Bereaved Lancashire mum calls for 'zero tolerance' on drink driving

Paula Johnson's son was killed at the hands of a drink driver, she now wants to see much tougher rules

Author: Stan TomkinsonPublished 2nd Jul 2024

A Lancashire mum, who's only child was killed by a drink driver, is calling a zero tolerance alcohol limit.

Last month marked five years since Paula Johnson's son, Christian, was killed by a drink driver.

She has been telling us how she wants to see much tougher rules to stop needless lives being lost.

The drink drive limit in England Wales and Northern Ireland is the highest in Europe.

The current limit, measured by alcohol levels in the blood, is 80 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

In Scotland it is 50 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

Paula told us: "The number of road deaths caused by drink drivers and drug drivers is high.

"Nobody should ever go through what I've been through."

"No parent should lose their child, a parent should never bury a child".

"It's destroyed my life, it's obviously killed Christian. I won't have any grandchildren. I'll never see him walk down the isle. All those thing were stolen from be because of a selfish act."

"I don't think enough is being done to date, I've campaigned, I've lost my son, lots of people have lost somebody and there still isn't any justice for families and unfortunately it will happen again."

"The law needs to be put into place immediately, the deterrent isn't enough."

The British Medical Association (BMA) said that deaths caused by drink-driving have not decreased in the last decade, with almost a fifth of all road deaths caused by people who are drunk behind the wheel.

Last month the union, with other medical bodies, alcohol and road safety charities and some organisations representing emergency services, called for action to reduce the current levels of harm.

The new consensus statement calls for the limit to be reduced to 20mg/100ml for all new and commercial drivers and 50mg/100ml for all other drivers "with the ambition to reach 20mg/100ml for all drivers as soon as possible".

We have approached the Department for Transport for comment.

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