ENGLISH COMMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 236, 5 October 1937, Page 18

ENGLISH COMMENT.

DRIVERS AND DRINK.

AVERAGE MOTORIST CAREFUL

Most sensible people deprecate the suggestion that motorists should not allow a drop of alcohol to pass their lips when they are driving, comments '"Autocar." On the other hand, no penalty is too harsh for the man who deliberately drives a car when he is intoxicated. The difficulty, however, is to draw the line between the two. Some folk, it has been said on authority, drive better when they have had a drink; it tends to settle their nerves and to prevent them nicking mistakes that might arise from an exaggerated attempt to do the right thing when ''all keyed up."

Light is thrown on the subject by the conclusions of Dr. Ralph Rimmer, chief police surgeon of Bradford, who is reported to have said that in his experience "alcoholic motorists" in more than "«0 per cent of cases drove more slowly than usual—probably, added the doctor, "because they knew that all was not well with them." He summed up the matter by saying that when they came to grief it was more from lack of judgment than recklessness.

Knowing full well the probable consequences if it can be proved that he has been indulging in alcoholic drinks, the average motorist is careful. In the event of any mishap, excitement or nervous reaction can easily be mistaken for alcoholic excess, and in that, most of all, lies the danger to the man who likes to stop occasionally for a- "nip." It is unfortunate that there is, apparently, no easily applied and positive test by which "drunkenness" can be distinguished from "nerves."