DfT Floats Random Breath Tests and a Cut to the 80mg Drink Drive Limit

• The Department for Transport asked whether England and Wales should cut the 80mg per 100ml blood alcohol limit, which is well above the 50mg limit that already applies in Scotland.
• The same consultation asked about random breath tests, which Northern Ireland has used from 2016, plus alcohol ignition interlocks and seizing the vehicle of a suspected drink or drug driver on arrest.
• DfT says 16% of road deaths in 2023 involved a driver over the limit, which it puts at roughly 230 to 290 people, and estimates a lower limit could prevent 25 to 100 deaths a year.

DfT Has Asked Whether England and Wales Should Cut the 80mg Drink Drive Limit

The Department for Transport (DfT) opened a public consultation on 7 January 2026 titled Proposed changes to penalties for motoring offences. It closed on 11/05/2026 after four months and now sits on GOV.UK as a closed consultation, last updated on 16 February 2026. The foreword is from Lilian Greenwood MP, the Minister for Local Transport, and DfT says a summary of responses is due within three months of the close.

The drink driving section is the part that would reach the widest group of drivers. The current limit in England and Wales is 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, 35 micrograms per 100ml of breath or 107mg per 100ml of urine. Scotland already runs lower limits of 50mg, 22 micrograms and 67mg. Northern Ireland has planned the same 50mg figure, with a still lower 20mg limit for professional and novice drivers. DfT put the first question to the public in plain terms: should the England and Wales limit be lowered, and if so, to what figure?

A second question asked whether novice drivers should face a lower limit, and the document does not name a figure. A third asked whether the penalties for drivers caught over the limit should change if the limit comes down. Nothing in the consultation page I read confirms a decision on any of this, and the 80mg limit is the one that applies today. No lower limit is in force in England or Wales.

The consultation goes well beyond the limit itself. It also asks whether police should be able to suspend the licence of a suspected drink or drug driver before a court date, whether a vehicle should be seized on arrest in the way it already can be for uninsured driving, and whether alcohol ignition interlocks should return as part of rehabilitation. Those devices stop an engine starting until the driver passes a breath test. DfT notes that the Road Safety Act 2006 provision for them lapsed under a sunset clause.

Random Breath Tests Would Change How Police Can Stop Drivers

The proposal most drivers will notice is random breath testing. At present, police in England and Wales need a reason to ask for a breath test, such as bad driving, a collision or a suspicion that the driver has been drinking. DfT asked whether England and Wales should introduce random testing, mirroring the powers Northern Ireland has had in place from 2016. Under that model, an officer can stop a driver and ask for a breath sample without any suspicion.

For the ordinary driver who never drinks and drives, the practical effect would be more stops at the roadside, and a few extra minutes at the kerb. For a driver who had two pints at lunch and feels fine, the effect would be larger, as the stop would no longer depend on anything the driver did wrong at the wheel.

The consultation also asks about drug driving samples. It floats testing saliva, oral fluid or sweat as alternatives to the current methods, and it asks whether the rules for taking samples from unconscious or hospital-treated suspects could be improved. Drug driving convictions have climbed from 4,924 in 2016 to 17,230 in 2023 and 19,709 in 2024, according to the figures DfT quotes.

Older drivers have featured in other DfT proposals this autumn. Our earlier report on mandatory eye tests for drivers over 70 covered a separate DfT proposal.

The Numbers DfT Uses to Justify a Lower Limit

DfT leans on casualty figures and on research into how risk climbs with each extra drink. In 2023, 16% of road deaths involved a driver over the drink drive limit, which DfT converts to roughly 230 to 290 people, with a central estimate of 260. The consultation says a lower limit could cut fatalities by 25 to 100 a year.

It draws on two reviews. The North review of a 50mg limit estimated that between 43 and 168 lives would be saved in the first year, along with a conservative 280 serious injuries avoided. The earlier Allsop study in 2015 put the saving at about 25 lives and 95 serious injuries a year in Great Britain. The gap between those figures is wide, and DfT does not claim certainty about where in that range a change would land.

The risk multipliers come from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Drivers with 20mg to 50mg in their blood have at least three times the fatal crash risk of a driver with no alcohol. At 50mg to 80mg the risk is at least six times higher, and at 80mg to 100mg it is eleven times higher. The consultation adds that one study points to impairment starting at only 15mg, and that the aviation limit under the Railways and Transport Safety Act is 20mg.

What those numbers show is that the current limit allows a driver to carry a blood alcohol level linked to a sixfold crash risk and still be legal. That is the argument DfT sets out for change. The consultation does not settle where the line should sit. It asks the public to say what the limit should be, and the answer is still to come.

What a Conviction Costs Today and What the Government Asked About Changing

Anyone convicted of driving over the limit currently faces a minimum disqualification of one year, rising to three years if they have been convicted twice in ten years. The same one year and three year pattern applies to driving under the influence of drink or drugs. For causing death by careless driving while under the influence, the minimum is five years, with a compulsory extended retest.

The consultation asked whether those minimum bans are right. It also asked whether the high risk offender threshold should fall alongside a lower limit. That threshold is currently set at two and a half times the limit, which works out as 87.5 micrograms in breath, 200mg in blood or 267.5mg in urine. Drivers above it face a medical check before they get a licence back.

DfT reports that 96% of over the limit prosecutions end in a conviction, and 88% for other drink and drug driving offences. In other words, the courts convict nearly everyone who is charged. The consultation is about who gets stopped and tested in the first place, and about how long the roadside rules leave an impaired driver behind the wheel.

For anyone who drives for work, a ban of a year or more is the real cost. A lower limit would widen the group of drivers exposed to that outcome, which is why the figure DfT settles on is worth following.

What Drivers Should Do While the Rules Stay as They Are

Nothing has changed in law. The 80mg limit still applies in England and Wales, and the stricter 50mg limit applies in Scotland, so a driver crossing the border can fall foul of it. The practical safe line is no alcohol before driving. The number of units that takes a driver over any limit changes with body size, sex, food and how quickly the body processes alcohol.

Drivers who want to respond to the proposals can watch GOV.UK for the department’s summary of responses. If DfT decides to change the limit, introduce random testing or bring back alcohol interlocks, it will need new legislation, and each of those steps would have to be confirmed on legislation.gov.uk with a commencement date before it affects anyone.

Drivers should also watch for the penalty points and seizure proposals in the same consultation. We covered the seatbelt strand in our report on AI cameras flagging 19,145 possible seatbelt offences, and the same document proposes penalty points for no MOT, no vehicle tax and false number plates.

The consultation has closed, and the department’s reply is the next marker. Until it appears, the safest reading of the page is that drink drive law is under review, random breath tests are an option on the table, and no driver in England or Wales is affected by anything other than the existing 80mg limit.

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Sources:

• GOV.UK: Proposed changes to penalties for motoring offences