11 January 2011

41 drunk drivers busted over the festive season

| johnboy
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This in from ACT Policing:

ACT Policing detected 41 drivers with an excessive blood-alcohol reading, during the Christmas and New Year’s holiday period (December 24 2010 to January 3 2011).

The highest result recorded was by a 32-year-old man in Higgins in the early hours of Friday, December 31 2010, with a reading of 0.204. Fourteen of the drivers detected are classified as special drivers and therefore subject to a 0.00 blood alcohol limit. The highest reading recorded for a 0.00 licence was 0.196.

Twenty-nine (29) of the 41 people were detected on either the Christmas weekend or New Year’s weekend.

ACT Policing’s Traffic Operations Superintendent Mark Colbran said that despite the clear warnings to motorists, there are still some people that run the risk of being involved in a collision because they drink and drive.

“This is a matter of frustration for all police officers. The message is fairly simple, if you don’t drink and drive, your chances of being involved in a serious or fatal collision are dramatically reduced,” Superintendent Colbran said.

“Some people don’t seem to get the message. This doesn’t mean we stop trying, it just means we try and refine our messages and our operations to get that message across,” he added.

352 traffic infringement notices were also issued to motorist for a number of offences during the period December 24, 2010 to January 3, 2011.

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dvaey said :

Genie said :

Did anyone else read that 14 people were on special circumstances at a limit of 0.00.

So 14/41 offenders were likely repeat offenders on probationary licenses ??

Under the new laws passed recently, a ‘special driver’ in this case generally means a P-plate driver. It would be nice to know how many of these ‘special drivers’ were repeat offenders and how many were P-platers, which would support your argument.

Didn’t realise a new law had passed.. Although I did state that 14/41 were LIKELY on probationary licences.

Some pubs and clubs do offer free soft drink to Desi Drivers… but dont advertise it.

Although others encourage drinking… I recently went out and paid $4.20 for a soft drink, while everyone else was drinking $3.90 schooners of full strength beer and $5.20 for spirits.

Skullbonez said :

Were the nightrider buses running this year?

Yes, but apparently not well organised or advertised, at double the cost of last year, and only running because the govt was dragged kicking and screaming into it.

Skullbonez said :

I remember one year where the government was trying to curb drink driving by offering “free soft drinks” to designated drivers by giving them wrist bands…

Uhhhh… Way to dance around the problem. Kids drink and drive because they want to get drunk and it costs at least $40 to get home in a cab in this rip off of a town.

How about running nightrider all year round, or offering some kind of cab discount. Free soft drinks? Only an overpaid pube could have come up with that one.

While I entirely agree with the need for the nightrider service, as a non-drinker I liked the idea of free softdrinks. It doesnt only take an overpaid pube to think of that, as hard as it can be to explain to drunks that not everyone in the city drinks alcohol 24/7.

The designated driver programs could be extended even further, with free cover-charge for designated drivers, for example. Another option could be clubs offering free cover-charge if youve pre-purchased your nightrider ticket or even one free drink upon presentation of your pre-paid nightrider ticket. This way the club owners know youve got a lift home, and they’ll obviously get the money they lose on covercharges, back on drink sales.

Were the nightrider buses running this year?

Not that it is any excuse to drink and drive, but my god – taxi’s (like so many other things in this city) are excessively expensive.

I remember one year where the government was trying to curb drink driving by offering “free soft drinks” to designated drivers by giving them wrist bands…

Uhhhh… Way to dance around the problem. Kids drink and drive because they want to get drunk and it costs at least $40 to get home in a cab in this rip off of a town.

How about running nightrider all year round, or offering some kind of cab discount. Free soft drinks? Only an overpaid pube could have come up with that one.

Genie said :

Did anyone else read that 14 people were on special circumstances at a limit of 0.00.

So 14/41 offenders were likely repeat offenders on probationary licenses ??

Under the new laws passed recently, a ‘special driver’ in this case generally means a P-plate driver. It would be nice to know how many of these ‘special drivers’ were repeat offenders and how many were P-platers, which would support your argument.

Lt RAAF – This is one of your worst thought out posts I have seen. Did you even stop to think the 0.05 limit is based on a percentage of blood volume therefore already takes into account differences in physical stature of males and females.

