pro drunken-driving lobbyists
The what now ?
I'm not going to be affected by this as I never drive after drinking (I did a couple of times in the past though) but I don't know anyone who is lobbying for drunk driving. This makes it sound like the same argument that says pro-choice campaigners are pro-abortion. They're not
telling women to have an abortion, and I've heard no-one
telling anyone to drive drunk.
The 'benefits' of lowering the limit to 50mg are:
Co-ordinating limits across Europe.
Pleasing the zero-tolerance groups(read: zealots) a little.
Looking responsible and taking a hard line against drink-driving
The drawbacks are:
More expensive to police. People in general were used to the 80mg limit and the vast majority were either careful not to go over it, or didn't give a damn. This will happen in time when/if the 50mg limit is introduced, but many people will still breach the limit (many unintentionally) and get points and a fine if they're ever caught.
So on paper the positives outweigh the negatives.
However: As was mentioned, there are duck all checkpoints enforcing the current limits except during some 'blitz' and then they disappear. One of the local pubs near me has a huge carpark which was full every Thurs-Sun night. Yet no checkpoint ever once was set up outside or nearby. It would be like shooting fish in a barrel. If the current limits aren't enforced, how will the stricter ones be?
Will this mean 6-8am checkpoints instead of 2-4am checkpoints, cos I know which would catch the more dangerous group.
Also, as was mentioned, and this is the most critical point in the argument, if the 50-80mg group are responsible for a portion of accidents/injuries/deaths that is greater than the ones below 50mg (a statistically significant difference taking into account conditions, external factors etc.) then maybe the limit should be decreased. I personally have not seen any information to verify this is the case and I am of the opinion that the only reason it's being done is for the 3 reasons under the 'Benefits' heading above: To look good.