NZ Blood Alcohol Limit Dropped to 50mg/100ml

[kingkarl 136]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11151344

[Phil-540i 166]

Good move. Nice to see they've finally had the balls to do it.

[lord_jagganath 421]

this is good. I must now reduce the consumption of Christmas cake from 3 slices to 2.

[*Glenn* 854]

Good move. Nice to see they've finally had the balls to do it.

+1

Pitty they don't have the balls to outlaw smoking too. It might hurt for a short time... but collectively we would all be better well off.

Edited November 4, 2013 by *Glenn*

[Ahmedsinc 414]

+1

Pitty they do'nt have the balls to outlaw smoking. It might hurt for a short time... but collectivaly we would all better well off.

Far more effective to tax it into oblivion.

Seems prohibition isn't as effective in practice as it is in theory. Or at least it wasn't with alcohol in the past. Or cannabis, meth and party drugs presently, for that matter.

Hike the price of a pack of Marlboros up to $40 overnight, and watch Philip Morris & BAT go bust in a month.

Agree with the OP though. Imagine a zero alcohol related road toll.............

[Phil-540i 166]

True that Glenn..........sometimes we tend to get hooked up on whats really 'small stuff' in perspective - I agree re the smoking (& I'm still a smoker at the mo...........). IMO, prostrate cancer & youth suicide in NZ are other areas that seriously need looked at as well..............too many people are being taken outa the game too early on both counts...........

[Ultrarandom 3]

After watching that Campbell live thing the other night, this doesn't surprise me.
Being under 21 Ive been on complete 0 since I started driving anyway.

[euroriffic 607]

+1

Pitty they do'nt have the balls to outlaw smoking. It might hurt for a short time... but collectivaly we would all better well off.

I don't think this would ever happen, government would loose to much money in tax revenue

[westy 614]

Yay the police state.

[huff3r 347]

I'd much rather go for a drive than go for a drink anyway. And when I do want to drink... That's what the gf is for.

[polley 916]

Wankers

[Phil-540i 166]

Yay the police state.

Gee Westy - imagine it though if Labour & Uncle Clarke were still running the show...........

I think its a great move - brings us into line with Aussie, & its not really gonna affect people that don't make a habit out of it anyway........it'll potentially bite those that get a few speeding tickets too though, or demerits for other offences..........

Remember that it takes 2 years from offence date, before demerit points fall off your licence.......& once you reach 100 points within 2 years, you're then a walker for either 3, or 6 months.......

[westy 614]

Meh, it's only a $200 fine, which no-one will pay anyway...

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2132]

& once you reach 100 points within 2 years, you're then a walker for either 3, or 6 months.......

in theory anyway

[Neal 544]

I think its good news.

Been taken out by a drunk driver on HW1 , still remember the screaming from the girls after the impact, having to revive one of them, the dash board exploding as my mates knees when through it despite wearing a seat belt. The mess in the other car with the passenger that wasn't wearing a seatbelt , rib cage broken and barely breathing,The driver with his broken nose realising the carnage that he'd caused. Having to hold back a mate from beating the living daylights out of the driver after we revived his girlfriend. The traffic backed up as far as I could see and the long wait for the ambos .

Not sure if this new laws will change much but due to personal circumstance I'm for it.

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

The problem I see is that it won't stop the hard-core drunk driver, who is way over the limit anyway and just doesn't care - these are the ones that are the big danger and cause the real big accidents I believe.

I've had guys working for me that have been done for DUI three, four, five times and were banned but still drove and still did it pissed, was not impressed.

Those that will fall foul of this will be the people stopped at a road-block that have have had one beer after work and are on the way home and are marginally over the new limit.

I hope I am wrong and it works, we shall see..

[qube 3570]

Agree with above point. However, the only real way to make this work and make it fair to all is a zero limit policy. It's been done overseas and works well I believe. If you choose to drink even one sip, then don't drive. Putting in a new limit just makes people assume things like "oh one beer will be okay" or "oh it's been a couple of hours I can probably have another glass of white wine it's only 14%" then realizing at a checkpoint how wrong they were.

[jeffbebe 1559]

Zero tolerance makes little or no difference to the repeat offenders either. As far as I can tell - watching Police 10-7 etc - is that the punishments for drink driving are simply not strong enough. If you can loosely prove that you need your car to get to work or whatever you get to keep your license. If you were so pissed you can't walk and could definitely have killed yourself - or worse - someone else, you get 6 months with no license and a small fine. And a lot of people hop straight back in a car anyway because no-one's really checking that they don't drive for that 6 months.

In the UK, you avoid drink driving because the penalties are rightly harsh. Extended loss of license, criminal charges for reckless driving, big fines, etc - and they follow up and check that you're paying your dues, not driving, painting the community centre, etc.

[Phil-540i 166]

Ditto - totally agree it will have no effect or deterrent to those repeat offenders who drive with extremely high levels.........I think the penalties are there for it now, its just judges seldom use whats available to them scope-wise within the legislation.

Being caught once over the 80mg limit, could be taken as 'a learning experience' maybe, or even classed as a 'mistake / wrong decision'. More than that, IMO, starts to indicate streaks of ignorance, arrogance & stupidity........