AROUND 450 road deaths and serious injuries could be avoided each year if Britain adopted European Central Time, according to a new report. The yet-to-be-published study, jointly produced by the Transport Research Laboratory and University College London, is being considered by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, and the Scottish Office.

Road safety minister Baroness Hayman has told the House of Commons: 'The TRL has recently refined its previous estimates of the net savings in road casualties in Great Britain were European Central Time to be adopted. 'Their recently received report gives a central estimate, from which there could be significant variations, of about 450 deaths and serious injuries which might be saved.'

She added that it was estimated that a reduction in the blood alcohol limit from 80mg per 100ml of breath to 50mg per 100ml would save around 300 fatal or serious casualties per year. This is one of the options mooted in a consultation paper on ways of cracking down on drink-driving launched by transport minister Gavin Strang last month.