Change in limit won't stop hardcore drink-drivers

Regarding the Government’s review of the drink and drug-driving laws
(fleetnews.co.uk, December 8), the UK and Republic of Ireland are the only countries within the EC with an 80 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood drink-drive limit – all the rest use a 50mg or lower limit.

This discrepancy, however, is much smaller than the difference in the penalties for being caught over the limit as only the UK has a mandatory 12-month driving ban for exceeding the limit.

Some countries impose driving bans of as little as seven days for a first offence.

If the UK does move to a 50mg limit and leaves the mandatory 12-month driving ban unchanged, we will see increasingly large numbers of drivers being banned, especially in the morning as most drivers do not understand how long it takes for alcohol to be removed from the system.

Banning these drivers may be considered to be a good thing but the pressing need is for more education, not harsher penalties.

However, I doubt the Government will consider offering an awareness or rehabilitation course in place of a ban for a first offence between 50 and 80mg.

Most drivers banned for drink-driving also lose their jobs so the effect on them is usually devastating, and a large proportion will end up drawing benefits instead of paying taxes.

The real rub is that lowering the drink-drive limit to 50mg will do nothing to stop the hardcore of heavy drinkers who cause the vast majority of the drink-related collisions, injuries and deaths.

Edward Handley, WRRS Consultancy 

Smart repairs need a shake-up

I wholeheartedly agree with the correspondents (Fleet News letters, December 3) that the smart repair industry needs to raise its standards of training.

Until now, smart repair has not been included in the PAS125 standard adopted by the bodywork industry. This is about to change.

The IMI invited us to represent smart repairers on its working party last year to help draw up a framework of standards and competencies for smart repair leading to establishing ATA (Auto-motive Technician Accreditation) or NVQ accredited courses.

After just 18 months we have set the standards and competencies and are now working towards achieving ATA or NVQ accreditation for the training programme.

We are on track for trainees to enrol on the first industry recognised courses at technical colleges at the start of the 2010 academic year.

This is an important progression for all of us involved in smart repair.

Having a nationally recognised qualification will ensure that new-comers are properly equipped with the skills they need to meet the high standards set by Revive! and other reputable repairers and will go a long way towards eradicating the unacceptable poor workmanship described by your readers.

Mark Llewellyn, managing director, Revive!

 

 

Shell clarification

‘Shell cracks down on sat-nav usage’ (Fleet News, December 3) was at odds with our current offering to corporate customers.

The story highlighted how BMW had apparently been asked to look at switching off the navigation screen of its cars because of concerns of driver distraction and general car safety.

This is not the case. BMW’s ConnectedDrive is a function of the navigation system and thus switching it off would be at odds with safety features such as Emergency 999 SOS call and Breakdown call.

Gavin Ward, media relations manager, BMW Group UK