The UK Government Is Planning The Biggest Shake-Up Of Driving Laws In Years. Here Is What Could Change

The UK Government published its Road Safety Strategy in January 2026, and buried within it is a package of proposed changes that, if enacted, would represent the most significant overhaul of driving laws in a generation. Mandatory eyesight tests for older drivers. A lower drink-drive limit for England and Wales. Breathalyser ignition locks for repeat offenders. Penalty points for not wearing a seatbelt. Mandatory safety technology in every new car sold.

Most drivers have no idea any of this is on the table. The public consultation closes on 11 May 2026, and the responses received will shape which of these proposals become law. Here are the seven changes that could affect every driver in the country.

1. VED Has Already Gone Up, And EVs Are No Longer Exempt

This one is not a proposal. It is already in effect. From 1 April 2026, the standard rate of Vehicle Excise Duty increased from £195 to £200 per year, an RPI-linked rise that applies to all cars registered after April 2017.

The bigger change for electric vehicle owners actually arrived a year earlier. From April 2025, zero-emission vehicles lost their full VED exemption and began paying the standard rate for the first time. If you bought an EV partly because of the zero road tax benefit, that saving is now gone.

There is one piece of good news for EV buyers shopping at the higher end of the market. The Expensive Car Supplement threshold, the price above which buyers pay an additional annual surcharge for the first five years of ownership, has been raised from £40,000 to £50,000 for zero-emission vehicles only. That means an electric car priced at £48,000 no longer attracts the supplement, while a petrol or diesel car at the same price still does. For mid-range EV buyers, that is a meaningful saving over the first five years.

2. Mandatory Eyesight Tests For Drivers Aged 70 And Over

Under current rules, drivers over 70 must renew their licence every three years, but the process relies entirely on self-declaration. Drivers confirm that they meet the minimum eyesight standard. There is no test. No verification. If you can sign the form, you keep your licence.

The Government is consulting on changing that. The proposal would introduce mandatory eyesight testing for drivers aged 70 and over at the point of licence renewal. The details of how the tests would be administered, who would conduct them, and what happens if a driver fails are all part of the consultation. The consultation document published by the Department for Transport specifically seeks views on the frequency of testing and the clinical standards that should apply.

This is one of the most sensitive proposals in the package. It needs to be handled carefully, and the Government has acknowledged that. Poor eyesight is a contributing factor in road collisions, and the current self-declaration system relies on drivers accurately assessing their own vision, something that deteriorates gradually and is often not noticed by the person affected. The proposal is about road safety, not about restricting older drivers for the sake of it.

3. A Lower Drink-Drive Limit For England And Wales

The legal drink-drive limit in England and Wales has stood at 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood since 1967. Scotland reduced its limit to 50mg in 2014. The Government is now consulting on bringing England and Wales into line with Scotland and with the majority of European countries.

In practical terms, the difference is significant. At 80mg, most adults can drink roughly a pint and a half of average-strength beer or a large glass of wine and remain under the limit, though this varies with body weight, metabolism, and whether you have eaten. At 50mg, even a single pint could put some drivers over the line. For smaller adults, a single glass of wine could be enough.

The proposal does not change the penalties for drink-driving, which already include an unlimited fine, a driving ban of at least 12 months, and up to six months in prison. What it changes is the threshold at which those penalties apply. If enacted, a significant number of drivers who currently believe they are safe to drive after one drink would no longer be within the legal limit.

4. Alcolock Devices For Repeat Drink-Drive Offenders

Alongside the lower limit proposal, the Government is consulting on requiring repeat and high-risk drink-drive offenders to have an alcohol interlock device fitted to their vehicle as a condition of regaining their licence.

An alcolock, also known as a breathalyser ignition interlock, is a device wired into the car’s ignition system. Before the engine will start, the driver must blow into the device and provide an alcohol-free breath sample. If alcohol is detected, the car will not start. Random retests are required during the journey to prevent someone else providing the initial sample.

The technology is already widely used in several European countries, the United States and Australia. Road safety organisations including the RAC, Brake and RoSPA have written to the Transport Secretary urging adoption in the UK. The consultation is exploring which categories of offender the requirement would apply to, how long the device would need to remain fitted, and who would bear the cost of installation and monitoring.

5. Penalty Points For Not Wearing A Seatbelt

Under current law, failing to wear a seatbelt carries a fine of up to £500, but no penalty points. The Government is consulting on adding three penalty points to the offence, bringing it into line with other safety-related violations like using a mobile phone while driving.

The rationale is straightforward. Seatbelts reduce the risk of fatal injury by roughly 50 per cent in a frontal collision. Despite this, an estimated 1.6 million journeys are made every day in the UK with at least one unbelted occupant. The current fine-only penalty has been criticised by road safety groups as insufficient to deter non-compliance, particularly among repeat offenders who treat the fine as a minor inconvenience.

