December 8, 1998. Copyright, 1998, Graphic News. All rights 
reserved.

DRINK DRIVE HORROR ON SCREEN
By Margot Nesdale

LONDON, December 8, Graphic News: HARD-HITTING television 
commercials reconstructing alcohol-related road smashes are part 
of the GovernmentÕs Christmas crackdown on drink-driving.
	Accident scenes showing bloodstained clothes lying on the road 
and wrecked cars will hammer home to viewers the dangers of 
getting behind the wheel after a drink. The hard-hitting £2 
million national campaign, launched last week, targets those 
greatest at risk: male drivers aged 17 to 24.
The graphic ads will be broadcast daily into living rooms until 
New YearÕs Eve.
Drink-drivers also face having their vehicles confiscated and 
sold off as part of the campaign.
However the Government has abandoned plans to reduce the legal 
blood alcohol limit from 80mg to 50mg, to allow police to  
concentrate on hard core offenders who ignore the present limit.
A move to lower the limit would save between 30 and 80 lives a 
year, according to a 10-month investigation into drink-drive 
reform by the Government.
Previous drink-driving campaigns have proved successful and 
drink-driving has dropped dramatically over the past ten years.
There were 900 drink drive fatalities in 1987, compared with 540 
(provisional) in 1997.
They accounted for 15% of total deaths on BritainÕs roads Š 3599 
last year Š which  transport officials say is too high.
However driversÕ attitudes have improved towards drink-driving, 
according to the Department of the Environment, Transport and the 
Regions.
In 1997, 189,000 drivers and riders in road injury accidents were 
breath tested with a 4%  failure rate, 13% lower than the failure 
rate for 65,000 drivers tested in 1987. Convictions for 
alcohol-related offences are also falling, with 95,000 in 1996 
compared to114,000 in 1989.
/ENDS

Sources: Department of the Environment, Transport and the 
Regions, Reuters