A ROAD safety charity reckons that hundreds of thousands of people drink some alcohol before driving.

And even though many are under the legal alcohol limit they are involved in accidents that cost up to 300 lives on UK roads each year.

Now Huddersfield-based Brake says the Government must cut the limit to reduce the tragic toll.

The plea comes after the Examiner revealed how three men were arrested in the Huddersfield area on suspicion of drink-driving after three crashes in the town last Friday night and early on Saturday morning.

The crashes happened in Wellhouse at Golcar, Berry Brow and Lowerhouses.

Research by Brake and breakdown organisation Green Flag says that six out of 10 men and four in 10 women get behind the wheel after drinking alcohol. Both organisations say this high level of mixing drinking and driving is putting lives at risk.

Brake is urging the Government to act now to save lives by reducing the legal alcohol limit from 80 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood to 20.

It is this level in many European countries. including Poland, Sweden and Norway.

The European Union recommends a limit of 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.

Brake believes the Government should put out a zero tolerance message that people should not touch a drop of booze if they are driving.

Its head of campaigns, Cathy Keeler, said: “Drink-drivers can no longer be stereotyped as ‘eight-pint men’.

“It’s feared that part of the problem rests with a high drink-drive limit and confusion over what is ‘safe to drink’.

“While women are less likely to run the risk of breaking the drink-drive limit there are a rising number of female drivers being convicted of drink-driving.”

She added: “People think it won’t happen to them, that they won’t get caught, they won’t be involved in a crash.

“We must challenge these presumptions in order to change drivers’ attitudes and behaviour.

“The thought of getting caught and the consequences need to seem a very real prospect for drivers who through selfishness or ignorance continue to put lives at risk by getting behind the wheel after drinking.

“For drivers who want to abide by the law we must make it easy for them to do so by sending out a very clear message that even one drink is one too many.”

Road safety experts from around the UK have called on the Government to reduce the drink-drive limit. The Government has promised a consultation paper on drink-driving, but has yet to announce when it will be published.

Brake is demanding that the Government:

l Reduce the drink-drive limit to 20mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood. It says this would eliminate any ambiguity over the dangers of drinking and driving. Research shows there is no such thing as a ‘safe’ blood alcohol limit for driving.

l Give police the powers to conduct targeted and random breath tests.

l Provide money for extra traffic police to enforce the law.