RAC welcomes new road safety measures announced for Northern Ireland

RAC chief engineer David Bizley said: “The RAC warmly welcomes news that new road safety measures have been passed today by the Northern Ireland Assembly. Northern Ireland will now follow Scotland, which reduced its drink drive limit in December 2014 in having a drink drive level more on par with countries in Europe. Lower drink drive limits are supported by motorists, with more than half (56%) of motorists supporting a reduction in the blood-alcohol limit to 50mg/100ml or less from the current 80mg/100ml level according to the 2015 RAC Report on Motoring. If the lower limits in Northern Ireland and Scotland result in fewer road traffic accident casualties, the UK Government should follow suit and adopt the lower limit across the England and Wales.

“The introduction of a new Graduated Driver Licensing Scheme in Northern Ireland is also a positive move in an effort to improve the skills of young drivers and to cut the number of young drivers involved in road traffic collisions. Young drivers make up a small proportion of UK licence holders, but are involved in a disproportionately high number of fatal and serious accidents. If the system is a success, this should encourage the UK Government to consider introducing similar measures in Great Britain in order to help reduce young driver casualties.”