CASE 4 — ‘Came to in hospital’

Press, 13 June 1978, Page 17

CASE 4 — ‘Came to in hospital’

She is a young woman with a responsible job which involves dealing with people. She is usually a modest and sensible drinker. One would never suspect she was convicted of drunken driving nine months ago. In fact, she is the type of person who would prompt you to say: If it can happen to her, it can happen to anyone. She went to a hotel after work to have drinks

with friends. The next thing she remembered was coming to in hospital. “Obviously I drank too much. I can’t really remember getting into my car. The car failed to take a corner and hit a pole. I was apparently knocked unconscious. “I was taken to hospital where they took a blood test After being kept there a day — I was unhurt — I went home. A traffic officer came to

interview me and I was charged.” Rather reluctant to talk about the details, she says she cannot recall precisely what the blood-alcohol level was. “But it was over 200 mgm.” The Magistrate disqualified her from driving for nine months, and imposed a fine of $2OO. She was allowed to drive one day a week, Thursdays, from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. for shopping. “I was absolutely shat-

tered by the whole business,” she says. The woman driver has no quarrel with the penalty which she regards as “quite fair.” "After all, I could have killed someone.”

What she did she looks on now as quite out of character; she does not feel a sense of guilt, but rather considers she has been justly punished for what happened. The only factor that rankles with her is that

thousands of others who are drinking and driving are not getting caught. She did not drive while disqualified, but rode a bicycle and caught buses. And she is in no doubt that having been convicted she will drive much more carefully in future. “I have had my licence back only a few days and I expect I will be paranoic about getting people to drive me home,” she says. She has no solution to

offer for the drinking-driv-ing problem. Taking many more breath tests outside pubs and taverns could not possibly deal with all drivers unfit to drive. "Just how many traffic officers have we to go round all the pubs in Christchurch? Such a proposal would only tend to produce more civil servants and increase taxes and court costs. It would hardly deal with the problem.”