They can abolish the complete ban on drinking alcohol while driving.
The Ministry of Construction and Transportation deals with the review of zero tolerance, while the Ministry of the Interior strongly opposes the possible relaxation of the complete ban on drinking alcohol before driving.
The topic is not new, since the introduction of zero tolerance in 2008, changes to the regulations, which are among the strictest in Europe, have been brought up almost every year. In recent years, mostly winemakers have urged the legislator to allow driving for those who consume small amounts of alcohol. The regulations before 2008 were permissive up to a blood alcohol level of 0.8 per thousand, but since then the police cannot judge, the driver's license must be taken away from the drunk driver on the spot, for how long, the subsequent investigation will decide.
Winemakers József Bock and Zoltán Varga asked at the Wine Conference in March 2023 - which was opened by Chancellor Gergely Gulyás - to relax the regulations along the lines of Western Europe and America. According to the summary of the specialist portal Vinoport, they argued for the protection of wine culture, the support of "wine consumption with beneficial physiological effects", and the counterbalancing of declining consumption.
Bock also emphasized the socio-psychological aspect of the issue, i.e. the anticipation and creation of trust, as he believes that the Hungarian people would be able to "behave" as responsible individuals even with a more lenient approach than the current one.
If zero tolerance were abolished, according to our calculations, wine consumption per person would increase by 8-10 liters per year, Bock explained the viewpoints of winemakers, highlighting:
"In addition to cultured wine consumption, the Austrians have no more accidents than here, the situation is the same with the Croatians, even though the limit there is 0.8 per thousand".
The ministry of János Lázár confirmed to the newspaper that they are reviewing regulations related to drunk driving.
"The Ministry of Transport considers it important to increase domestic traffic culture and compliance with traffic rules, and in the spirit of this, a general examination of the rules affecting traffic behavior has begun. The survey being prepared in order to learn about international practice and regulations also affects, among other things, the collection of regulatory practices related to drunk driving," reads the ministry's announcement, which also covers: János Lázár announced at a July 11 press conference that the KRESZ- t, and the minister also talked about the restructuring of obtaining a category B driver's license, but did not address the issue of zero tolerance.
Sándor Pintér's ministry replied that the abolition of zero tolerance did not arise in the Ministry of the Interior, and the government did not even discuss it.
The perception of alcohol consumption before driving in Europe differs from country to country. Among the popular destinations of Hungarian tourists, the rules are more permissive in Croatia, Italy and Greece. In practice, this means tolerating a blood alcohol level of 0.5 per thousand, and this is also the case in Germany, while in Poland the limit is 0.2 per thousand. In the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia, however, like in our country, the principle of zero tolerance applies.
