Hungary is one of a handful of countries in the European Union that has zero alcohol tolerance for drivers, but that could be about to change. The government is looking at loosening laws to allow drivers who have drunk small amounts of alcohol to get behind the wheel – but not everyone is in favor.

Six months ago, Budapest resident Dano Forgu woke up in the middle of the night to a bang she compared to the clash of a thousand cymbals. It was the sound of an accident that killed a 23-year-old woman, who had been standing at a nearby tram stop when an out-of-control vehicle hit her.

Police arrested the driver, who they say was under the influence of alcohol.

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"The accident upset me because the driver was drunk," said Forgu.

Incidents like this are relatively rare. Drink-driving accidents have noticeably decreased since Hungary passed a zero-alcohol-tolerance law in 2008. The year before the legislation was passed, there were 2,177 accidents where drivers were under the influence of alcohol. That compares to 1,192 such incidents in 2022.

Hungary is one of four countries in the EU with zero alcohol tolerance for drivers. Driving while intoxicated is one of the most common traffic offenses. First-time offenders are punished with a fine, and their license might be suspended.

However, not everyone agrees with Hungary's approach. Some winemakers have been urging the government to allow the consumption of small amounts of alcohol before driving. 

Hungary's government says that it is currently collecting regulatory practices related to drunk driving from abroad and investigating rules affecting traffic behavior. They are calling for the limit for blood alcohol content to be raised to 0.5 parts per thousand, a measure common in other European countries.

"I think there are good models in Europe we can follow," says Otto Legili, the owner of Legli Vineyards in Hungary. "One example is Croatia, the limit is 0.4 or 0.5. The Hungarian regulations should be similar to those."

But the proposed loosening of the law is controversial. Some worry such a move would reverse the declining number of accidents related to drink-driving.

"We drink about 15 liters of 96 percent alcohol per year," says Gabor Zacher, a toxicologist based in Budapest. "We have about one million alcoholics in Hungary.”

Memories of the deadly accident still worry Forgu, who fears that easing the zero-tolerance policy could lead to more fatalities like the one that happened right outside her front door.

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