Calls from one of New Zealand's top police officers to lower the drink driving limits are being backed by his Bay of Plenty colleagues – just as a bill to tackle the issue was being drawn in Parliament this week.

Road policing Assistant Commissioner Dave Cliff believes lowering the limit will make more people refuse to drink drive because they would be more capable of making the decision not to get behind the wheel drunk.

Police believe lowering the alcohol limit will give drivers more clarity to make the decision not to drink and drive.

This call is being supported by Bay of Plenty road policing manager and district youth and alcohol harm reduction coordinator Inspector Kevin Taylor.

The support from Kevin comes as The Land Transport (Safer Alcohol Limits for Driving) Amendment Bill was drawn from the ballot, of 74 members' bills, in Parliament this week.

The alcohol legislation proposes to lower the allowable blood alcohol content by almost 40 per cent, from 80 milligrams to 50 milligrams per 100ml of blood when driving.

Under the current law, it is illegal for a person to drive if they have consumed more than the legal limit of 400 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath or have 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

'Anything that improves our safety while on the roads is a good thing. Assistant Commissioner Cliff has put the police's position to Parliament's law and order committee.

'I fully support his position,” says Kevin.

Dave addressed the parliamentary committee last week on an auditor-general's report on the enforcement of drink driving laws.

Dave says research shows at the limit of about 50mg a lot of people make a decision that they're too intoxicated to drive and either don't drive or stop drinking.

'By the time you get to that 80mg limit, people are so affected by alcohol they think they're okay to drive."

New Zealand's drink-driving limits are among the highest in the world, along with the United Kingdom and the United States.

Dave says research shows in all countries where a lower limit was introduced, road tolls reduced significantly.

'We see no reason why that wouldn't be the same here.”

Following on from Dave's presentation to the committee, Labour MP Iain Lees-Galloway will put a bill before parliament which would slash the amount of alcohol which can be legally consumed by driver.

''Drink driving continues to cause fatalities and serious injuries on our roads, with long term emotional or physical trauma to many people and their families each year,'' the explanatory note on the legislation states.

The legislation notes that New Zealand's blood alcohol limit is higher than many other countries, including Australia.