Adding penalty points changes the calculus significantly. Three points per offence means that a driver caught unbelted on four separate occasions would face a driving ban under the totting-up procedure. For professional drivers who rely on their licence for their livelihood, even a single three-point endorsement carries real consequences.

6. Mandatory Advanced Safety Technology In All New Cars

The European Union’s General Safety Regulation 2, known as GSR2, already requires all new cars sold in the EU to include a suite of advanced driver assistance systems. These include autonomous emergency braking, lane-keeping assistance, intelligent speed assistance, driver drowsiness detection, and event data recorders. The regulation has been phased in since 2022, with expanded requirements taking effect from July 2024 for all new vehicles.

The UK, post-Brexit, is not bound by GSR2. In practice, most new cars sold in the UK already include these features because manufacturers build to a single European specification. But there is no domestic legal requirement for them. The Government is now consulting on mandating 18 specific vehicle safety technologies under UK type approval, which would close that gap and ensure that every new car sold in Britain meets the same safety baseline regardless of where it was built or originally intended for sale.

For buyers, this would mean that features like automatic emergency braking, lane-keeping assistance and speed limit recognition would be guaranteed on every new car, not just on higher trim levels or as part of optional safety packs. For the market as a whole, it would level the playing field and prevent manufacturers from offering stripped-down, lower-safety specifications for the UK market.

7. Tougher Enforcement On Illegal Number Plates

The final proposal targets illegal and cloned number plates, which have become an increasingly visible problem as the UK’s network of ANPR cameras has expanded. Automatic number plate recognition is now used for everything from speeding enforcement and congestion charging to insurance checks and police operations. A vehicle with a misspaced, obscured, or cloned plate can evade all of it.

The Government is consulting on increasing penalties for number plate offences and giving the DVLA new powers to seize vehicles displaying illegal plates. Current enforcement is inconsistent, and the penalties have not kept pace with the scale of the problem. MPs have warned that as many as one in 15 vehicles on UK roads may be displaying plates that do not meet legal standards.

For law-abiding drivers, illegal plates are not a victimless offence. Cloned plates can result in innocent motorists receiving fines, penalty charges and even criminal investigations for offences committed by someone else. Tougher enforcement and meaningful penalties would benefit every driver who keeps their plates legal and readable.

What Happens Next

The consultation on these proposals closes on 11 May 2026. After that, the Government will review the responses and decide which measures to take forward into legislation. Some could be enacted relatively quickly through secondary legislation. Others, particularly those requiring new infrastructure like alcolock fitting centres or eyesight testing facilities, would take longer to implement.

None of these proposals are guaranteed to become law. But the breadth and ambition of the package suggests the Government is serious about a significant tightening of UK driving regulations. If even half of these measures are enacted, the impact on everyday drivers will be substantial. The consultation is open to the public, and any driver who wants to have their say on these changes can respond through the GOV.UK website before the 11 May deadline.

Sources

GOV.UK: Vehicle Excise Duty – Expensive Car Supplement threshold increase for zero emission vehicles (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vehicle-excise-duty-for-expensive-car-supplement-threshold-increase-for-zero-emission-vehicles/increase-in-the-vehicle-excise-duty-expensive-car-supplement-threshold-for-zero-emission-cars)

RAC: Car tax bands 2026 (https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/buying-and-selling-guides/car-tax-bands-explained/)

GOV.UK: Introducing mandatory eyesight testing for older drivers – consultation (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/introducing-mandatory-eyesight-testing-for-older-drivers)

GOV.UK: Proposed changes to penalties for motoring offences – consultation (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/proposed-changes-to-penalties-for-motoring-offences/proposed-changes-to-penalities-for-motoring-offences)

AlcoSense: Drink-Drive Limit Reduction (https://alcosense.co.uk/news/2026-drink-drive-limit-reduction-overdue-but-welcome.html)

RAC: What is an alcolock? (https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/legal/what-is-an-alcolock/)

Road Safety GB: Calls for mandatory alcohol interlock technology for repeat drink-driving offenders (https://roadsafetygb.org.uk/news/calls-for-mandatory-alcohol-interlock-technology-for-repeat-drink-driving-offenders/)

RAC: What is GSR2? (https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/road-safety/what-is-gsr2-important-eu-car-safety-features-explained/)

Fleet News: What are the 18 vehicle safety technologies government wants to mandate (https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/-what-are-the-18-vehicle-safety-technologies-government-wants-to-mandate)

Fleet News: MPs warn one in 15 vehicles have illegal number plates (https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/mps-warn-one-in-15-vehicles-have-illegal-number-plates)