Lawford Kidd's Blog

Members of the public and young people in particular are being urged to take a zero tolerance approach to drink-driving this festive season to help prevent devastating Christmas tragedies.

A survey of young drivers, released by Brake and Direct Line, finds a shocking three in ten (29%) are willing to take the deadly gamble of driving after drinking alcohol. An even bigger proportion – 53%, up from 45% four years ago – risk driving drunk the day after a heavy night, suggesting widespread complacency about how long alcohol stays in your system.

In 2010, one in seven road deaths involved drink drivers. Around 250 road deaths and 1,230 road casualties occurred when someone was over the drink drive limit. Many more drink-drive crashes are caused by drivers who only have small amounts of alcohol in their blood. A further estimated 65 road deaths per year are caused by drivers who are under the drink-drive limit, but who have a significant amount of alcohol in their blood. Research shows that even very small amounts of alcohol significantly increase reaction times and therefore the risk of crashing.

The Scottish Law Commission has published its Report on the Criminal Liability of Partnerships.

A failed prosecution following the fatal fire at the Rosepark nursing home in 2004 highlighted a problem with the law: a partnership could not be prosecuted once it had been dissolved. The Commission's report addresses this problem and recommends that it should remain competent to prosecute a partnership during a period of five years following its dissolution.

The Report also includes a draft Bill which would give effect to its recommendations.

As the festive party season approaches the road safety charity Brake has welcomed a police crackdown on drink and drug drivers. 

Ellen Booth, Brake senior campaigns officer, said:

“We fully support this vital crackdown on deadly and selfish drink and drug drivers. Every Christmas, and indeed every week of the year, many families are confronted by the death of a loved one, or a terrible injury, caused by drivers wilfully taking these appalling risks. We urge drivers to imagine the consequences for a second and realise it’s never worth chancing your life and other people’s.”

The Scottish Government has published terms of reference for an inquiry to be conducted by the Chief Inspector of Fire and Rescue Authorities. The independent inquiry will report to Ministers by 31st March 2012.

The inquiry was announced by the First Minister following the publication of a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) into the death of Allison Hume. Ms Hume died after falling down a disused mineshaft in Ayrshire.

The FAI, led by Sheriff Leslie, found that her death may have been avoided had a number of reasonable precautions been taken.

The Government has announced plans to begin a major cut back of health and safety legislation as early as January. It will begin an immediate consultation on the abolition of large numbers of health and safety regulations and intends to have removed the first rules from the statute book within a few months.

It will also establish from 1st January a new challenge panel which will allow businesses to get the decisions of health and safety inspectors overturned immediately if they have got it wrong.

The move follows the publication of the Löfstedt Review into health and safety legislation, commissioned by the Employment Minister in March.