Drink law to tighten leash on drivers

UNDER tougher laws proposed by a government working group, suspected drink-drivers will have to submit to tests to determine their alcohol consumption.

The Road Safety Council has endorsed a report which calls for the imposition of a blood-alcohol limit - possibly 0.08 per cent - for drivers, and giving police the power to test suspected offenders.

Working group chairman, Transport Department Road Safety and Standards chief engineer Stephen Yeung Yu-cheong, said the group was drafting amendments to the Road Traffic Ordinance.

''Our aim is to strengthen the existing legislation so it is enforceable. There's no [defined blood-alcohol] limit in the legislation at the moment,'' he said.

''It may take a couple of months because we have to talk to the Attorney-General's Chambers and the Transport Branch.'' Transport Department chief engineer Ching Kam-cheong said the group had looked overseas for guidance, particularly to British law which limited legal blood-alcohol levels to less than 0.08 per cent.

''The reference point we'd be pitching would be the standards now used in Britain. That is 80 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood . . . about three to four drinks,'' Mr Ching said.

''The legislation would allow for blood and breath tests.

''It has taken a long time, but at last we can do something.'' Hong Kong Automobile Association spokesman Andrew Windebank applauded the crackdown, but suggested tighter restrictions.

''The Hong Kong laws are archaic; they need overhauling,'' he said.

''As to the actual limit that's chosen, 80 mg may be too high here, where most citizens don't drink too much . . . the body does not have a tolerance.

''What the HKAA eventually will be looking at is a zero limit.'' Legislator Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee said the tougher laws, if fair and workable, would gain legislators' support.

''That seems very sensible [but] Britain is so strict, we'll have to look at the levels,'' she said.

''I'll need to look at the bill, and obviously there will be consultation, but the idea of having limits and tests is sensible.'' Fellow legislator Moses Cheng Mo-chi approved the spirit of the changes, but said the scope of police powers would require close scrutiny.

''I would support anything that will make our roads safe but I will first have to consider the scope of the legislation,'' Mr Cheng said.

''Drink-driving has not been the major problem we're facing, unless police feel they are without power to do the testing.'' The group's amendments would give police legal backing to test drivers involved in serious accidents by taking a sample of their breath, urine or blood.

Chief Staff Officer of the Police Traffic Wing, Jim Walker, said police would welcome the tools to do their jobs.

''It's pointless legislating for a limit without giving police the power to test,'' he said.

A government study on drink-driving, abandoned three months into a planned 12-month run, highlighted the frustration of being unable to test suspected drink-drivers without their consent, Mr Walker said.

Drivers involved in ''almost every serious accident'' in Hong Kong had refused blood-alcohol tests, he said.

The working group, involving the Transport Department, Transport Branch, Department of Health and the Hong Kong Automobile Association, is expected to put the proposed amendments to the Legislative Council next year.