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Illinois residents under age 21 who are caught drinking alcohol can lose their driver’s licenses even if they weren’t drinking and driving, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled.
The Belleville News-Democrat reported June 25 that the high court dismissed the arguments of a pair of 20-year-olds, who contended that the law allowing the courts to suspend or revoke their driver’s licenses because of an underage-drinking offense violated their right to due process and equal protection under the law. The Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s ruling that the law was unconstitutional, ruling in essence that the law was not fundamentally a punishment but rather intended to „provide for safe highways.“ (Source: Join Together, 7/1/10)

The Director-General for Health and Consumers Paola Testori Coggi addressed the participants of the 4th European Alcohol Policy Conference, organized by Eurocare (European Alcohol Policy Alliance) on 21-22 June 2010 in Brussels. This conference series is a key event in the field of alcohol policy taking place every two years.
Speaking as part of the welcoming session, Ms Testori drew attention to the impact of harmful alcohol consumption on the European population, particularly on young people, and the EU actions in response to this. She set out the following headline statistics: 23 million Europeans are estimated to be dependent on alcohol every year; alcohol causes nearly 200,000 deaths annually in the EU, a figure which includes around 50,000 deaths from alcohol caused cancers; every second driver who dies in a single-vehicle traffic crash is under the influence of alcohol; alcohol is responsible for 25% of all deaths of young men in the 15-24 age group. (Source: EU-Health & Consumer Voice – July – 2010 Edition)

The Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010 includes $12 million in funding for development of alcohol-detection devices that could be installed in all cars, the New York Times reported June 25.
The government and the U.S. auto industry have been working on an improved version of the ignition-interlock device, which prevents the vehicle from starting if the driver has more than the legal limit of alcohol in his or her system. The bill would increase program funding from the current $2 million annually, calling for $60 million over five years — an increase backed by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, among others. (Source: Join Together, 6/29/10)

Lowering the drink drive limit will save lives, Northern Ireland doctors said last Friday, 25 June. The BMA’s statement comes amid reports that the Republic of Ireland will move to cut the drink drive limit. Fermanagh GP and member of the BMA’s GP committee Dr John Porteous said, „It has been estimated that there would be 8 fewer deaths on our roads in Northern Ireland by lowering blood alcohol levels to 50mg from the current level of 80mg. (Source: Medical News Today, 6/27/10)

The legal alcohol limit for drivers should be lowered by almost half to save lives and reduce casualties on the roads, a report published on Wednesday advises. The Whitehall-commissioned study outlines 51 recommendations, including reducing the drink-drive limit from 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood to 50mg. (Source: news.yahoo.com, 6/16/10)

Combining medications and behavioral interventions for treating alcohol-dependent patients reduces social costs of health care, arrests and motor vehicle accidents, according to a new study by researchers at RTI International, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Pennsylvania and Yale University.
The study, published in the May issue of Medical Care, looked at the economic impact of combined alcohol dependency treatments, including the treatment costs and the economic costs of other health care use, arrests and motor vehicle accidents. Source: Medical News Today, 6/3/10)

Increase In Alcohol-Related Traffic-Risk Behaviors Among College Students At Age 21.
Alcohol-impaired driving and associated motor-vehicle accidents are a major public-health problem. National studies have shown that approximately 25 percent of college students report that they have driven while intoxicated in the past month, and an even greater percentage report having driven after having any amount of alcohol and/or ridden with a driver believed intoxicated. A new study on how these behaviors may change as students move through their college years has found that prevalence and frequency of alcohol-related traffic-risk behaviors took a significant upturn when students turned 21 years old. (Source: Medical News Today, 6/1/10)

In Oslo 22 – 26 August 2010. In August 2010, researchers and experts on drugs, alcohol and medicines will take part in the T2010 conference, the tri-annual meeting of the International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety (ICADTS). This year’s meeting is being hosted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. (Source: Medical News Today, 5/21/10)

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has signed into a law a series of reforms to the state DWI code, including broader sanctions and a few opportunities for new and repeat offenders. Effective July 1, 2011, drivers found with a 0.16 percent or higher blood alcohol concentration (BAC) must install ignition interlock systems – devices that require the driver to have less than a .02 BAC in order to start their vehicle – or face license suspensions of one to six years. Persons with three or more infractions in a ten-year period would be required to have an interlock for monitoring and prevention, or not drive at all. (Source: Join Together, 5/20/10)

Imposing a zero blood alcohol limit on drivers until the age of 21 years can significantly reduce the number of alcohol-related road crash deaths in young Australians, according to an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia. (Source: Medical News Today, 4/19/10)