THE PARTING GUEST

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 148, 25 June 1938, Page 28

THE PARTING GUEST

EFFECT ON ROAD SENSE EXPERT TESTIMONY The relation of alcohol to road casualties was the subject of evidence given before the House of Lords Select Committee on the Prevention of Road Accidents. Dr. Courtenay C." Weeks, secretary of the National Temperance League, appeared on behalf of the Parliamentary Temperance Group and the whole of the organised temperance societies of the country.

Replying to Lord Alness, the chairman of the Committee, Dr. Weeks said that the qualities, apart from road sense, which were necessary to contribute to road safety were quick reaction, good vision and hearing—especially for motor-drivers—and accurate co-

ordination of the neuro-muscular apparatus. Even small doses of alcohol, equivalent to about a pint and a half of beer, had revealed interference with judgment, lengthening of the reaction time, and interference with vision. Alcohol did not dispel fatigue, but, particularly in the form of beer, increased it. x Blood tests made abroad had produced some remarkable results. One doctor in Sweden investigated a number of cases, and as a consequence suggested that more than half the adult male pedestrians who were victims of accidents were under the influence of drink at the time. An American found in a number of unselected cases that the pedestrians struck had a higher percentage of alcohol in their blood than the drivers who struck them. Dr. Weeks suggested that Britain might follow in its Highway Code the example of Northern Ireland and New Zealand, and emphasise the dangers of consuming alcohol within, say, two hours of driving. Lord Brocket (a member of the Committee).—We have had it suggested to us that a person should not drink within eight hours of driving. Dr. Weeks.—That would not be practicable. If we say two hours we are beginning to get within the realm of possibilities. That might stop that very dangerous thing,. the "speeding of the parting guest", he has already, dined Well. Lord Alness.—You suggest that punishment, should be more uniform in the . direction of severity in such cases. Dr. Weeks.—That is so.