Madam, - Dr John Madden, Coroner for Donegal North East (January 10th) says that drivers should expect to be breathalysed on a regular basis. We in PARC (Public Against Road Carnage) strongly agree with this.
Where we disagree with Dr Madden is with regard to blood alcohol level. Scientific evidence does not support Dr Madden's view that "drivers who have had one or two pints are not the problem".
PARC wants both improved enforcement and a reduction in the permitted blood alcohol level in line with the science which informs this debate.
Many drivers believe they are safe to drive if they are below the legal limit. This is a mistake. The risk of being involved in a crash increases in direct proportion to the amount of alcohol consumed. With a blood alcohol level of 50mg of alcohol for every 100ml of blood (lower than the permitted maximum level in Ireland at present) there is a 38 per cent increased risk of collision while at 80mg per 100ml, the current permitted maximum, this increases to 200 per cent (Eurocare, 2003).
The message from these figures is very simple: never, ever drink and drive. - Yours, etc,
Mrs SUSAN GRAY, Inishowen, Co Donegal.
Madam, - What a relief to see some welcome notes of sanity and realism at last on the issue of drinking and driving, in Dr John Madden's letter of January 10th. He says that in his experience as coroner in Donegal North East that "blood alcohol levels of between 50mgs and 80mgs per 100ml rarely, if at all, figure at local inquests".
In reality, the debate in this area has been skewed in many countries by misleading statistics. For instance, many statistics treat an accident as being alcohol-related if one of the parties has been drinking, so if a sober driver accidentally runs into a drinking driver the accident is classified as "alcohol-related" even though caused by the sober party.
As for those jurisdictions that report lower deaths following a lowering of the drink-driving limit, it is very likely that the improvement resulted not from light drinkers driving even less, but from heavy drinkers becoming lighter drinkers in response.
Mr Madden's views contrast somewhat with those of Dr David Bedford (Letters, November 1st, 2007) who asked if there is "a socially acceptable number of alcohol-related deaths on the road?" He spoke for many when he replied: "There is no acceptable number".
In reality, however, societies everywhere are willing to accept the risk of death on the road. We have a speed limit of 100kph on main roads, but if the saving of lives were the sole concern the limit would be more like 50kph. We are prepared to compromise, even in the knowledge that some of us will die, in return for the reward of being able to travel freely and widely. Why should the approach to drink be different? After all, most deadly accidents are caused not by drivers with 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, according to Dr Madden. If the blood-alcohol limit is reduced from 80mg to 50mg, how many lives will be saved, really? In Canada, one 1998 study predicted that lowering the level from 80mg to 50mg would reduce fatalities by 6 to 18 per cent. Perhaps, or perhaps not, and at what cost?
Like it or not, Irish social life is focused largely on pub culture. We might prefer if instead social life was focused on café culture, but it is not. Still, millions of tourists visit our shores in order to sample this life, and the Irish pub is famed and copied the world over, so it cannot be all bad.
There are good reasons not to lower the blood alcohol limit, unless we wish to see most of the population huddled in their homes, afraid to go out and socialise. It is not simply the pubs that will suffer; the social life of the country will be severely damaged. - Yours, etc,
JOHN STAFFORD, Dargle Wood, Dublin 16.