Recent studies indicate that the message about drinking and driving is still not getting through. More police RBT’s and booze bust campaigns, are still catching an alarming number of people taking the risk.
See figure A. below.
28% of all drivers and motorcyclists killed on Victoria’s roads over the last year were 0.05 g/100ml or over. The majority of drivers are heavily intoxicated, registering more than three times over the legal limit.
You can see that in the span of over twenty years, the numbers of fatalities as a result of drinking and driving have not dropped significantly enough.
In 2008, Victoria Police breath tested 1.42 million drivers and riders from Booze Bus operations. Around 5,700 drivers and riders were caught with an illegal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) over this period.
These figures are alarming, more so that they are only indicative of one state.
The effects of drink driving are devastating for everyone concerned. The numbers above do not reflect the other victims of drink driving or the family and loved ones of the victims.
• For example in Victoria over 28% of people killed in road fatalities die as a direct result of drinking and driving.
• If 50 people drink and drive and cause an accident, this would average to 350 people’s lives being indirectly affected.
This includes other victims who have been injured in the wake of the accident, the family members and friends of the victims, the community and the treating emergency workers at the scene of the accident,.
Consider the often forgotten victims, the ones who survive. They have to live with the trauma for the rest of their life. Not forgetting, victims who may be permanently disabled from an accident. This puts an unbearable burden of the families and loved ones of these victims. Not to mention the cost of ongoing medical treatment and loss of income. All of this is highlighted for one simple fact- this can be avoided. Easily.
Whilst drink driving is at the forefront of the crisis, other factors such as alcohol related violence and work place safety need to be addressed. The media has been flushed with repeated stories of alcohol fuelled violence on the streets and domestically.
In the work place it is common place of accidents to occur- vehicular and non vehicular. This is a taboo subject, and one that is a grey area to address. Many employers feel its an invasion of privacy to breathalyse their workers, or imply that an incident or accident is a direct result of drinking. How many of these unfortunate happenings can be avoided if everyone had access to a means of a morning breath test before work? You would have to reason that most of the incidents would be abolished.
What can be done to stop this epidemic from growing? There is no simple answer to stop the cause of drink driving, but there is an amazingly easy and accessible solution to help make people behave more responsibly. Drinking Mate is a company that retails and wholesales quality and reliable alcohol breathalyzers that are accurate and affordable. Most people do not realize that you can now own your own personal testing device, nor do they think they can afford one. Drinking Mate is a company that is passionate about raising awareness of the effects of drink driving, and how easy it is to ensure that people don’t become just another statistic.
Based on their own research, Drinking Mate found that the general public who wanted to drink but be able to drive home, were disillusioned with the lack of public testing devices. They also found that people were rather frustrated that the only way they could tell if they were over the limit, was if they got tested and caught by the Police.
More studies have also shown that people fool themselves into thinking that they are sober enough to drive after having what they think is a sufficient amount of sleep. Two recent newspaper articles proved this theory wrong. In the Sun Herald, 2 of out of 3 people tested, who all had dinner and stopped drinking at 2:30am still blew over the legal limit when tested at 9am the following morning.
The team at Drinking Mate, would like to make their vision and purpose public. They feel that a story highlighting the seriousness of drink driving and the devastating effects of drinking and driving is a message that needs to be heard. Over and over, until this message sinks in. People need to be aware that there are affordable and accurate devices that Drinking Mate can supply to encourage responsible drinking.
We want to be a part of the solution, and any publicity raising awareness and touting our cause will make this solution become a reachable reality.
For more information contact Ahmed Hassan- Company Director on: 0415-773-743
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