BAN ON LIQUOR

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4802, 26 June 1939, Page 7

BAN ON LIQUOR

DRIVERS ON JOURNEYS. APPROVAL OF PROPOSAL.

SAFETY COUNCIL MEETS

A proposal that it should be made an offence for any motorist to drink intoxicating - liquor during a journey or within half an hour of driving a car was on Wednesday endorsed by the New Zealand Road Safety Council. So also were yet stricter proposals for heavier penalties for drunken drivers.

The Minister of Transport, the Hon. R. Semple, said the proposals had been approved by a sub-committee set up to consider them on the eve of Parliament’s assembly, so that stricter precautions could be taken to protect the public from intoxicated motorists.

It was proposed that it should be made an additional and separate offence, carrying lesser penalty than intoxicated driving, for any driver to take liquor while driving or to drive within half an hour of taking liquor. The sub-committee in making the recommendation added that it was not implied that the lapse of half an hour would eliminate the effect of alcohol already consumed. The actual time varied from two to three hours, according to the individual and the circumstances. It was emphasised, too, that the proposal aimed at reasonable precautions for public safety and did not involve any other ethical or moral issue.

The Commisisoner of Transport, Mr. G. L. Laurenson, said that in the past two months accidents in which the driver responsible was either intoxicated or under the influence of liquor had resulted in eight deaths and 58 injuires. The statistics proved the severity of this type of accident, while of all motor accidents on the average one in 18 was fatal, one in eight was fatal in cases of drivers under the influence of drink, and one in six in cases of intoxication.