OVER 200 ROAD ACCIDENTS CAUSED BY DRUNKENNESS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 55, 26 October 1949, Page 6

OVER 200 ROAD ACCIDENTS CAUSED BY DRUNKENNESS

In the past two years 269 New Zealand road accidents which brought injury or worse (to those directly responsible or to unfortunate victims) were accidents to which drink contributed. Or to state the case quite bluntly, 269 miserable accidents occurred when drunks were in charge or when drivers, though not plain drunk were so appreciably “under the influence” that they were taking (and must have known they were taking) inexcusable risks. How many more road accidents were caused by drunks in charge nobody knows, for the drunken driver who gets away with a repair bill does not go to any particular trouble to report to the police or the traffic authorities: “Frankly, sir, it was my fault. I was drunk at the time.” He pays up and shuts up. Forty Per Cent Increase

But, taking no acount of these property damage accidents, 114 in 1947 and 155 in 1948 are dangerous numbers—with an increase of 40 per cent last year. To be able to tackle the drunken driver danger it is necessary to know, beyond guesswork, when and where drivers do get drunk (or, if that offends too deeply the finer feelings, become under the influence of liquor). The Transport Department hgs been to considerable trouble to do so, going through every report to get down to the facts. These are some of the results of the analysis.

Saturday is by far the worst day, with 115 of the 269 accidents. Friday is next with 41. Sunday had 36 drunken drivers. The Sunday figure, however is in big part a carry-over from the Saturday night binge, party, week-end dance, or whatever it is, for twenty of Sunday’s accidents occurred between midnight and four in the morning. Bars, says the law, are not-open on Sundays, but* 16 drivers contrived to get drunk enough on Sunday afternoons and evenings to make trouble. Possibly home brew has something to answer for these. Three Women Of 224 drivers whose cases were analysed as to ages, all were males except three women. They were old enough to know better, at 26, 32 and 35 years. By far the greater number of the drunken, semi-drunken, or slightly drunken, dangerous irresponsibles at the wheel were between the ages of 20 and 50 years. Fifty per cent of all drunken drivers were between 20 and 30 years. This is the dangerous age. Seven youths were in trouble, and about 50 drivers seem to have more sense about mixing petrol and alcohol.

The analysis, of course, goes deeper than these general figures. That is why late drivers sefe patrolmen still out and about well into the morning, on this road or that where by proof of accident records, drunks mostly do drive in their own common danger.