“stop treating people like children who can’t handle a drink, for gods sake!” It has been shown and adults continue to show they can’t handle a drink and as such continue to make the choice to drive after having several. As such you can’t leave it to adults as responsible people to make that decision as it is clearly shown by recent stats that plenty of adults do need to be treated as children.

You have also come up with some fairly good stat sounding words to back your comment. I think you are lacking in experience and statistical evidence to back your case.

Go to the naughty corner.

Genie said :

Clearly the system doesn’t work. Having to go to court and facing a judge over drink driving matters doesn’t stop anyone.

with an alcohol problem.

There, I fixed it for you.

Recently there was a statistic that something like one third of drink driving offences are by repeat offenders.

Rollersk8r said :

Brianna said :

We need harsher penalties for drink drivers. Time to make them go to the morgue, brain injury foundation and intensive care units and show these pricks what the possible damage is from them drink driving. Time to fine them thousands of dollars. Not petty little fines. Make it so that the fines can be garnished from their wages/dole payments for however many years it will take to pay it off. Make them hurt in the wallet.

No we don’t. Harsher penalties do very little, if anything. People are already aware (from constant TV campaigns and police reports like this) they face double fines, loss of employment and the risk of injuring or killing themselves or others – and they still do it. If you’re already happy to risk your life then why is the potential of a bigger fine going to stop you?

Fair point. What harsher penalties may do though, is act as a deterrent for repeat offenders – of which there are many in the ACT. Periodic detention may be such a deterrent.

Brianna said :

We need harsher penalties for drink drivers. Time to make them go to the morgue, brain injury foundation and intensive care units and show these pricks what the possible damage is from them drink driving. Time to fine them thousands of dollars. Not petty little fines. Make it so that the fines can be garnished from their wages/dole payments for however many years it will take to pay it off. Make them hurt in the wallet.

No we don’t. Harsher penalties do very little, if anything. People are already aware (from constant TV campaigns and police reports like this) they face double fines, loss of employment and the risk of injuring or killing themselves or others – and they still do it. If you’re already happy to risk your life then why is the potential of a bigger fine going to stop you?

Just like speed limits, drink driving limits are a risk management strategy. The only controls we have are constant reminders to do the right thing and to try and catch those doing the wrong thing.

Of course I’m not saying I want drunk drivers on the road – I’m saying the current regime is the best we can do.

Did anyone else read that 14 people were on special circumstances at a limit of 0.00.

So 14/41 offenders were likely repeat offenders on probationary licenses ??

Clearly the system doesn’t work. Having to go to court and facing a judge over drink driving matters doesn’t stop anyone.

Francois Dillinger said :

Here is one though – so-called ‘drunk’ drivers are quite often a fraction above the BAC limit. We do get the occasional doozy caught from time to time (going for the old 0.4 world record), but by and large most people are marginally impaired above what is acceptable and not acceptable.

Where is your information to gain those facts. To say “quite often” to infer MOST drink drivers are only just over is a pretty bold statement to make. It is certainly not what I have seen, particularly not anything I would call “quite often”.

Captain RAAF said :

Increase the BAC level for fully licenced drivers to .1 for males and .05 for females (males having a greater capacity to absorb alcohol than females due to body mass etc) and stop treating people like children who can’t handle a drink, for gods sake!

I really hope you are being facetious because that is one of the most idiotic things I have seen on here for a while…… If you are indeed serious, is there any scientific studies to back your assertion?

Do you live in NSW? Because if you do, I think there is a political party there running for the next election that wants to remove all speed limits (let the public decide what is a safe speed) and legalise burnouts ….. I think they would be interested to hear your thoughts on drink driving 😉

la mente torbida11:31 am 11 Jan 11

@buzz819

You have a nice day too.

Francois Dillinger said :

Well no buzz, its actually a fair point.
If you locked down Sydney and tested everyone and found a few dozen out of a few million, it allows you to be make an assessment of the scope of the problem. I dont think thats a particularly controversial statement.

Here is one though – so-called ‘drunk’ drivers are quite often a fraction above the BAC limit. We do get the occasional doozy caught from time to time (going for the old 0.4 world record), but by and large most people are marginally impaired above what is acceptable and not acceptable.

