Clause 12 - High risk offenders: medical enquiries following disqualification
Road Safety Bill [Lords]
1:30 pm
Stephen Ladyman (Minister of State, Department for Transport; South Thanet, Labour)
I do not have any information to hand on that particular issue.
To be fair, successive Governments and police forces have made strenuous efforts over the years to remind drivers that they might think that they are sober when they wake up in the morning but if they have had a real skinful the night before often they might still be over the limit, although they might not still be feeling all the effects. I have no information as to whether such situations are occurring increasingly, but I will look into it, to see what I can find out.
The clause simply closes a loophole where certain people who were convicted of drink-driving were able to retain their licences before the Secretary of State had made the determination that they were fit to get their licence back. It was never the intention of the Road Traffic Act 1988 that they should be able to do that. It was simply a loophole created by a drafting error, which the clause fixes.