Senior Victorian policeman calls for BAC rethink

Reducing the national blood alcohol limit for drivers to .02 could substantially cut the number of road fatalities, according to Victorian Assistant Police Commissioner Stephen Fontana.

Speaking at a binge-drinking forum in Melbourne, Mr Fontana said a third of Victorian road crashes involved excessive alcohol.

"We are still getting a lot of drivers who are well over the limit, so we might need to rethink that (.05 limit)," Mr Fontana was quoted as saying in The Age newspaper.

"We still have a lot of problems with alcohol on our roads."

Most Western nations have set blood alcohol limits at between .05 and .08, but some including Sweden and Norway have .02 limits and harsh penalties for breaches.

Other countries which have set a .02 limit include Poland and Estonia, while the likes of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Brazil and – understandably – many Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia have a zero tolerance.

Meanwhile, a high-ranking policeman in the UK recently called for the BAC limit to be reduced to .05, down from .08.

And how’s this for setting an example? Just a day after Fontana’s speech, an off-duty police officer was allegedly almost three times over the legal limit when he crashed his motorcycle in Melbourne this morning.

Deputy Commissioner (Traffic) Ken Lay told radio station 3AW the Senior Constable had a blood alcohol reading of 0.127.

“It’s a very high reading and on a motorcycle as well,” Mr Lay said.

The Senior Constable has been charged with exceeding the prescribed concentration of alcohol, driving an unregistered motorcycle and careless driving.

“We expect more of our members,” he said.

“It’s a really bad message for the community and it undermines the road safety message.

“Our members need to get it (the road safety message) and they need to be an example to the community.”