Drunk driving

The poll that's been running on the site for the last couple of weeks was unscientifc even by the standards of web polls. In addition to the usual problems of multiple voting, this week's question required a pretty subjective response and a willingness to admit to doing something illegal.

Nonetheless, I thought it would be interesting to get an idea of just how many people, by their own admission, drive while under the influence of alcohol in Bermuda. I have no figures from other jurisdictions to compare these results with, so I'll just present the numbers as they are and leave the interpretation up to you.

Drunk Driving

How often do you drive in Bermuda when you've probably had more than the legal limit to drink? [474 votes total] All the time (39) 8% Frequently (35) 7% Occasionally (83) 18% Never (317) 67%

Comments

[SomersB on 08.09.05 at 22:18]

Having driven here my whole life I know the roads like I know how to walk to the bathroom after a long night of drinking. It's not like we have superhighways here. It's pretty easy to navigate our roads even after a couple of drinks. As long as we don't let tourists drive anything larger than a moped, we are pretty safe letting life-long residents navigate our roads. If you can start up your car and put it into gear, then you can get home safely.

[copied from poll comments]

[Full Fullish on 08.09.05 at 22:19]

(Hic) I'm far to drive to drunk, so take me drunk I'm home again!

[copied from poll comments]

[Traveller on 08.09.05 at 22:19]

Call me boring but drunk driving causes accidents; many of them fatal. You may know the way home and you may know every road, but your reflexes are severely diminished by just 2 glasses of alcpohol. The sooner the authorities come to terms with this, the better. IF YOU DRINK, DON'T DRIVE. SIMPLE!!

Just call me:

Long time local driver.

[copied from poll comments]

[Yet another limey on 08.09.05 at 22:20]

Bermuda's roads are three times more deadly than in the UK (on either a per capita or per mile of road basis).

There needs to be change in attitide in Bermuda, in the UK, after years of hard hitting ad campaigns, drink drivers are looked upon as potential child killers.

[copied from poll comments]

[Big Bad Wolf ^..^ on 08.09.05 at 23:00]

How is this for a horror show:tonight I went walking with my wife up towards Port Royal Golf Club.When we got just past the entrance gate I noticed a group of young men near the little Park boarding Middle road ,their parked bikes behind them and off to the side of a fence.I could see that they had been drinking as one of them was holding a green Heinekein bottle in his hand by the Oleander hedge.His friends were milling around him there were six of them all around sixteen and seventeen in age and judging by their bikes. Then the young man with the bottle in his hand raised it over his head and threw it down in the oleander hedge.He through it down with force which caught my attention from about fifty yards away.I'm a photographer very little escapes my visual attention.Then I noticed him pick up the bottle again while his friend threw his bottle in the bushes. I left my wife and walked towards them even though there were six of them.Around twenty yards away I shouted,"Heah whats seems to be the problem!" They had been so engrossed in the bottle throwing,they had'nt seen me approach. Soon as the chief culprit saw me at ten yards out the group and him scattered to their bikes and dispersed onto middle road.They moved too quickly for licence plate numbers besides my concerns where with what was in the hedge.There dying on the ground was a female mallard duck. I held it gently as it died.My wife caught up and then moved away with instant understanding.So drinking kills many innocent things.After my walk I went home and went looking for them....of course no where to be seen. I was never worried about any danger for myself,my instinct was that an act of cruelty was in progress,a senseless murder you could say.When I saw the duck prone on the ground spread out like some poor angel,I instantly knew that there were six cruel cowards scattering....I would of beaten them all.So that is my drinking story but sadly it is reality and not fiction. With love da ^..^

[RideTheCliche on 09.09.05 at 00:24]

Whoh... it's like I'm... Somewhere Else.

Slick!

Sorry, very OT... uhm... DUI's bad don't be studpid ummkay?

[Adjustah on 09.09.05 at 09:56]

67% - you lying bunch of weasels....

