A Bank of Scotland (BoS) report has shown that the new drink-driving laws in Scotland have been a little bit more successful than they had planned.
The new law lowered the legal limits for how much alcohol could be found in your blood before you would be charged with drunk driving to 50mg, and motorists were told that the only way to ensure they wouldn't be caught was not to drink at all.
The report from BoS showed that it had been a "poor month" for the private sector, and speaking about the findings, the bank's chief economist Donald McRae said "manufacturing exporters have been affected by the falling Euro, while services businesses in hospitality are seeing a changing pattern of spending resulting from the lowered alcohol limit while driving".
A survey in February estimated that the hospitality industry had seen a 60% drop in bar sales in the first two months since the law came into effect, while Paul Waterson, chief executive of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, said "We feel it’s had an effect far worse than the smoking ban had in 2006. There’s questions being asked about the future of the trade – it’s probably the last nail in the coffin for independent operators."
As for the police, they say the stats on how many arrests have been made and whether numbers have fallen or risen won't be available until the autumn.
Via Vice, The Independent
