Forty years on from the introduction of breathtesting for drivers, the legal alcohol limit should be reduced, a safety group said yesterday.

The breath test, introduced on October 9, 1967, has saved many lives, said the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). But the legal limit should be lowered from 80mg per 100ml of blood to 50mg, it added.

Before the introduction of the breath test, it was thought that there were about 13,000 fatal and serious drink-related accidents a year. By 1987, the figure for people killed or seriously injured in accidents involving illegal alcohol levels dropped to 6,800 and by last year it had fallen to 2,500.

Of the 3,172 people killed last year on Britain's roads, 540 died in accidents involving illegal alcohol levels.

RoSPA head of road safety Kevin Clinton said: "RoSPA had been calling for drink-drive legislation during the Sixties because of growing evidence that alcohol played a part in many road accidents.

"At the time, more than 7,000 people were dying on Britain's roads annually and it was hoped the new law would save hundreds of lives each year.

"In fact, according to one report from the time, it was hoped the drink-drive hazard would be 'effectively nullified'. Sadly, this hasn't happened, and the menace of alcohol is still causing misery. It is now time for renewed action."

Reducing the drink-drive limit to 50mg would save about 65 lives on Britain's roads each year, he said.

A Department for Transport spokeswoman said: "We will be looking at the drink-drive limit as part of a planned consultation on making it even easier for the police to catch drink-drivers."