[SmokingGun on 09.09.05 at 11:06]

I agree with Adjustah.
This survey must have been done in Eygpt.
You're all living in De Nile.

[Bandit on 12.09.05 at 05:45]

This is interesting. Personally, I don't drink and drive. However, last year the government here in the Isle of Man released statistics of all road accidents including fatalities over the previous 11 years. The point of the exercise was that the minister of transport wants to bring in a national speed limit.

The statistics made very interesting reading. Probably the most interesting thing was that only 2% of fatalities were caused by drink driving. In fact you were more likely to be involved in a fatal accident if you had an animal in the car, and you were twice as likely to be in a fatal accident if you were sober and crashed into a parked car.

Drink Driving does not kill. Bad drivign kills.

[Raptor on 12.09.05 at 09:13]

Bandit, the statistics about drunk driving fatalities are indisputable. In the U.S. between 40,000 and 50,000 people a year have been killed by documented drunk drivers, year after year. MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) has done an amazing job getting laws changed on allowable amounts of alcohol in the blood and has been able to reduce those numbers somewhat.

There really is no doubt that alcohol impairs judgment and reflex time. One of the reasons people are often killed on highways after stopping their cars on the side of the road is that one’s hands follow one’s eyes. So a sober driver would see someone on the side of the road and be able to continue driving in a straight line, but a drunk driver might see someone on the side of the road, and not be able to maintain or correct for driving in a straight line—and hit the person on the side.

Personally, I know of a number of absolutely devastating cases. An accountant had a couple of beers on his way home from his job, then he hit a friend of ours and his girlfriend. Our friend had all the promise in the world—wonderful man, talented, etc. Today he has just enough mental awareness to know how impaired he is compared to who he was before. He needs constant care and barely functions. Another close friend lost both his brother and nephew to a drunk driver on a Sunday morning around 10am! I could go on.

Does bad driving kill? Sure. I believe drivers need far more training than they get. And people make mistakes. But alcohol is a known killer of a huge number of people every year.

[Bandit on 12.09.05 at 09:48]

Raptor, of course you are right. I re-read my post and it actually does not make the point I wanted to make! (idiot!)

We already have the laws in place where people caught drink driving are very heavily prosecuted. Hense, the number of deaths caused by drink driving are almost insignificant. However, we still manage to have around 11 fatal RTAs per year, but alcohol is not a contributing factor.

[Cancundreaming on 12.09.05 at 11:02]

Bandit,

The detrimental effect of an accident isn’t solely the loss of life. What your post didn't address is the number of drunk driving accidents that didn't result in a loss of life but did cause other serious consequences. The loss of limbs, serious mental impairment. etc...

Did the report you reference address these things?

[SmokingGun on 12.09.05 at 13:11]

Cancundreaming, you raise a very good point. I employ and work with a lot of adults with special needs. Most born with them but a few due to the actions of a drunk driver. We have a 45 year old former CPA with a family of three kids. Thanks to a drunk driver his life has been shattered and he struggles to maintain a day job working in a warhouse packaging items.
Drinking and driving should be kept to the golf course.

[2 Gear Cyrus on 12.09.05 at 14:13]

We somehow need to get to the stage things are in the UK & US - where it is socially unacceptable to drink & drive.

[TJL on 12.09.05 at 14:45]

Just throwing my thoughts against the wall here and seeing what sticks...

Assuming the US and UK have "got it right" on drunk driving, and we should therefore try to emmulate them, what changes will Bermuda have to make in order to get a handle on this problem?

1) Social attitudes towards drunk driving - hardest to define and hardest to control by act of legislation. Best attempts at a solution are graphic television ads, educational programs which start before the individual is old enough to have life experience in either driving or drinking, and far greater peer-to-peer pressure. This last one is, I feel, the most important - we'd all like for someone else to solve this problem, but how often do you really, REALLY try to stop a friend from driving drunk? I usually won't go any farther than a stern look and sucking my teeth in disappointment, and I fear this isn't nearly far enough.

