HC Deb 20 November 1967 vol 754 cc279-80W
Sir W. Bromley-Davenport

asked the Minister of Transport whether, in connection with her programme of publicity regarding the provisions of the new Road Safety Act with regard to drink and driving, she will publish information available to her from international sources showing how the road accident rates in Sweden and West Germany have changed since the introduction of similar legislation in those two countries; and if she will publish similar information about the consumption of alcoholic beverages in those two countries since these laws were introduced.

Mr. Carmichael

Sweden first introduced a maximum blood alcohol level for drivers in 1941. In the following year the number of convictions for drunken driving fell by 63 per cent. and road accidents fell by 11 per cent.

The West German law on drinking and driving is not strictly comparable with our own. When the present law was introduced in 1965, road accidents in the following 12 months fell by nearly 4 per cent.

I have no information about the consumption of alcohol in these countries.