Calls for the blood alcohol limit in Victoria to be reduced have gone a step further, with a senior policeman saying the limit should be zero.
"If we're serious about this we need to separate the behaviours of drinking and driving completely," Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Robert Hill said on Friday.
"If you're planning to drink, plan not to drive."
On her last day at the Transport Accident Commission, outgoing chief executive Janet Dore sparked renewed calls for Victoria's blood alcohol limit to be dropped from 0.05 to 0.02.
"Unfortunately the Australian community seems to treasure alcohol above all, it pervades our community," she said.
"That's okay, we don't want to be wowsers."
But Mr Hill wants the community to address whether it's appropriate in this day and age to keep allowing people to drink and drive.
"I'm not an advocate of 0.02," he said.
However, under a 0.00 limit people would not be prosecuted until they reach 0.02 to acknowledge that some medications and sweets may contain alcohol, Mr Hill says.
Across the state, 25 per cent of road deaths are linked to drink driving.
Reducing the limit would save lives and prevent countless others from being injured in accidents, the assistant commissioner says.
Sweden experienced a 10 per cent reduction in road fatalities when it dropped its blood alcohol level to 0.02.
"Life is precious and it's time for the community to think about how we can reduce the significant number of road trauma in this state that is completely avoidable," Mr Hill said.
The benefits of a lower limit outweighs the associated cost of introducing and enforcing it, he says.
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