Drink Driving Amendments Fail to Go Through

Publication date: 22 December 2006

Drink driving solution amendments to road safety action programme fail to get through. Of the 41,000 deaths on European roads each year, 13,000 to 17,000 are caused by drunk drivers. Tackling this issue is becoming a priority for the EU, NGOs and the alcohol industry.

In a bid to tackle drink-driving, members of the Parliament’s Transport Committee attempted to pass a report recommending that the Commission propose an EU-wide upper limit of 0.5% for blood alcohol levels for all drivers. A number of MEPs also suggested a zero alcohol limit for new drivers and professional drivers involved in passenger transport. But, these amendments were rejected in a vote on 22 November 2006.
Even if the amendments had been accepted, the Commission’s recent Communication on ‘Reducing alcohol related harm in Europe’ (COM 2006 625) reaffirms that alcohol policy is a national competence, only allowing the Commission a co-ordination role.

com2006_0625en01.pdf (76 KB)

Although away from cutting annual road deaths to 25,000 by 2010, the EU is nevertheless performing better than in the US, where the road fatality rate per million people is around 1.5 times higher.

Europe and the US tend to follow diverging approaches to drink driving among young people: Whereas the US places the emphasis on the drinking – with an age limit set at 21 but less stringent BAC limits – the EU relies on stiffer rules while allowing youths to begin drinking at a much younger age.

The amendments formed part of the Eva Hedkvist Petersen ‘Report on European Road Safety Action Programme - mid-term review’ (A5-0449/2006).

a604492006.pdf (169 KB)

To download this press release click here.

  amendments_fail_to_go_through.pdf (13 KB)