A spate of recent drunk-driving accidents which has inflamed public opinion is prompting the government to consider plans that would effectively ban anyone who has drunk alcohol from driving.
Under a bipartisan bill being discussed by the Chamber of Deputies transport committee, the legal blood-alcohol limit would be lowered to 0.2%, or 0.2 grammes of alcohol per litre of blood.
''If you drink you don't drive and if you drive you don't drink: that must be the rationale of the bill to prevent repeated murders by drunk-drivers,'' said committee chairman Mario Valducci.
The current legal level for driving in Italy is 0.5%, the same as in France, Germany and Spain and already lower than the United Kingdom's 0.8%.
Sanctions for drunk-drivers would become harsher under the bill, with an initial six-month driving licence confiscation that could be made permanent in the event of repeat offences.
Valducci said the possibility of applying the 0.2% blood-alcohol limit only to certain age groups was also under examination.
He added that the bill could be approved by the end of January and called for local authorities to step up random roadside alcohol checks in Italy.
Domenico Musicco of the Italian Association for the Families and Victims of Road Accidents said that Italian police currently carry out around one million alcohol tests annually compared to ten million in France.
''An Italian driver basically has a chance of being stopped for a test once every 74 years,'' Musicco said.
According to official statistics, alcohol is a factor in 30-40% of all road accidents in Italy, which has one of the worst road safety records in Europe.
More than 44% of all night-time road accidents occur on a Friday or a Saturday night, while drivers aged between 16 and 29 account for nearly a third of all road fatalities.
Traffic fatalities in Italy last year totalled 5,669, far more than the 5,091 in Germany, 4,709 in France and 3,297 in Britain, according to socio-economic think-tank Censis.
A total of 27 people died between Friday and Sunday on Italian roads.
In one incident outside Milan, a 20-year-old drunk-driver mowed into a group of Italians preparing to board a coach for a trip to Switzerland, killing two and injuring 25 others.
