The Defence Brief

Drink driving limits vary not only between countries but also between the various parts of the UK In part 3 of this four-part series comparing the drink driving law in Norway with that here in the UK following the driving conviction of Halfords finance director, Jonny Mason, we turn our attention to the question of the drink driving limit. In other words, how much alcohol can you have in your system and still be allowed to drive? In Part 1 we looked at whether a golf buggy could be a motor vehicle here in the UK and concluded that it could not unless it was modified. In Part 2 we considered whether a person could commit a drink driving offence on a private golf resort and concluded that while it is possible, it seems unlikely that drink driving on this resort (if it were in the UK) would be a crime. Now, we ask whether Mr Mason would have committed a crime if he had driven a car on a road with the amount of alcohol in his system that he had in Norway. Throughou...

Targeting distracted drivers I already have a great deal of experience dealing with breathalysers , maybe I’ll soon need to expand into “textalysers” if this plan from America takes off. New York law makers are looking to introduce “Evan’s Law” that would allow police to use devices at the roadside to see whether drivers have been texting while driving.  The name comes from Evan Lieberman who was killed in a car crash when Michael Fiddle claimed he fell asleep while driving – in the UK Fiddle would likely have been guilty of causing death by dangerous driving if he made an admission like that but in New York it seems that wasn’t enough to bring a charge against him as a grand jury refused to indict him.  The parents of Mr Lieberman felt there was more to the story than Mr Fiddle falling asleep and were able to force the release of Mr Fiddle’s telephone records, which showed he had been texting sometime earlier, although a judge said that had not been a factor in th...

Mr Bean's home made self-driving  (sort of)  car Because I run London Drink Driving Solicitor and people like to be clever, I am occasionally asked what the legal position is should self-driving cars be released for sale vis-à-vis drink driving.  I assume that a lot of people would like to be able to go out, get drunk and then travel home in their own car without putting themselves or anybody else in danger – nice thought, I like the idea too. What’s the legal position? First, section 5 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 says that a person who drives or attempts to drive a motor vehicle on a road or other public place while the alcohol in the breath, blood or urine exceeds the drink driving limit commits an offence.  It also goes on to say that anybody who is in charge of a motor vehicle with alcohol above the drink driving limit commits an offence.  So, we have two offences, drink driving and being in charge. For the purposes of this exercise we’l...