Courts ‘too lenient’ to repeat drink-drivers

Press, 9 February 1983, Page 11

Courts ‘too lenient’ to repeat drink-drivers

PA Auckland New Zealand needs to be harder on repeat drink-drive offenders, says an Accident Compensation Corporation board member, Dr Morgan Fahey. Dr Fahey, who chairs the Roadshow Trust, a traffic safety campaign for teenagers. said about one quarter of all motor-vehicle accidents involved repeat offenders. "Research has shown that of those convicted of danger-

ous driving, about one-third have a criminal history,” said Dr Fahey. "In my view the courts are often too lenient in assessing these people for the problems they have and cause. Although this group is small it is persistent in its destruction." Solutions were not easy to come by, he said. United States research had shown that the cost of one death on the road was $NZ360,000, but looking after those seriously

injured whs much greater. One-third of all serious accidents resulted in some permanent disability that required attention for a long time afterwards and changed people’s lives dramatically. “On the positive side there has been a lot of work done in promoting road safety in the last two years. The Accident Compensation Corporation has done a magnificient job in making the public more aware of risk and of accident," he said.