It is time for New Zealand to lower the legal limit for drinking and driving, says the Automobile Association.

There will be more than 1000 injury or fatal crashes this year involving alcohol, and tackling drink driving remains a key priority of New Zealand’s Safer Journeys Road Safety Strategy.

The AA, which represents nearly 1.4 million Members, is supporting a lower adult limit as well as pushing for several other changes to prevent more people being killed and hurt on our roads by drunk drivers.

“Research in New Zealand and overseas shows that at a .08 BAC level drivers are far too impaired to safely drive. A lower limit will be safer for everyone on the roads. Research has also shown that at a BAC level of .05 or above people start to lose the ability to make a good judgement about how drunk they are and whether to drive,” says AA Motoring Affairs General Manager Mike Noon.

“The AA has surveyed our Members and two-thirds want to see the adult limit lowered from .08 to .05.

“Our Members, both in cities and rural areas, are telling us that the current limit is too high and that it’s time to get tougher on drink driving.”

The AA will be calling for drivers caught at a BAC level between .05 and .08 to be issued with fines and demerit points on the spot by Police rather than facing protracted court and criminal charges.

“Just lowering the BAC limit will not fix everything however. Our research has also shown that 1 in 2 drink drivers are repeat offenders. We have caught them before, some of them many times,” says Mr Noon.

The AA is also calling for any lower limit to be part of a package of measures including more focus on repeat drink drivers, alcohol rehabilitation programmes  and much greater use of alcohol interlocks to stop these drivers reoffending.

“Lowering the limit will reinforce the risks of drinking and driving to the public. The AA hopes it will have a similar effect to the zero BAC level for drivers under 20 which has seen the number of young drink drivers fall 22%.”

For more information contact:

Mike Noon
General Manager Motoring Affairs
New Zealand Automobile Association
T. 04 931 9984
M. 021 659 704
E. mnoon@aa.co.nz 

The New Zealand Automobile Association is an incorporated society with over one million members. It represents the interests of road users who collectively pay over $2 billion in taxes each year through fuels excise, road user charges and GST.