Support for total drink ban for teen drivers

The Automobile Association (AA) today gave its conditional support for a total alcohol ban for teenage drivers.

Motoring general manager Mike Noon said the AA had two conditions on its backing for a zero blood-alcohol level for drivers under 20 years -- expected to be announced in the Government's "Safer Journeys" strategy on Wednesday.

"There does need to be a level of tolerance," he said.

The AA did not want to see teens who still had a residual alcohol level from a party the night before arrested on the way to work the next day.

And if a driver registered above that "tolerance", but did not get to the present threshold of 30 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, there should be scope for avoiding imposing a drink-drive conviction.

"A drink-driving conviction is a serious criminal offence, it can affect your ability to travel to other countries - we should not be too tough on young people compared with the rest of the population," said Mr Noon.

"But we do have a problem - in the later teens - with alcohol, and with speed."

The existing 30mg blood-alcohol level in a teenager is equivalent to the 80mg threshold for adults, but some lobbyists have also called for the adult legal maximum to be cut to 50mg of alcohol for each 100ml of blood, which would allow most adult drivers to have a couple of drinks and remain "legal".

Cabinet is expected to decide on the strategy next month, though Transport Minister Steven Joyce has said there could be some leniency shown for drivers found with tiny traces of alcohol.

According to Mr Joyce, New Zealand's rate of road fatalities among young people is about 30 percent higher, on a per head basis, than Australia.

Ministry of Transport figures for 2008 show young people aged 15-20 were involved in about 37 percent of all fatal crashes and serious injury crashes, including those caused by alcohol.

Crashes where young drivers were at fault resulted in 122 deaths and 800 serious injuries in 2008, at a cost to society of about $1.1 billion.

In the 12 months to September last year, there were 67 deaths and 506 serious injuries in crashes involving drivers aged 15-19, with 21 of those deaths and 113 serious injuries involving alcohol.

A lot of Australian states already have zero blood-alcohol limits for learner and probationary drivers, and Mr Noon told NZPA such a law-change on this side of the Tasman would "send a very clear message" not to mix drinking and driving. He hoped to find out details of the strategy at a meeting tomorrow with Mr Joyce.

The Alcohol Advisory Council (Alac) has also welcomed the proposed zero alcohol level for teen drivers, and its chief executive Gerard Vaughan said the council had been seeking the change for some time, and also wanted the 50mg limit for adults.

The 80mg level allowed a man of average height and weight to consume six standard drinks within 90 minutes - about three-quarters of a bottle of wine, and a woman to have four standard drinks - about half a bottle of wine.