Alcohol and transport

How shifting attitudes and behaviours around drink driving have brought about change.

One of the most significant changes in British drinking culture over the last forty years has been the decline in drink driving. Before the invention of the breathalyser, the introduction of new laws on blood alcohol limits, and the use of hard-hitting information campaigns, driving under the influence was not a social taboo. Today, while it remains the cause of far too many injuries and deaths, our social norms have changed. For most people, drinking and driving is simply unacceptable.

Nevertheless, in 2016 around 9,000 people were injured in drink-driving accidents, of whom around 230 people were killed. This remains too high and marks an increase of 7% on the previous year – although it is lower than in 2006. Overall, the trend has been towards fewer accidents and injuries as both road safety improves, and the acceptability of getting into a car after drinking falls.

This is a positive change. It shows how a combination of careful law making, effective enforcement, and well-designed public communications can shift attitudes and behaviours, and thereby reduce harm.

However, the law in England and Wales remains out of step with the rest of the world. Here, the blood alcohol limit (BAC) for driving a car is 80mg of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood (sometimes referred to as 0.08%). This is one of the highest levels in the world. In Europe, only Malta and Lichtenstein have levels this high. Elsewhere the level is usually between zero and 0.05%.

In 2014, the Scottish Government reduced the BAC to 0.05%, to bring it closer into line with international norms. We believe the UK Government should follow suit. We have seen that drink-related accidents can be reduced, but to cut them further we need to address the anomaly in our system and bring our law into alignment with the rest of the world.


In the UK, any premises selling alcohol needs to be licensed. This has been the case for centuries and allows for basic controls on the way alcohol is sold to be maintained. The one exception to this is airports, where – once airside – licensing laws no longer apply.

This is a clear anomaly that needs to be addressed. This is not to say that alcohol should be banned from airports – though, given the rising levels of alcohol-related disorder passengers suffer on flights, there are growing calls for some kind of restriction to be introduced. It is, rather, to ask that airport operators follow the same rules as every other alcohol retailer in the country. Anyone selling alcohol should be licensed to do so, and the conditions of that licence should be adhered to. There is no reason why that should apply less in an airport than anywhere else.