HC Deb 10 March 1989 vol 148 cc699-700W
Miss Widdecombe

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what are the current figures for drinking and driving in Great Britain; and what information he has as to what the figures are for those countries where random breath testing has been introduced.

Mr. Peter Bottomley

At the moment, the most reliable measure of drinking and driving in Great Britain over the last 10 years is the percentage of drivers killed in road accidents who had a blood alcohol content above the legal limit. The following tables show this percentage, for motor cycle riders and car drivers separately, for the years 1978 to 1987. The table also includes similar figures, for all drivers or riders, for the Australian states of Victoria and New South Wales, except that a blood alcohol content of more than 50mg/ml, the legal limit for Australia, is used.

Percentage of rider/drivers killed with a blood alcohol content above the legal limit.
Great Britain (legal limit 80mg/ml): Australia (limit 80mg/ml): 1978–1987.
Great Britain
Year Motor-cycle riders Car drivers Victoria1 New South Wales2
1978 29 33 48
1979 31 32 40
1980 29 32 44
1981 28 31 38
1982 29 36 37 40
1983 23 31 37 36
1984 27 26 33 33
1985 22 28 38 33
1986 22 25 38 34
1987 25 23

Note: 1987 figures are provisional.

1 RBT introduced in 1976.

2 RBT introduced in 1982.

These figures show an overall ten percentage point decline in the number of car drivers killed over the legal limit in both Great Britain and Victoria. In New South Wales, a decline of only six points has occurred since introduction of RBT in 1982, compared with 11 points in the United Kingdom over the same period. We understand the rate in NSW may now be rising again slightly. It should be borne in mind that the legal limits are different. Nevertheless, the proportion of such cases in the Australian states remains higher than in Great Britain.

International comparisons are difficult because of the lack of standard measures of drinking and driving. The United Nations publishes figures of "accidents involving one or more persons under the influence of alcohol". This is interpreted differently by different countries. For Great Britain, the figures given are for the number of accidents in which an involved driver subsequently failed a breath test. For other countries the accidents where a driver died and was found to be over the legal limit are also included. In some countries, the influence of alcohol is reported by the police on a subjective basis, and in others a blood test may be required. A number of countries include accidents involving drunken pedestrians in their figures.