As Drink Driver Insurance specialists, we are often keen to ask the public their opinion on drink driving in the UK. In June 2020, we conducted our own survey asking the general public their opinion on the legal drink driving limit. We asked 1000 people the following question and gave four possible answers to choose from;

Which of the following statements do you most agree with?

1. The current drink driving alcohol limit should stay as it is                         
2. The current drink driving alcohol limit should be reduced, but not to zero 
3. There should be a zero alcohol limit to drive in the UK                   
4. The drink driving alcohol limit should be increased         

Drink Driving Limits in the UK – Public Opinion

Drink-drive limits are a contentious topic, with many lives having been affected by it, either through convictions or the untimely loss of someone they know due to it. We were interested in finding out just how many people consider the limits set by the UK Government to be correct.

The main results from our survey of 1000 people worked out as follows;

• The current drink drink driving alcohol limit should stay as it is: 37.90%
• There should be a zero alcohol limit to drive in the UK: 30.40%
• The current drink driving alcohol limit should be reduced, but not to zero: 22.50%
• The drink driving alcohol limit should be increased: 9.20%

The results of our survey show that over half of people questioned believe that the legal drink-driving limit should be decreased in some form, with 52.90% choosing one of the options to decrease the limit. Could more be done to decrease drink-driving accidents in the UK? It appears that huge numbers of people are not happy with the current laws.

Other statistics drawn

We asked the public some more personal information including gender, age, region and whether or not they own and drive a car. The results can be broken down further.

• A higher percentage of women believe there should be zero tolerance for alcohol to drive in the UK. 34% of women chose this option, only 26% of men chose this. Between the years 2005 and 2015, women were only involved in around 19% of all drunk driving convictions. It shows in the survey that more women want a zero-tolerance approach to drunk driving and that there are statistically bigger issues amongst men than women when it comes to drunk driving.
• 47% of people surveyed from the North East believed that the drink-drive limit should be reduced to zero. Statistically, the North East has the fewest drink-driving incidents in the UK. Even with this, a huge number of people from this area still want to see a zero-tolerance level for drunk driving. This shows that the current laws have a long way to go, and there is still a huge room for improvement.
• There is a correlation between age and wanting the drink driving limit to increase. 12% of 16-24-year-olds think the legal alcohol limit should be increased. 11% of 25-34-year-olds agree with this, as do 10% of 35-44-year-olds, 8% of 45-54-year-olds, and only 6% of those over 55 think the limit should be increased. Statistically, it is young drivers who have been involved in the most drunk driving accidents, and according to the survey we have conducted, it is also the young drivers who are more likely to want the drink-drive limit increased.
• 58% of people from Scotland believe that the drink drive limit should be reduced or set at zero. This is interesting because Scotland already has a lower drink drive limit than the rest of the UK, and still a huge percentage of the people surveyed do not think it is set low enough.

Drink Driving Statistics UK

The statistics surrounding drink driving in the UK will show that since records began in 1979, accidents involving drink driving have decreased dramatically, although it is still a problem.

One of the main reasons that accidents have fallen over the years is that stricter laws have been administered. The survey we have conducted shows that a large number of people who st.

At the moment, the current drink driving limits in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are;

• 80 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood
• 107 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of urine
• 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath

In Scotland, it is even lower than this, with it being;

• 50 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood
• 67 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of urine
• 22 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath

Drink Driving Statistics in Summary

The chart above shows a continual decrease in the number of accidents due to drink driving. However, it does appear to have plateaued since around 2010. This may be due to no major changes in the law since 2010. The first drink driving legislation came into play in 1872, and we have continued to tighten restrictions as time has passed. But do we need to tighten further? Let’s have a look at the history of drink driving laws in the UK.

The History of Drink Driving Legislations in the UK

1872
This first legislation for drink driving was not related to driving a car, as it became an offence to be intoxicated while in charge of a horse, carriage, cattle, or steam engine. The punishment was a fine of no greater than 40 shillings. You could also face a prison sentence of no longer than one month.

1925
It became an offence to be in intoxicated and in charge of any mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place or a highway. The punishment would be a fine, no greater than £50 or a prison sentence no longer than 4 months. The person in question could also be disqualified from driving for a minimum of one year.

1930

There was still no measurable limit to how much alcohol you could consume behind the wheel, but it did become an offence to be in charge of a motor vehicle while ‘Under the influence of drink or a drug to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control of the vehicle’.

1960

There were no new laws regarding drink driving, but there was a change to the wording of the previous law to ‘unfit to drive through drink or drugs’ There was still no measurable legal limit.

1967
This was the year an actual measurable legal alcohol limit came into play. The limit was set at 80 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood, and it has not changed to this day in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. This year, it was also announced that breathalysers would be phased in.

1983
After years of testing beforehand, breath testing was finally being used. To this day, breath testing is still the main way of convicting people of drink driving.

1991

A new offence was introduced as you could now be punished with a prison sentence of up to 5 years for ‘causing death by driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs’.

2002
If you were convicted of causing death by driving and being under the influence of alcohol or drugs, you would now have to pass an extended test before you were able to legally drive again.

2010
A major government review was carried out, proposing reducing the legal drunk driving limit to 50 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, which has now been implemented in Scotland. The possibility of permanent disqualification for repeat offenders was also discussed.

Drink Driving Convictions UK

The number of people being convicted of driving or attempting to drive whilst over the legal alcohol limit is also decreasing as the years go on. The statistics below, are from drinkdriving.org, and they show the decrease in convictions between 2005 – 2015;

Year	Convictions (Total)	Convictions (Male)	Convictions (Female)
2005	72,127	63,319	8,808
2006	72,145	63,015	9,130
2007	69,594	60,060	9,493
2008	62,635	53,078	9,493
2009	59,761	49,945	9,658
2010	50,536	41,883	8,358
2011	47,539	39,196	8,135
2012	44,642	36,298	8,164
2013	40,683	33,208	7,317
2014	37,853	30,537	7,137
2015	37,578	30,357	7,007
Total	595,093	500,896	92,679

The average conviction during the years of 2005-2014 was 61,946. This shows that the convictions in 2015 are well below the average of the previous nine years.

Of all the convictions mentioned above, the following is the breakdown of the punishments handed out;

• 76%of people were given a fine*
• 16% of people were handed a community order
• 3% of people received a suspended sentence**
• 2% of people were sentenced to immediate custody**
• 0.5% of people received a conditional discharge
• 0.2% of people were given an absolute discharge

*This could be between £25 and £5,000. The majority were given between £100 – £150

*Prison sentences ranged from up anywhere within a year. The majority were given a sentence of less than 3 months.

In conclusion, it appears as though improvements are being made to decrease drink driving incidents, and they have been working, but it is not enough. There are still far too many injuries and deaths occurring every year due to drink driving.

The survey we conducted shows that plenty of people believe more should be done regarding lowering the drunk driving limit. Maybe there should be more education on the subject, as there are a huge number of young drivers who would like to see the drunk driving limit increased when young drivers make up a big percentage of drunk driving accidents. Maybe we have not seen the last time stricter measures were taken in regard to the laws on drunk driving.

Drink driving is not the only problem on UK roads. Take a look at our drug driving statistics piece. 

Have you been convicted of a drink driving offence? Check out our drink driver insurance page.