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The Land Transport Safety Authority is welcoming signals by the transport minister that the allowable blood alcohol limit for drivers, may be lowered.
The Minister Paul Swain wants to reduce the blood alcohol limit from 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 milli-litres of blood, to 50 milligrams.
He says its been predicted that reducing the limit could save up to 14 lives a year and he plans to take a proposal to cabinet by July next year.
At present men can drink 2.5 cans of beer an hour, then no more than half a can per hour. The proposed measure is 1.5 cans in the first hour then a third of a can per hour.
The present level for women is 1.5 glasses of wine in the first hour then a third of a glass per hour. The proposed measure is one glass in the first hour then one-fifth of a glass after that.
The new levels were reached after consultation with the Land Transport Safety Authority, the Ministry of Transport, police, ACC and Transit.
Police say the trend internationally is about lower blood alcohol levels and whereever that has happened overseas, crashes as a result of drink driving come down.
In the mid-nineties, a National government lowered blood/alcohol levels, but on Sunday, its leader says the government's got its priorities wrong.
"I think the limits now are about right but we need more frontline policing to catch the people who are already breaking the law," says Bill English.
Even though this year's road could be the lowest ever, that is not good enough for the law makers.
Alcohol is biggest cause of road deaths in New Zealand being responsible for about 25% of them and it is that statistic which road safety experts want to tackle.
Alcohol is just one part of the campaign as there are also plans to attack speeding motorists and introduce penalty points on the licences of those who drive too fast.
A spokesperson for the LTSA, Andy Knackstedt says the authority has been considering for some time, the positive effects on the road toll if drink-driving laws were made tougher. And he says lowering the blood alcohol limit, does not have to lead to clogging the court system.
Knackstedt says one option would be for those people caught at the lower end of a new limit, to receive instant fines.
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