Reduced alcohol limit from .05 to .02 is just silly except for the yongest of driver. Hell I get to 0.2 smelling a beer and 0.5 is no imparement at all. Now they want to ban mobile phones in cars even if they are hands free. What they are trying to do is remove all risk from living. they just can not do that. I can lower the road toll. Stop everyone from driving. That will fix the stats for them.
Advances in technology will only continue and having this technology around us all the time is just the way it will be. banning it in cars is a stupid idea. Peole will just break the law. If i am late to a meeting and am stuck in traffic, I ring them. If I have a long trip i attend meetings in the car. I use my time in the car to talk to people on the phone, hands free. It is dangerous to dial or read texts while driving and that will be easier in the future with preprogrammed numbers or voice activated dialing getting better. Is it ilegal to change the radio channel, change a CD or just play with the dials on the dashboard... no. It is the same in my mind.
Being alive is a risk. the risk is you may die. We have to manage the risks not elimate them. This one just pisses me off. I can remove all risks... take none, do nothing, move no-where.
Who here has a good argument supporting the reports view. It was good to see the government still favours hands free but i wonder hw long before the PC tell you how to do everything brigade get their way.
http://theage.drive.com.au/motor-news/b ... 1ak61.html
Bans on drinking and phones would save lives: report Adam Carey
February 8, 2011
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A driver on his phone in Chapel Street. Photo: John Woudstra
DRINK-DRIVING laws could be toughened to reduce the limit from .05 to .02 or even zero for people aged under 26, after a national road safety report found younger drivers contributed to more than a third of alcohol-related road deaths.
The possibility of banning mobile phone use while driving is also raised by the report, which says that all phone use is a dangerous distraction. It is currently legal to use a hands-free device while driving.
''There is evidence to support bans on all mobile phone use while driving,'' it states.
Advertisement: Story continues below However, the state government has indicated it favours current laws allowing use of hands-free mobile phones for all but learner and probationary drivers.
The report reveals that in Victoria, those aged 18 to 25 account for just 13 per cent of licensed drivers, but 36 per cent of all drink-drivers killed in road crashes.
''Reducing the legal BAC [blood alcohol content] limit from 0.05 to zero (or 0.02) for young drivers up to the age of 26 would prevent a significant number of deaths and serious injuries per year across Australia,'' the report states.
''It has been suggested that this would have a similar benefit as raising the legal drinking age from 18 to 21 years without the same level of impact on the community.''
The draft report, which is being reviewed by all transport ministers, noted the experience of Sweden, which reduced its drink-driving limit from .05 to .02 in the 1990s and had a 10 per cent drop in fatal crashes involving alcohol.
But road safety expert Missy Rudin-Brown warned such a change would not affect the more serious drink-drive offenders. ''Lowering the blood-alcohol limit from .05 to .02 for drivers is not likely to have that much of a significant effect on crash risk, because the people who are .02 or .05 are the same people, they have just one drink,'' said Dr Rudin-Brown, senior research fellow at Monash University Accident Research Centre.
The report also proposes greater use of alcohol locking devices to prevent drink-drivers getting behind the wheel, arguing that with their use, drink driving could be almost eliminated within 10 years.
Victoria Police reacted cautiously to the proposal. A spokeswoman said any decision to toughen drink-driving laws ''would need to be well researched and evidence-based''.
Victoria's police minister, Peter Ryan, said he was against a mobile phone ban.
''These things are always worth considering but I have my misgivings … '' he said on 3AW. ''It would cause a lot of interruption to the way in which people live their lives.''
There was little support for a ban among car makers. Holden safety integration manager, Steve Curtis, said a balance needed to be struck between technological advancement and avoiding driver distraction.
The draft report is up for consultation until February 18 and scheduled to take effect later this year
