2 days ago
New driving rules could see thousands banned, with new tests for over 70s
The Government is planning a major overhaul of driving rules that could see thousands of people taken off the roads. The changes include more bans for people over 70 and people who drive while passengers are not wearing seatbelts, as well as tougher drink-drive laws.
According to The Times, the new laws are expected to reduce the drink-drive limit in England and Wales to 22 micrograms, the same level as in Scotland, from the current limit of 35.
It comes as serious casualties from road accidents have increased 20 per cent - with 28,000 badly injured last year. That was the highest since 2007.
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The new plans could include a ban for all drivers over 70 who fail a compulsory eye test. The UK currently relies on older drivers reporting themselves if they believe they are not safe to drive. There could be new medical tests for older drivers in a bid to detect conditions such as dementia.
There could also be new drug-driving rules, such as making roadside tests using saliva admissible in evidence. And there could be criminal penalties for driving without insurance, and new rules to tackle plates that cannot be read by speed and ANPR cameras.
A government source told The Times: "It cannot be right that one person is killed or seriously injured on our roads every 18 minutes. Just think of the impact on those people and their families. We cannot sit by and simply do nothing."
New rules are expected to be published this autumn ahead of a consultation before they are passed into law. Edmund King, the president of the AA, said: "It is in everyone's interests to tackle road safety and bring the levels of death and serious injuries down significantly."
A Labour source said: 'At the end of the last Labour government, the number of people killed and seriously injured on our roads was at a record low, but numbers have remained stubbornly high under successive Conservative governments.
'In no other circumstance would we accept 1,600 people dying, with thousands more seriously injured, costing the NHS more than £2 billion per year.'
Meanwhile, the number of people killed in drink-driving incidents has risen over the past decade, reaching a 13-year high in 2022 and prompting concern that existing road safety measures are no longer working.
Under the plans being considered by Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, the drink-drive limit in England and Wales could be cut from 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath to 22 micrograms.
This figure would be in line with Scotland, which cut its drink-drive limit in 2014, and the rest of Europe, where no other country has a limit as high as that in England and Wales.
The UK is also one of only three European countries to rely on self-reporting of eyesight problems that affect driving, leading ministers to consider compulsory eye tests every three years for drivers aged over 70 and a driving ban for those who fail.
Other proposals are reported to include allowing the police to bring prosecutions for drug-driving on the basis of roadside saliva tests rather than blood tests as increasing numbers of drivers are being caught with drugs in their system.
The Labour source added: 'This Labour Government will deliver the first road safety strategy in a decade, imposing tougher penalties on those breaking the law, protecting road users and restoring order to our roads.'