2) Stricter enforcement rather than stronger punishment. Psychologically speaking, humans are not rational beings when it comes to preparing for low-frequency, high-severity events; we underinsure our property, take poor care of our bodies, and risk injury or incarceration by driving drunk, simply because we think "it will never happen to me". The way to get people to change their behaviour is not to increase the punishment (1yr or 100 in jail won't matter to someone who thinks "it will never happen") but to increase their likelihood of getting caught. Up the police presence on Front Street on Friday and Saturday nights; give beat cops breathalysers and the right to test anyone they see controlling a vehicle; introduce breathalyser spot-checks on East Broadway and other major roads on party nights. Granted, it will suck at first; inconvenience for the sobers, and a massive strain on the legal and judicial system processing all the violaters the first few weeks = but the only way to crack this nut is to make every driver feel that there is a very good chance they will be asked to prove their sobriety that night.

3) Alternatives to driving drunk. One good way to cut down on drunk driving is to give people easy and convenient transportation options. In Bermuda there is no public transport during the party hours, and cabs (when you can find them) are prohibitively expensive, especially if you're travelling by yourself to St. Georges or Somerset. Having a designated driver is ideal, but sometimes one just isn't available. Perhaps instituting a late-night bus service would provide a suitable alternative for drunk revellers?

[SmokingGun on 12.09.05 at 15:14]

TJL,

All very true. The biggest problem really is in the fact that people just get too confident that they'll make it home OK. It only takes a second to have it all come crashing down. Taking the keys from someone and putting them in a taxi is a good start. Having to deal with collecting their vehicle is a pain and hopefully a lesson can be learned for the next time.

[Cancundreaming on 12.09.05 at 15:29]

TJL,

Excellent post on all levels. I think you're getting right to the crux of the issue and the possible solutions...

[Adjustah on 12.09.05 at 15:52]

TJL

"Perhaps instituting a late-night bus service would provide a suitable alternative for drunk revellers?"

An excellent idea, but would you like to be the driver of the "drunk bus" on, say, Cup Match? They'd have to assign a police officer to the bus every night...

A good idea, though...

[Big Bad Wolf ^..^ on 12.09.05 at 18:46]

Maybe all drunck drivers will start to turn themselves in...Just like in that ad for All State Insurance....Speaking on Insurance....which Reinsurance companies in Bermuda will be going to the wall from losses in the Gulf Coast? The RG had an article today speculating that there would be infact some Bermuda fallout re the significant claims that will be placed on Insurers. Anyone have odds on which companies that have significant Exposure might not make it?

[Bandit on 13.09.05 at 05:26]

2 gear cyrus - In the US they may have managed to make it socially unacceptible to drive drunk, but what credibility can you give a country where the majority of people do not wear their seat belts? They feel it contravenes their human rights!! The Government is too scared to take action.

When the wearing of seatbelts in the front seats of a vehicle became compulsary, the number of road deaths basically halved over night, regardless of drink driving. When it became compusary to wear seatbelts in the back the number halved again. The introduction of other safety aspects in cars (e.g. airbags) has been insignificant by comparison. If the US wants to cut death on the road they could literally do it over night. THey just are not brave enough to take that step.

[gailynn on 02.11.06 at 19:25]

i think it is stupid to drink and drive i mean i may be only 11 but my mom tell me its not cool to get drunk but every one gets drunk at least once but that doesn't mean punish people for you actions thats why i think it is cool they have that thing called M.A.D.D (mothers aginst drunk driving.) but what i don't get is the people that drink and drive would be quick to get mad if one of there loved ones got hurt or even killed from a drunk driver

[SmokingGun on 02.11.06 at 21:12]

gailynn - you are absolutely correct. The best friend anyone could ever have is the one who says "may I have your keys please" when they think their friend has had too much to drink. The friend may not like it but they'll get over it and thank you after they've sobered up.

And as your Mom says - it really isn't cool to get drunk. People usually end up making a fool of themselves when it happens.

Thanks for posting your thoughts.