Nurses urge complete drink ban for drivers

They said the amount of drink allowed should be cut to zero in order to prevent hundreds of road deaths each year.

One nurse said cars were turned into "potential killing machines" by drinkers while another described the number of deaths and injuries as "horrifying".

Several nurses attending the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) conference in Bournemouth backed the motion although it was not put to a vote.

Instead, the issue has been referred to the RCN council for further consideration.

Carol Evans, from Cambridgeshire, proposed the motion calling for a zero alcohol limit.

The current UK legal limit for drivers is 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood but discussions were continuing in Scotland and Northern Ireland about reducing it, she said.

Most European countries have a limit of 50mg or under. Only the UK, Ireland, and Malta have an 80mg limit.

Romania, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Slovakia have a zero limit.

Ms Evans said research had shown that just one unit of alcohol – generally considered the equivalent of the UK limit – led people to make poor judgments when driving and reduced their stopping distances.

She said there was widespread public confusion about the alcohol content of different drinks and people were unsure exactly how much they could drink.

"The average person does not choose their drink based on units," she added. "It's usually colour, price or flavour."

Andrew Frazer, an emergency care nurse, backed the motion, saying: "You would not drink two pints of beer before going to work so why would you do it before getting behind three-quarters of a tonne of steel capable of going 100 miles per hour?"