Drink-driving blitzes ineffective, say experts

Press, 10 January 1983, Page 4

Drink-driving blitzes ineffective, say experts

Blitz-type action against drunken driving has no longterm effect on the road toll, according to experts at an international symposium which met in the United States in November last vear.

A report o! the symposium has been published by the Insurance Institute for Highwav Safety in the United States, and is now being circulated among Automobile Associations in New Zealand. Dr H. L. Ross, the author of a book. •Deterring the Drinking Driver." told the meeting that the key to enforcement was publicity. "The effect lies in people s perception that they might be caught and punished." he said.

The experts agreed that if blitzes on drunken driving were well publicised, they could sharply lower alcoholrelated deaths and injuries, but there was little evidence that they had any long-term effect.

Dr Ross said that severe penalties were ineffective life-savers, and if seen as too severe could cause feelings of unfairness among traffic officers.

An Australian expert. Mr lan Johnston, who is a psychologist and mechanical engineer for the Australian

Road Research Board, agreed with Dr Ross. "Australia has one of the toughest drunk driving laws in the world, but evidence of long-term success is scarce." he said. In Britain, a four-week blitz in Cheshire, in which 16.000 breath tests were taken, reduced the number of crashes and alcohol-related fatalities. The former Chief Const a ble of Cheshire. Mr

William Kelsall. told the meeting that the blitz was accompanied by widespread publicity in the news media. "The publicity put the fear of God into drivers." and brewers complained about falling sales, he said Mr Kelsall said that those at risk did not drive, but that after the blitz the number of crashes and fatalities rose again.