On 11 August 2025, The Times announced new possible driving laws for Great Britain including banning drivers over the age of 70 from driving if they fail compulsory eye tests. 

Other measures, The Times reported as being considered are: 

Reducing the drink-driving limit in England and Wales to match Scotland’s rules. 

Introducing penalty points for failing to wear a seatbelt. 

According to The Times, the new drink-drive limit would be cut from 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 milliliters of breath to 22 micrograms. This matches Scotland’s limit, which was lowered in December 2014 following an independent review of drink and drug driving laws. 

These changes would form part of the government’s new road safety strategy, due to be announced later in the autumn.  

As stated in our report Progressing the UK towards Safe System implementation | CIHT, we welcome the commitment from the UK Government for a new road safety strategy. We recommend that this strategy fully embrace the principles of the Safe System and sets ambitious long-term and interim targets and performance metrics for tracking progress.   

CIHT believes that it is possible to introduce measures to improve safety outcomes for new drivers without completely preventing use by those who are most reliant on car transport. For example, specifying that there should be zero alcohol in the blood for any driver within two years of passing their test would reduce the risk to young drivers and would also reduce the adverse impact on others, without preventing car use at certain times of the day etc. Telematic systems can also improve the safety of young and novice drivers by encouraging compliance with speed limits and good driving technique.