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DRINK BILL FAILS rTh. A PRIVATE Member's Bill aimed at setting
Page 48
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up a special road safety pplice force, and making it an offence to drive after drinking a specified amount of alcohol, failed to get its second reading in the Commons last week.
And if •its sponsor, Mr. Graham Page (Tory, Crosby) is at all superstitious he must regard as ominous the date fixed for his Bill's next appearance before the House—Friday, March 13.
Other M.P.s would regard it as an appropriate date, for the measure is extremely unlikely to become law. Everyone who spoke about it praised Mr. Page's intentions, and then condemned the Bill as impracticable.
Introducing the Bill, Mr. Page explained that it proposed a commissioner for road safety, with national duties, and under him safety enforcement officers.
He had in mind a police force consisting of a commissioner and officers and men. This would not usurp the present duties of the existing police, but would be a force with specialized knowledge, controlled by a national head, and not restricted by the areas of local forces.
Dealing with the part of the Bill making it an offence to have a certain quantity of alcohol in the blood or body while driving, Mr. Page said he had not endeavoured to lay down the amount.
This required scientific research and he left it to be laid down by the Minister.
Reaction to these suggestions was the same from both sides of the House. Former Labour• Home Secretary Mr. Chuter. Ede believed the Bill would be "more destructive of the position of the police than anything I have ever heard advocated ", while Front Bench colleague Mr. Eric Fletcher spoke of the Bill's " absurdities and anomalies