Name And Shame

[AndyD]

I see the drunk driver name and sham campaign is now officially back on. linky

Is this not just public ridicule on top of the stiff sentencing for the poor people who get caught drink driving. Is it actually going to make people think twice before getting in their car outside the pub at midnight or is it just unnecessarily destroying lives?.

[Dave A]

These are telling stats that just yell out a story (at least to me):

• Pedestrians constitute 34 percent of all fatalities; drivers 30 percent and passengers 36 percent.
• Private cars were responsible for by far the largest share of fatalities - 60 percent.
• Most of the drivers who died on the road are young - 51 percent were between the ages of 20 and 39 years.
• Whilst women constituted 40 percent of all drivers, they made up only 4 percent% of the driver fatalities.
• Furthermore, 61 percent of all fatal accidents occured over weekends.

My keyword profile of the "worst offenders" would be young, male, social - which also means plenty of ego.

The real solution is a change in attitude about driving under the influence right at the source. Maybe something like this will help those most at risk take the issue more seriously by striking where they care most - their image among their peers.

[AndyD]

• Pedestrians constitute 34 percent of all fatalities; drivers 30 percent and passengers 36 percent.

The pedestrians statistic is confusing without further info. Are the pedestrian fatalities due to drunk driving or drunk pedestrians or some of each?

My keyword profile of the "worst offenders" would be young, male, social - which also means plenty of ego.

The real solution is a change in attitude about driving under the influence right at the source. Maybe something like this will help those most at risk take the issue more seriously by striking where they care most - their image among their peers.

I think the young and social bracket would have the least to lose with the publicity and probably more of a devil may care attitude. I know when I was in my 20's I wouldn't have worried about it. Surely the older family man / woman with dependants and responsibilities would have more fear of and more at stake in being named publicly.

[Dave A]

The pedestrians statistic is confusing without further info. Are the pedestrian fatalities due to drunk driving or drunk pedestrians or some of each?

Agreed - That first stat doesn't say much.

I think the young and social bracket would have the least to lose with the publicity and probably more of a devil may care attitude. I know when I was in my 20's I wouldn't have worried about it.

You've got a point there too.

So how do you nudge the young bucks in the right direction?

[Dave S]

Naming and Shameing

I wonder if they are naming the truly drunk drivers or those that are just on the limit? The new limit is 0.02ml per 100ml of blood, with my body weight this constitutes maybe half a beer or a glass of wine, but after one beer I'm still fully capable of driving a vehicle... safely, I might add.

The drunks that are having accidents and killing people are almost always over 0.50ml/100ml, that is 25x the legal limit! (At 0.8ml the dose becomes toxic, but some people have been driving cars above this limit). Why did the authorities then think it was necessary to drop the legal limit from 0.08 to 0.05 and then to 0.02, when it is clearly obvious that these are not the "culprits of carnage"?

M2c

[murdock]

and who is going to be named all the people who we see on the news but manage to wheasle their way out of prosecution...macbride comes to mind...its a joke a minute...like hiding cameras on the freeway...does that really save lives or full the municipality coffers.