Drink-Driving

My Lords, the Government recognise the role that innovation and technology can play in reducing drink-driving and repeat offending, alongside effective enforcement, education and penalties. Through the road safety strategy, we consulted on measures to tackle drink-driving and drug-driving, including the potential use of alcohol interlocks for offenders. Responses are now being analysed. Our approach will remain evidence-led, proportionate and focused on reducing deaths and serious injuries on Britain’s roads.

I thank my noble friend for his response. He will know that unless an alcolock—which is, in effect, a breathalyser in a car—gets a negative response, the engine will not start. Alcolocks have been introduced in many counties, where they have halved repeat offending and therefore reduced deaths. Might the Government move just a little bit faster than awaiting the outcome of the consultation and take action to either introduce or pilot these as a potential sanction for a drink-drive conviction? Might the Government follow the EU in requiring all new cars to be fitted with a basic kit so that, if this was introduced, it would be very simple to implement?

My noble friend is a great advocate for better policing of drink-driving. I understand the sad reasons why, and our hearts go out to everybody who has suffered bereavement or injury through drink-driving. Alcolocks are widely used internationally, and the evidence shows that they reduce reoffending while installed, but reoffending returns to a similar level once they are removed. That is not a reason for not doing it, but it is a reason for being careful. The Government have published the first comprehensive road safety strategy for many years, and it is right that we consult on that and that, when we have consulted, what we do about it is proportionate and thought-through, so that the measures actually work. My noble friend also mentioned installation facilitation, and we are thinking about that carefully. Meanwhile, we are carrying on with a package of advanced safety technologies that are ready now.

My Lords, the number of drink-driving convictions is falling, which is very welcome news. But the number of drug-related driving offences is on the increase, which is very concerning indeed. In 2015, the law was changed to make it easier to get prosecutions. I think there is still a lack of understanding in the general public of the danger of drug-driving. Will the Government look at whether they are doing sufficient to highlight this as a very serious crime?

The noble Lord is absolutely right: drug-driving is, as he said, on the increase. We are consulting on better detection of drug-driving, because it is a complex issue: there are many different sorts of drugs and not all the methods of testing will currently stand up in court. But he is absolutely right and we are on the case for this. We publicise the huge dangers of doing it, but we need to get through the operational and forensic challenges of detecting different sorts of drugs through alternative forensic testing procedures, including oral fluids, saliva and sweat.

My Lords, given that somebody with a blood level of 50 to 80 milligrams of alcohol has a six times greater chance of dying in a road accident and, on top of that, of killing other people, when will the Government finally implement a lowering of the limit? They are aiming to have an overall decrease in road deaths of 35%, and this would significantly contribute to it.

The first comprehensive road safety strategy for some time was published a few months ago, and part of the consultation is indeed to look at lowering the limits for drink-driving. All the statistics the noble Baroness quoted are of course correct. We need to do something about it, and one of the reasons for the publication of the road safety strategy was that the number of deaths and serious injuries on the road has plateaued and it should be going down.

My Lords, UK courts can disqualify drink-drivers, but they cannot currently require an alcolock as a condition of returning to the road. Will the Government consider giving courts this option, in particular for repeat and high-risk drink-driving offenders?

That is precisely one of the things that the Government have consulted about, because it is important that the maximum range of penalties and actions is available to deal with drink-driving and, even worse, repeat drink-driving. That is why we have consulted. This is one of the items in the consultation and why I anticipate that we will take action when we have analysed the results of it.

My Lords, when I was 18, my parents’ car was hit head-on by a drunk driver. Both my parents survived, but my mother was left with life-changing injuries. I therefore warmly welcome the Government’s road safety strategy, especially the consultation under way on lowering the drink-drive limit and expanding the use of alcohol interlock technology. Can my noble friend the Minister give assurances to the House that any new enforcement powers, particularly immediate licence suspensions and alcolock technologies, will be applied consistently by the courts and consistently across all police forces, so that public confidence in the drink-drive reduction measures we are seeking to introduce are strengthened rather than undermined?

I am sure that our hearts go out to my noble friend and to many other people like him who have suffered this sort of terrible family or close relationship catastrophe. Of course, the enforcement of the law is a matter for chief police officers. However, I have no doubt that, if we improve both the techniques that can be used to detect drink-driving and drug-driving and the range of penalties that are available for enforcement, chief police officers will treat this seriously, as will the courts.

My Lords, I too welcome the fact that the Government are consulting on how to improve road safety, and I am sure that the noble Lord would agree that any response to that consultation needs to be evidence-based. In that light, how does he take account of the fact that it appears from Scotland, where the limit has been reduced, that there has been no discernible effect on accidents as a result of that measure?

The noble Lord is right that we should respect the evidence. Scotland’s experience is relevant, but it is not the only evidence. The Government recognise that Scotland did not see a significant casualty reduction, but we also cite wider evidence that alcohol impairs driving ability below the current England and Wales limit. Evidence cited in the consultation found that drivers with a blood alcohol concentration of 20 milligrams to 50 milligrams per 100 millilitres have at least a three-times greater risk of dying, and we will certainly take that into account when we decide what to do as a result of the consultation.

My Lords, alcolocks take an hour to fit, they cost £200 to fit, paid for by the user and, as the noble Lord said, they work while they are being used. Why are we not using them to save lives?

I said that we are consulting on the first comprehensive road safety strategy for many years. It is right to consult, because a number of things in the road safety strategy—not just this one—affect many people, we need to hear from everybody, and we have heard from many people what they think of the proposals in the road safety strategy. I would say to him that it is worth waiting for, because it is not right to legislate before you understand what all the evidence is.

My Lords, perhaps I might ask the Minister, given that there have been questions both about reducing the threshold for drink driving but also about enforcement from the noble Baroness, Lady Hayter, what is the Government’s assessment, because it was not clear from the road safety plan, of the biggest contributor to deaths and injuries on the roads? Is it people who do not obey the existing limit, or is it people who obey the existing limit but are none the less not safe to drive?

I have to say there is a whole range of factors that go into it. The reason for the road safety strategy is that the death and serious injury rate has plateaued, rather than going down. The strategy has made it clear that there are a number of reasons for that. If there were only one issue in the strategy, with one consultation, that would be different, but there is a wide range in there intended to make all road users, including pedestrians and cyclists, safer. I think it is right, if the noble Lord reads the whole thing, to look at a number of solutions to this.