Nurses seek zero tolerance on drink driving

Britain should adopt a "zero blood alcohol" limit to cut the number of deaths on the country's roads caused by drink driving, nurses said today. Delegates at the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) annual conference in Bournemouth spoke overwhelmingly in favour of a move that would see drivers unable to consume a glass of shandy and get behind the wheel – emulating a number of European countries that have a zero-tolerance policy. Britain's present limit of 80mg alcohol per 100ml of blood is among the highest in Europe. Romania, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Slovakia all have zero-tolerance policies. Nurses queued up to speak from the floor of the conference, calling for a "no ifs, no buts, no alcohol policy" saying many had witnessed the carnage caused by drunk driving. "Would you drink two pints of beer before going to work? Would you do so before sitting in three-quarters of a ton of steel capable of 100mph?" asked Andrew Fraser, an emergency care nurse. "We need mandatory zero tolerance." Some cautioned that such a draconian limit would mean drivers penalised for "eating trifle or swilling mouthwash". Although government figures show an overall drop in road accidents – in 2008 there were 8,640, roughly a third of the 1979 level – the number of people who died in drink-drive accidents rose 5% last year. The drink-drive death toll in 2008 was 430 compared with 410 in 2007. The Department of Transport is examining the issue. Nurses leaders said they wanted to work with safety campaigners before making an official statement. Peter Carter, the general secretary of the RCN, said it was very clear that "the nation has a huge problem with alcohol and something needs to be done". Rod Thomson, vice-chair of the RCN and a public health specialist, said one unit of alcohol, about half a pint of beer, was processed by the body per hour. He said there needed to be a "degree of tolerance" in the drink-drive limit to take account of potential false positive results. Prof Ian Gilmore, president of Royal College of Physicians and chairman of the Alcohol Health Alliance, welcomed the call for a zero limit. "We are delighted that the RCN is opening the debate on zero tolerance. "There are technical problems with an absolute zero limit, as there can be problems with contamination. But there is a strong argument that the limit should be zero, or near zero, for new or young drivers – and the priority for other age groups is to lower the limit from 80mg to 50mg, to bring us in line with the rest of Europe." Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, has already called for teenage drivers to be barred from drinking any alcohol, pointing out that the chances of an accident are two and a half times greater for teenagers than for older people. In Germany,the alcohol limit is zero for drivers with less than two years experience.