NO-ONE would dispute the case for the fullest measures to be used against drink-driving.

By starting public consultation on the issue, the government moved a step closer today to lowering the legal breath-test limit to a "one-pint-only" level.

But one wonders whether the right questions will be asked.

To begin with, the impetus given to this move by the EU and Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock's call for a standard "one pint" drink-drive limit across Europe begs the question of whether a beefed-up law in Britain will be fair when penalties for offending drivers in places like France, where the limit is already a third lower, are far less harsh.

Certainly, the current breath-test law has done its job in reducing drink-drive fatalities.

But would lowering the limit reduce that total - particularly when countries with lower limits have worse accident and death rates?

And, as recent police evidence pointed to drug-users being the new and possibly greater road menace, ought the government to be targeting these people rather than the moderate and currently lawful drinkers?

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