Call to raise drinking age futile move, says doctor

Press, 8 January 1983, Page 5

Call to raise drinking age futile move, says doctor

Raising New Zealand’s drinking age in an attempt to reduce alcohol-related traffic accidents and fatalities would be futile at present, according to Dr Paul Hurst, the Ministry of Transport’s chief of traffic research. Dr Hurst said that a such a step would be futile because of the widespread under-age drinking that was occurring. He was asked to comment on a report in the latest issue of “Time’’ magazine, which said that there had been a dramatic reduction in nighttime fatal accidents involving young people aged 18 to 21 in at least eight states of the United States which had in the last few years raised the drinking age.

“Time” quoted one educationist as saying that some teen-agers would continue to drink even if the legal drinking age were raised to 40, but “Time” said that inspite of its critics, the national campaign to raise the legal drinking age was in high gear.

The campaign was likely to be bolstered by a study by Duke University which surveyed 48 states from 1970 to 1977 and found that drunkendriving related fatalities among those aged 18 to 20 increased 7 per cent when the legal drinking age was lowered from 21 to 18. Dr Hurst said that a more effective way of overcoming the problem of accidents involving young people affected by alcohol would be to put more pressure on the owners of licensed clubs and hotels.

•One way of determining whether drinking-age laws were effective was to look at the age distribution of young people involved in accidents. If the law was well enforced, there tended to be two accident peaks, one at the age of obtaining a licence, the other at the drinking age.

“If it was not well enforced you would see a peak at 16. This is the case in the state of Vermont. New Zealand would ,be a Vermont, I suspect,” said Dr Hurst.

When New Zealand liberalised the drinking age to allow 18-year-olds to drink when accompanied by a spouse nothing dramatic happened to the accident statistics because the liberalised laws simply legalised what was already happening, he said.

The commander of the Christchurch police district, Deputy Assistant Commissioner G. E. Twentyman, disputed the implication that the liquor laws were not being enforced. “I think Dr Hurst has overlooked the fact that a lot of under-age drinking takes place legally. He has come to the conclusion that minors can drink only in licensed premises, but 1 don’t think he has any evidence to back that up.” Mr Twentyman said that it was undeniable that minors did drink in hotels, but to say that the law was not being enforced was nonsense.

“The law is being enforced but people choose to risk being caught,” he said. New Zealand’s legal drinking age is 20, but those over 18 may consume alcohol on licensed premises if accompanied by a spouse, parent or guardian over the age of 20.

In the first nine months last year the Christchurch police apprehended 722 persons under age on licensed premises in Christchurch, compared with 532 in the same time in 1981. Fifteen managers were prosecuted for supplying minors, compared with 10 in the first nine months of 1981.

Mr Twentyman said that while unaccompanied persons under 20 were not permitted to drink on licensed premises or in a public place, there was nothing to stop, them drinking anywhere else.

“I would say there is more under-age drinking at parties than in hotels,” he said.

Mr Twentyman said that he believed the police were taking sufficient enforcement action to ensure that licensed

premises were kept orderly and that so far as was possible young people were prevented from drinking there.

“You are not going to stop young people from drinking in hotels, because they will take the risk of being caught. If it was not for our enforcement I am sure a lot more would be drinking there,” Mr Twentyman said.

Dr Hurst last month called for sterner measures to control under-age drinking. He called for “bouncers” at hotel and tavern doors to check people entering, identification cards to be carried by drinkers, and the temporary closing of outlets that sold drink to minors.

He said that suspension of liquor licences had been an effective measure in the United States.

Mr Twentyman said that licences could be suspended in New Zealand, too, but in practice it was difficult to nave them suspended unless it could be proved that the licensee was continually serving minors and that he was acting irresponsibly by serving persons who were obviously under age. Dr Hurst said that educa-

tion was the long-term solution to the problem of drinking and driving. The president of the Canterbury branch of the Hotel Association, Mr J. V. McCormack, said that while members of the association were perturbed that young people were having accidents, increasing the age limit was not the answer.

All licensees were instructed to take great care that under-age persons were not served with liquor and the association worked in with the police to enforce the law.

Random breath tests were a drastic step to take, but it appeared that they might be having some effect. Television advertising might also be helping, educate young drivers from drinking and driving, said Mr McCormack.

The superintendent ot tne Salvation Army Bridge Programme, Captain K. J. Goldsack, said that the ministry had observed that greater numbers of young people were going to hotels. “Whether they are drinking more we do not know,” he said. Another trend he had noticed was that the agegroup for treatment at the Addington centre was dropping.

“We are finding that most of the young people who come here have been mixing drink with other drugs, either prescription drugs or street drugs. This is increasing the problem. A lot more teen-agers are really sick and require treatment, indicating that the problem is getting serious. We are worried about it,” said Captain Goldsack.

Dr John Bailey, a scientist in the Chemistry Division of the D.5.1.R., who has been studying fatal road accidents involving alcohol for 11 years, said late last year that half of all convicted drinking drivers were aged under 25, whereas only a quarter of all driving was done by drivers under 25. "An 18-year-old is 15 times more likely to be involved as a drinking driver in a fatal road accident than is a driver aged over 44.

“However, fatal road accidents without alcohol are g also largely the problem of young drivers. One possible explanation is that young people are coping with two learning processes at once — learning to drive and learning to cope with alcohol. “Both processes have a long learning curve and are prone to errors.” Dr Bailey said that a high proportion of drinking drivers aged under 25 at fault in a fatal accident were unskilled workers.

“This proportion was about three times that in the male work-force. These unskilled workers probably left school early and are probably slow learners. Some attention could be given to this group while they, are still at school."

The Minister of Transport, Mr Gair, said last year that

while alcohol was often a factor in accidents involving young people, the problem was often that of immaturity in handling alcohol.

He said that the best solution might be random checking by traffic officers, the officer having the opportunity of following up the check with a breath test if he thought it appropriate.