The Government will present today in the Plenary a Bill whose objective is to reduce the maximum blood alcohol level allowed for driving.
“Reducing the maximum rate of alcohol behind the wheel is not a whim nor a symbolic gesture. It is a road-safety decision aimed at preventing accidents, injuries and deaths on our roads,” affirmed Manuel Arribas, Socialist spokesperson on Road Safety.
No longer differentiating between novices and professionals
The Bill to be defended by the PSOE seeks to reduce the permitted alcohol limit to 0.1 mg/L in breath or 0.2 g/L in blood. This threshold would apply to all drivers, regardless of license type or experience, and it would be classified as a serious offense: resulting in the loss of two points from the license and a fine of €200.
Recall that the current alcohol limit for driving stands at 0.25 mg/L for general drivers and 0.15 mg/L for novices (those with less than a year of driving experience) and professionals. The Government argues that “Spain has rates that date back 25 years, while other European countries employ lower limits of 0.1 mg/L in breath or 0.2 g/L in blood.”
The 0.5 g/L threshold is the norm in neighboring European countries such as Portugal, France, Germany or Italy. Yet there are stricter regimes, like Norway, or others where the limit is effectively 0.0 and it is illegal to drive with even a milligram of alcohol in the body.
Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic or Romania are cited as examples. In this sense, the Government asserts that the measure is not a “repressive approach,” but an effort to stop normalizing drinking and driving under a fixed limit.
If considered this Tuesday, the rule would move to the next stage of parliamentary processing. Once inside, parties could submit proposed amendments to the text until its final approval in the General Courts, a development that seems quite unlikely. The bill does not provide for entry into force upon its publication in the Official State Gazette; instead, it proposes it take effect two months after approval.
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