Another traffic blitz

Press, 13 December 1986, Page 24

Another traffic blitz

The combined Police-Ministry of Transport blitz on drinking drivers got under way in earnest last night. Traffic officers have mounted check-points round Christchurch this week, and have been dismayed at what they have found. The present campaign against drinking and driving has had saturation publicity. No-one could pretend to be unaware of the likelihood of detection. A high number of drivers stopped this week nonetheless returned positive breath tests. Too many are just not heeding the message.

The alternatives to drinking and driving are well enough known: car pooling, one member of the party staying on soft drink to be the sober driver, taking a bus or a taxi — there is no acceptable excuse for people impaired by drink to be behind a wheel. The connection between alcohol and road accidents is beyond dispute. If the alcoholimpaired drivers were menaces only to themselves, the temptation would be great to let them get on with it. Unfortunately they kill and maim other road users, too.

When they do not kill themselves, the rest of society is.called on to help patch them up again. Many also leave dependent families. Whichever way the issue is viewed, the selfishness and foolishness of drinking drivers costs everyone in the community dearly.

If traffic blitzes such as the present one help to reduce the number of inebriated drivers on the road, they undeniably perform a valuable service. Whether* they also

discourage inebriated drivers from taking to the roads in the first place must be doubtful, in view of this week’s experience. Alternatively, it must be assumed that without a blitz the number of drinking drivers on the road would be even higher than the roughly one in every 15 stopped at check-points in the last few days.

The chilling thought is that if the blitz is discouraging a half of the drinking drivers from getting behind the wheel, without the blitz something like one in every eight drivers would be alcohol-impaired. If the blitz is having an even greater effect, the normal ratio of drinking drivers must be even higher. Blitzes can serve other useful purposes. In the course of them officers come across a great many vehicles with lapsed warrants of fitness, occasionally stop a stolen or converted vehicle, and generally have a limiting effect on wheeled hooliganism. They are expensive of manpower and this is the reason why the combined effort has been settled on by the Ministers of Police, Mrs Hercus, and of Transport, Mr Prebble. The approach is not universally popular in the law enforcement agencies. The police, in particular, could not be expected to be thrilled at the prospect of extra duties when their resources already are stretched in the prevention and detection of serious crime. Provided these principal functions are not greatly impaired, the blitz is a sensible contribution to the reduction of the carnage on the roads.