Drink Driving
21:28 : Tuesday, 15 November 2011
‘Don’t drink to drive’
There is a significant rise in drink-driving from a record of 7% rise in 2006, to 4,009 cases in 2007 which is the highest for the last 10 years. This is largely contributed by a 9% increase in the number of drivers who were detected for drink-driving in non-accident cases.
Reasons for drink driving
Firstly, pride is the first thing that comes to a person's mind. They tend to not admit that they are drunk as their pride is telling them that they are not, but in actual fact, they are. They also want to show their friends that they are capable of binge drinking, and that they wont be drunk so easily. Peer pressure is what spurring them to drink, and drive. For example, another friend could ,out of concern, be asking another drunkard to call his family members or other friends who are not drinking to fetch them home. But they could be thinking their friend is, in another way, trying to tease them that they do not have the capability to drive home after drinking.
Another reason why people drink and drive is because of the mentality that they have on the road. People think and hope that they would not get caught by the traffic police as the possibility of them getting caught is low due to other drivers on the road. This would encourage them to drive after they drink and even speed which makes it even more dangerous.
Consequences of drink driving
One of the consequences is that an accident might happen to the driver himself, the third party who is in the car with him, and also the other drivers or passerby on the road and pathway. These accidents will costs him fines, imprisonment and for guys, caning, depending on how badly the results are.
The other consequence is that if they are stopped by traffic police, and the breathalyzer reading is more than 0.08% of alcohol containing in his breath, he can be fined up to about $5000 for the first time, and with a 6 months imprisonment and license revoked. For the second time, he will be fined up to $10,000 with 1 year imprisonment and also license revoked. Subsequently, all of these will be doubled and so on.
In our opinion, we think that drunkards can take a cab home after they drink to be safe and not post a threat to people as they can get violent. They can also call their family members or friends who didn’t drink to pick them up. It is safer this way as the driver would be more sane and able to make the right judgement on the road. Before they decided to drink, they can also make a call to a service which provide them with a personal designated driver who can drive them home. All in all, plan ahead and do not wait until you are impaired by alcohol and then make your transportation plan. By then, your judgement is already compromised and you may risk making a regretful decision to drive under the influence of alcohol.
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