By Jamie White – Head of Communications

Road safety charity, Brake, has welcomed a new lower drink drive limit in Scotland which came into force on Friday.

It’s estimated that Police Scotland stop over 80,000 vehicles each month, with around 20,000 offences detected every month.

The Scottish Government has introduced a lower limit of 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, with a multi-media campaign launched to raise awareness of the new law. The rest of the UK retains a 80mg limit – higher than all other EU countries except Malta.

Julie Townsend, Deputy Chief Executive, Brake, said: “As a charity that supports bereaved and injured road crash victims, we witness the suffering that drink and drug driving inflict, and appeal to everyone to help put a stop to it.

“We welcome the new lower limit in Scotland as a positive stepping stone towards zero tolerance. We are calling on the UK government to take action on drink driving. We have the highest drink-drive limit in Europe, sending out the dreadful message that a drink or two before driving is acceptable. The evidence shows that a tough approach helps prevent casualties.”

The Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for justice, Kenny MacAskill, said: “This new law will bring Scotland into line with most of Europe and hopefully reduce drink drive arrests and prosecutions, as we have already seen in the Republic of Ireland, where drivers adjusted their behaviour to take account of the lower limit.”