Drink driving: do you know your limits?

ON THE first day of the new police campaign against drink-driving yesterday, a Cyprus Mail vox pop found just 16 per cent of people asked were familiar with blood-alcohol limits in Cyprus.
Of six men and six women stopped at random in Nicosia’s old town yesterday, just two – one male and one female – correctly identified the limit for drinking when driving. Five of the twelve respondents said they did not drink and drive at all, though the rest conceded to drinking varying amounts when driving.
Blood alcohol is tested in two ways: by an breathe test or ‘alcotest’, for which the Cyprus limit is 39mg of alcohol per litre of breath; and by blood test, for which the limit is 90mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.
Sixty-year-old Nigel Green, did not know the exact legal limit of alcohol consumption for drivers in Cyprus. “I would have thought it’s similar to whatever it is in the UK, but I’m not sure. I will drive after a couple of glasses of wine or a couple of small beers but not more than that.”
Twenty-five-year-old Costas Demetriou and 29-year-old Stelios Kyriakou were unfamiliar with Cyprus drink-drive limits, but said they would never drink-drive.
Marios Louca, 38, agreed but added: “But of course I am aware of others drinking and driving. You can’t help but think about it. It is a worry.”
His concerns were echoed by 50-year-old Yianna Constantinou: “I don’t know the legal limit but my husband and I never drink and drive,” she said. “You’ve got to consider others besides yourselves – you could kill someone.”
Koulla Hadjithoma, 20, was also unfamiliar with the limit. “I don’t know the limit. But I think it’s different depending on whether you have had wine or beer,” she said. “I can’t drive but I wouldn’t drink-drive if I could. I know quite a few people who do and I would never get in a car with them if I thought they had drunk too much.”
Nineteen-year-old Turkish Cypriot Bengul Tosun, from occupied Nicosia, was not familiar with the alcohol limits in the free areas. “But I don’t drink and drive,” she said. Forty-six-year-old Nicos Nicolaou admitted he did not know Cypriot drink-drive laws but conceded he might “drink a little bit when I’m driving – I might have a large beer. I have been stopped and breathalysed but I hadn’t been drinking at the time. When I drink a lot my wife always drives us home as she doesn’t drink alcohol.”
A 43-year-old taxi driver said: “The limit is 39mg. I know as a taxi driver that I can’t have more than one small beer.”
The rest of the respondents could not say how many alcoholic drinks the legal limit translated into, a question which two police officers also failed to answer.
Three of the respondents did not believe police were likely to catch them drink-driving.
A 25-year-old woman, who correctly identified the limit, said she probably did drink over the legal level on occasions. “It’s a gamble on whether Bambos and Haris can be bothered that night,” she said. “I’m pretty confident I won’t get caught here. Police here just aren’t as vigilant as they are in other countries.”
Twenty-six-year-old Maria, who did not wish to reveal her surname, said she did not “think twice” about drink-driving. “But I don’t get catatonic.”
“Though I let my husband drive me home after he’s drunk half a bottle of whiskey. But when we go home the streets are empty.”
She said the threat of a breathe test did not deter her. “I have been stopped by police and breathalysed but if you get caught you’re not going to get your licence taken away. If I thought I would lose my licence then there’s no way I would even consider it.”
One 19-year-old girl said: “When I’m drunk I think I’m a better driver. And I’m not too worried the police will catch me.”
The current drink-drive limit in the UK is 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, which translates to 35mg alcohol per litre of breath. The vast majority of other European Union countries already have a maximum drink-drive limit of 50mg or lower.
The UK, Ireland, Italy and Luxembourg are the only four EU member states that have drink-drive limits of more than 50mg of alcohol in the blood.
Cyprus is expected to follow the 50mg limit per 100ml of blood towards the end of the year, when the relevant bill is approved by the House of Representatives.