The spectre of drink-driving returns to haunt Christmas
For years drink-driving appeared to be on the way out. Hard-hitting public information campaigns drummed home the message that alcohol and cars did not mix, and the old invitation to have “one for the road” became a social faux pas. As a result drink-driving-related deaths plummeted.
But today the picture is very different. This Christmas there is concern that the spectre of drink driving has come back to haunt us.
After two decades of progress, which saw the death toll from drink-driving-related accidents drop from 1,640 in 1979 to 460 at the end of the 1990s, the figure is creeping back up. Deaths from drink driving are at their highest level for more than a decade.
An estimated 590 people died in drink-drive accidents last year — 130 more than in 1998, the year after Labour came to power. Between 2001 and 2003 (the latest figures available), convictions for driving while under the influence of drink or drugs increased by 10%, despite an overall 14% drop in the number of breath tests being administered.
The question is: why? One answer seems to lie in a cultural shift among drivers who no longer see drink driving as the sin it once was. But there are more specific reasons, ranging from the increased availability and strength of alcohol to the way in which today’s police are patrolling Britain’s roads.
In a country that has embraced a binge-drinking culture, the change in people’s attitudes is clear. Last week two surveys gave a damning portrait of motorists’ increasingly careless attitude towards drink-driving.
In a survey of 1,600 motorists by Auto Trader magazine, one in three admitted to drink-driving. One in five said they’d had an accident or near miss after drinking alcohol, and half of those said it would not stop them doing it again. In a report by the online broker motorinsurance.co.uk, only 55% of 539 motorists questioned said they would not drink at all if they were driving.
John Apter, an experienced road policing officer and spokesman for the Police Federation, says: “The attitude of a lot of people appears to have gone backwards. More people seem to think, ‘What’s the problem?’ The traffic officers I speak to notice it out on the roads and it’s sad because we thought we’d moved on.”
The advent of 24-hour drinking looks likely to compound the problem. Of those interviewed by motorinsurance.co.uk, 94% believe changes in the licensing laws will lead to a rise in drink driving the morning after. More than 40% didn’t know the legal alcohol limit.
The official UK limit is 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood (compared with 50mg in most of Europe). In the past that was usually equated to two pints — or four units — of regular strength lager. But what constitutes “regular strength” has changed.
Since 1998 the average alcohol content of lager/beer has risen from 3.99% to 4.19%. For wine, average alcohol content has increased from 10% in the mid-1960s to almost 12% today, and many have 14%. Pub measures have also grown to match the UK’s growing appetite for booze, with wine served in super-sized glasses and double measures of spirits increasingly the norm.
“A glass of wine does not mean the same in one pub as it does in another,” says Carole Whittingham of the Campaign Against Drink Driving, whose 27-year-old son Steven was killed by a drink driver in 1992.
“Drinking just half a pint of some of the very strong lagers would be enough to push some people over the legal limit. People are now regularly being caught with alcohol levels three or four times above the limit.”
Earlier this year Catherine Bickerdike, a 29-year-old mother of one from Warton, Lancashire, set an unenviable record for what was reported to be the highest ever breath test reading — almost six times over the legal limit (183mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath compared with a legal limit of 35mg). She received a six month prison sentence and was banned from driving for four years. Drivers who kill while over the limit face up to 14 years in prison.
In an attempt to reverse the disturbing new trend, the Department for Transport is spending £2m on an extended anti-drink-drive advertising campaign this Christmas. The seasonal police crackdown on drink drivers started at the beginning of December and will last until December 31, two weeks longer than usual. Senior police officers have also joined forces with their European counterparts in a Christmas initiative aimed at discovering better ways to deter drink drivers.
Meredydd Hughes, the recently appointed Association of Chief Police Officers’ head of road policing, says: “The great advances of anti-drink driving are beginning to wear off and it is time to refresh the campaign. It was a major cultural change for the better, it led to a great reduction in casualties, and we need to recapture that.”
But behind the retrogressive change in social attitudes is also a growing awareness that drink drivers today are much less likely to be caught. The number of motorists breath tested dropped by a third between 1998 and 2003 (from 815,500 to 534,300).
Traffic policemen have been replaced by speed and other traffic enforcement cameras. And cameras cannot tell if a driver has been drinking.
In the 1960s, between 15% and 20% of police constables were involved in road policing. By 1998 that figure had dropped to 7% and continues to fall.
“Some forces cope with less than 30 dedicated road policing officers,” says Jan Berry, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales. “This equates to just 2% of the total force. Road policing can no longer be described as a core police activity when many units are only deployed in reaction to road death investigations and automatic numberplate recognition initiatives.
“We have grave concerns about the declining number of road policing officers. Fear of being caught is still the most effective deterrent.”
Emboldened by drink, many drivers become convinced they can do things they’d never dream of attempting sober. Some even boast they can handle a car better after a couple of drinks. But Ford has devised a test to prove them wrong — and I agreed to play guinea pig.
While gradually increasing my alcohol intake, I was asked to perform a series of manoeuvres to test my dexterity, reaction times and judgment behind the wheel.
Driving a Ford Focus C-Max fitted with sensors I attempted an emergency stop from 50mph, a slalom course at 30mph, driving in a constant radius curve at 60mph (similar to driving along a motorway slip road), reversing through a line of cones, reverse parking and manoeuvring around a B-shaped course designed to mimic driving around a multi-storey carpark.
After just two pints (four units) of beer the effect on my driving was obvious. My steering was five times less precise. I needed more steering corrections to reverse down the line of cones and I hit more of them. After three more units I was close to the drink-driving limit — 35mg per 100ml of breath.
I was faster round the B-shaped course but paying scant regard to the number of cones I hit. I was driving far too fast on the constant radius curve and needed twice as many steering corrections to reverse down the lane of cones.
My performance continued to deteriorate, fuelled by overconfidence and dulled reactions. What was second nature while sober required greater and greater concentration.
The test was halted on safety grounds when I was approximately twice the limit. By this stage I was steering wildly and erratically, sending half the cones flying. It took me twice as long to reverse through the cones as when sober and I had to make 25 steering corrections and twice had to drive forwards and start again.
The one area where my performance improved was in braking: the readout showed I was hitting the pedal faster and harder as the alcohol boosted my confidence. Given the rest of the results, however, this offered scant reassurance.
Times Newspapers ~ December 18, 2005
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