Member’s Bill would restore previous drinkdrive limits
WELLINGTON: New Zealand First is calling for drinkdriving limits to be lifted again, saying the reduction in 2014 did little to reduce road accidents related to drinkdriving.
NZ First MP Darroch Ball has filed a member’s Bill to repeal National’s 2014 law change that lowered drinkdriving limits in a bid to cut accidents and deaths.
Mr Ball said the stricter limits had failed to lower drinkdriving rates or the number of deaths on the roads and targeted the wrong people.
‘‘The vast majority of drivers in fatal drinkdriving accidents have been in the range of twice the legal limit. These are the recidivist, highlevel drinkdrivers we need to be targeting — not hardworking Kiwis who have a beer or wine after work.’’
He said it had also affected rural pubs.
‘‘Since the alcohol breath and blood levels were made more restrictive, the number of drinkdriving accidents has actually increased,’’ he said.
‘‘There has been a 36% increase in charges, 40% increase in convictions, and up to 50% increase in fatalities involving drinkdrivers.’’
National Party transport spokesman JamiLee Ross said National would not support such a move.
He said even at the current limit, someone was twice as likely to have a crash as somebody who had not had a drink.
‘‘Of course, going to complete abolition would be going too far, so we struck a reasonable balance between having safer streets but also allowing New Zealanders to go about normal daily life.’’
He also disputed the figures Mr Ball had used on charges and convictions for drinkdriving offences.
He said the figures showed there were 19,000 convictions in 2014 and that dropped to 15,750 in 2016. In 2009, 30,000 people had been convicted.
Police statistics show there were 20,970 drivingrelated alcohol offences, such as drinkdriving, in 2014, which increased to 25,508 in 2017.
The road toll in 2014 was 293 — 6.5 per 100,000 people. That went to 327 in 2016, seven for every 100,000 people.
Mr Ball’s Bill will not go up before Parliament unless it is drawn from the ballot for members’ Bills. — NZME