show that 290 people were killed and 4,669 were seriously injured in crashes involving drivers aged between 17-24 in 2023.

Campaigners such as Steve Gooding of the RAC Foundation charity says that, “quite rightly the minister has one eye on what is happening overseas to see what might be might be usefully incorporated into her new road safety strategy.”

New rules

This strategy is expected to be unveiled later this year with other options also being considered for learners and young drivers. For example:

  • Introducing a minimum learning period
  • Keeping a log book
  • Increasing hazard perception training
  • Introducing classroom-based training
  • Using tech to track driver behaviour.

Gone… for now

However, one option already given the hard shoulder by the government is graduated driving licensing. These typically place restrictions on what times young drivers can head out on to the road and even ban them from driving their peers round.

Greenwood explained: “While we are not considering graduated driving licences, we absolutely recognise that young people are disproportionately victims of tragic collisions on our roads … That is why the department is developing our road safety strategy. It will be the first in over a decade and we will set out more details in due course.”

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