Here’s one test that might make our roads much safer

Almost exactly 60 years ago, the British government – a Labour one, as it happens – announced that it was introducing a blood alcohol limit for drivers.

- SEAN O'GRADY

Although driving “under the influence of drink or a drug to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control of the vehicle", which is pretty lax, had been unlawful for some decades, the bar had to be raised (pun intended) because of the rising numbers of booze-related incidents.

There was outrage at this attack on the liberties of freeborn Britons to drive their Morris Oxford into a tree, or worse, after an evening at the Old Horse, and particularly so because the new breathalyser was being introduced by “a lady minister of transport”, as Barbara Castle was regarded at the time, and she hadn’t even passed her driving test. “Women’s lib” suffered significant collateral damage.

All went well, though. Drivers were more sober, and huge advances in car safety cut the casualty figures (82 per cent of alcohol-related casualties are inside the car).

However, the past four years have seen a reversal in the encouraging post-1960s trend. So the government has rightly decided to look again at the drink-driving limit - and reduce it from 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath to 22 micrograms, bringing England into line with Scotland.