I put it to you that the key determinant of road safety is not the marginal difference between a 0.049 and a 0.050 driver (which is after all, just a line in the sand), but the underlying difference in abilities of the drivers. Canberrans on the whole are god awful drivers (just look at the carnage on any rainy day at 5pm) and if we really were committed to road safety, we wouldnt be screaming for capital punishment of slightly over-the-limit chaps leaving the gentlemen’s club after a few snifters, and perhaps look at, amongst other things: (a) elderly drivers, (b) mobile phone use, (c) higher standards for getting a licence, (d) compulsory re-testing of licenced drivers, and (e), perhaps most controversially, booking any one of thousands of canberrans making the roads unsafe everyday by driving under the limit, not indicating, lane diving, slowing down too much when merging, etc etc.

I put it to you that there shouldn’t be any drink drivers…

Captain RAAF10:06 am 11 Jan 11

Garbage to the lot of ya’!

It’s actually time to accept that the entire process in place at the moment is ineffective!!

Increase the BAC level for fully licenced drivers to .1 for males and .05 for females (males having a greater capacity to absorb alcohol than females due to body mass etc) and stop treating people like children who can’t handle a drink, for gods sake!

Increase penalties for people exceeding the limits to $2000 first offence, $5000 second offence and 6 months imprisonment and 5 years loss of licence for third offence. Any offence after the 3rd results in loss of licence forever after a lengthy stint in the slammer, say about 2 years.

If you are one of those people that feels incapable of driving safely well before you think you could reach the .05 or .1 limits then you simply don’t drive or stop drinking, your a grown up, you can make this decision.

Lumping every single person into the same cart as the two-pot screamers is the reason why people continue to drive while intoxicated because 99.99% of all people who drive whilst over .05 are safe drivers, have no impairment to thier ability to operate a motor vehicle and will get home in one piece without killing a bus load of school children or nuns on the way!

People, and by that I refer to the PC, nanny brigade, have been brainwashed into thinking that even .0001 BAC is dangerous and that you must not drive a car well that’s just garbage, it’s totally safe. Jeez, it wasn’t that long ago that we were giving our soldiers two cans of beer a day and giving them a rifle and sending them into combat, driving tanks, trucks, operating HMG, mortars etc because responsible people know when to stop, they don’t need the gummint telling them what they can and can’t handle, they can figure it out for themselves and if they push the limits, the fines in place (above) will soon re-educate them.

Francois Dillinger9:51 am 11 Jan 11

Well no buzz, its actually a fair point.
If you locked down Sydney and tested everyone and found a few dozen out of a few million, it allows you to be make an assessment of the scope of the problem. I dont think thats a particularly controversial statement.

Here is one though – so-called ‘drunk’ drivers are quite often a fraction above the BAC limit. We do get the occasional doozy caught from time to time (going for the old 0.4 world record), but by and large most people are marginally impaired above what is acceptable and not acceptable.

I put it to you that the key determinant of road safety is not the marginal difference between a 0.049 and a 0.050 driver (which is after all, just a line in the sand), but the underlying difference in abilities of the drivers. Canberrans on the whole are god awful drivers (just look at the carnage on any rainy day at 5pm) and if we really were committed to road safety, we wouldnt be screaming for capital punishment of slightly over-the-limit chaps leaving the gentlemen’s club after a few snifters, and perhaps look at, amongst other things: (a) elderly drivers, (b) mobile phone use, (c) higher standards for getting a licence, (d) compulsory re-testing of licenced drivers, and (e), perhaps most controversially, booking any one of thousands of canberrans making the roads unsafe everyday by driving under the limit, not indicating, lane diving, slowing down too much when merging, etc etc.

We need harsher penalties for drink drivers. Time to make them go to the morgue, brain injury foundation and intensive care units and show these pricks what the possible damage is from them drink driving. Time to fine them thousands of dollars. Not petty little fines. Make it so that the fines can be garnished from their wages/dole payments for however many years it will take to pay it off. Make them hurt in the wallet.

la mente torbida said :

It’s all well and good to post the number of BAC offenders on the roads, but until we know the number of RBT tests, the figures are meaningless (apart from the fact that more than 1 is one too many on our roads)

How is it meaningless? If there were 30 tests nil positives or 1000 tests nil positives you’d be saying it is stat driven.

41 drunk drivers in 1 week is wrong no matter how many tests, pull your head out of your arse.

la mente torbida8:16 am 11 Jan 11

It’s all well and good to post the number of BAC offenders on the roads, but until we know the number of RBT tests, the figures are meaningless (apart from the fact that more than 1 is one too many on our roads)

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