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Hundreds of licensed clubs will go broke if drink-drive limit is cut, says the organisation that represents them.
Clubs NZ chief executive Larry Graham says clubs face ruin if the limit drops from 80mg to 50mg.
"It's going to kill us if they get carried away with stuff they don't have enough research on."
Clubs NZ supports more than 300 licensed clubs around the country including cosmopolitan clubs, workingmen's clubs, sports clubs and RSAs. Its submission was among the many presented to the Transport and Industrial Relations select committee investigating changes to our drink-drive laws.
The overwhelming majority of submissions - including some of the country's most respected researchers in the field - called for a cut in the alcohol limit, but it was ignored by the National Party-dominated committee.
The Clubs NZ submission was one of few calling for the limit to be kept as it is, stating that a cut would lead to a "decline in patronage" and put the "economic viability of clubs in jeopardy".
Graham says clubs' licence conditions require them to tell patrons of ways to get home other than driving. In remote areas, it means the club has to carry the cost of a courtesy coach.
He says clubs need to be treated differently because of their emphasis on host responsibility.
The recent case of Foxton RSA president Noel Duncan's third drink-driving conviction was an exception, he says. Duncan was driving over the limit on his way home from the RSA.
