20/11/2010
Reporter Kerrie Ritchie and victim of a previous train violence assault Paul Taylor had to leave their Frankston train due to the fear invoked by alcohol fuelled, fellow patrons.
Not all violence on our trains is alcohol related, but the statistics are compelling:
70% of all assaults in Australia have alcohol at their core.
The subject of this story was previously a victim of Frankston Line Train Rock Battering Incident described in the Herald Sun here:
Train Assault Victim Tim Redmond injured 4th June 2010
In the ABC story, Paul tells the story of the terror he and his young son experienced.
They were part of a football crowd returning home. AFL football events are often Binge Drinking Events…
Some good can come out of this story if the wider ABC starts listening to real people like Paul with these real experiences.
Fight them off with Opera
Quote of the year for me comes from Paul Taylor who said of the violence on trains:
The problem is we tippy-toe around the problem. We play music to scare them off, like you know, ban smoking on the streets of Frankston to move them on. You know we’re just too scared these days to come out and say ‘that’s not tolerated. Stop’. We don’t want do that, we don’t want to confront them, we’d rather fight them off with opera.
Someone please get the word to Paul and Kerrie Ritchie and crew.
A Pedestrian 08 law and program of enforcement would have eliminated every incident he and Kerrie Ritchie and crew filmed for this excellent segment.
Multiple attempts have been made to contact the ABC.
With the exception of ABC South Australia, we haven’t been able to elicit any interest.
Leave a Comment » | 
Alcohol fuelled violence, alcohol related violence, Binge drinking, The-Pedestrian-08-Campaign | Tagged: ABC, ABC Stateline Victora, Frankston Line Train, Frankston Line Train Rock Battering Incident, Frankston Train, Paul Taylor, Tim Redmond | 
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Posted by pedestrian08
26/10/2010
Under the headline ‘Girls worse than boys for underage boozing’ a report in the Daily Gazette sums up the tragic situation in the UK where:
Shocking evidence from charity Alcohol Concern shows nearly a third more girls than boys have been admitted to hospital from Accident and Emergency wards after excessive drinking.
So normalised is underage drinking in the UK, that the focus of Alcohol Concern is to reduce the amount underage drinkers actually drink, not to actually stop them from drinking:
As long as alcohol remains as heavily promoted as it currently is, young drinkers will continue to consume far more than they might otherwise, leading to inevitable health harms, wasting ambulance and police time.
Every possible effort must be made to eliminate any underage drinking.
A program of random on street breath testing associated with Pedestrian 08 would help identify children risking permanent damage and addiction via alcohol consumption and offer authorities an intervention opportunity prior to these often abused and neglected children needing attention in Accident and Emergency Departments.
Don Shenker’s reference to Alcohol Marketing shows again what evil consequences Big Liquor advertising, Sport Sponsorship and Facebook/Social Media marketing, has on Big Liquor’s primary school age drinking market.
Daily Gazette
Leave a Comment » | alcohol, Alcohol Concern, Binge drinking, pedestrian 08 law, Underage Drinkers | Tagged: alcohol, Binge drinking, Don Shenker, pedestrian-08-campaign, underage drinking | Permalink
Posted by pedestrian08
25/10/2010
An excellent article by Robert Remington of Canada’s Calgary Herald regarding new penalties in Calgary for driving between .05 and .08.
Robert says:
I’ve always questioned suspensions for those in the .05 to .08 warning zone, but now I get it. According to B.C.’s ministry of public safety, drivers in that range are seven times more likely to get in an accident.
And:
But any amount of alcohol can create over-confidence, aggression, tiredness and slow reaction time, as my .024 reading after one glass of wine on an empty stomach showed.
If found with a BAC between .05 and .08, your car is immediately impounded, subject to towing and release fees.
That seems like an exercise in common sense…
Robert and the Calgary Herald should look at both streams of thought as they affect or apply to Pedestrian Safety, Violence and Addiction.
We need to get away from a silo mindset when it comes to alcohol.
However, a letter from The Pedestrian 08 Campaign was kindly published by the Herald here: The Aussie Way
Calgary Herald
Leave a Comment » | alcohol, Alcohol fuelled violence, alcohol related violence, Binge drinking, Calgary Herald, The-Pedestrian-08-Campaign | Tagged: alcohol, Calgary Herald, Robert Remington | Permalink
Posted by pedestrian08
21/10/2010
ADCA pushed out a Press Release today: Reduce alcohol charged violence during the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival
In it they declared:
With the Caulfield Cup tomorrow and the Melbourne Cup approaching, the Alcohol and other Drugs Council of Australia (ADCA) calls for racegoers to recognise the violent consequences that come from excessive drinking.
And:
“Every week some 60 Australians die and 1500 are hospitalised due to alcohol-related injuries,” Mr Templeman said. “This shocking statistic should really change unconcerned attitudes toward the excessive consumption of alcohol.”
But ADCA Chief Executive Officer (CEO), David Templeman called for:
“With 750 000 people expected to attend this year’s 2010 Spring Racing Carnival, it is hoped that everyone making their way to the tracks this year want to attend to see the horses, rather than to simply get drunk,” Mr Templeman said.
“Prevent alcohol-related violence by drinking sensibly – let’s eliminate opportunities for alcohol-related harm!”
All good here David, but, most drinkers have a massive problem getting their minds around the concept of drinking sensibly and responsible consumption of alcohol…
This communication could have be vastly more effective had ADCA and David changed the last mentioned sentence to:
“Prevent alcohol-related violence by drinking responsibly – staying well below a Blood Alcohol Content of point 08 for non drivers – let’s eliminate opportunities for alcohol-related harm!”
ADCA should have demanded that:
- Racing Authorities ensure all bars have a plentiful supply of Breathalyser machines – for patrons to track their intoxication;
- Racing Authorities declare a committment to Pedestrian 08 as a condition of entry to the race courses;
- Racing Authorities publish highly visible information posters and handouts educating race goers about BAC levels and the dangers of increasing BAC Levels.
- The all visitors agree to Random Breath Testing as a condition of entry. This to ensure a violence and trouble free meeting.
Last year, ADCA claims that:
Victorian Spring Racing Carnival directly experienced … alcohol-fuelled aggression where approximately 30 people were involved in a brawl in the stands after the Caulfield Cup
You cannot expect to get away with 30 person brawls – if it happens again- for two years in a row! – and not expect to see some serious injuries. Racing Authorities need to take responsibility now, for the behaviours of their drinkers. So many promoters don’t…
Leave a Comment » | alcohol, Alcohol fuelled violence, alcohol related violence, Binge drinking, drink-walking, pedestrian-08-limit, Uncategorized | Tagged: ADCA, alcohol, Alcohol and other Drugs Council of Australia, David Templeman, Spring Racing Carnival | Permalink
Posted by pedestrian08
21/10/2010
Ann Fowler in Otaga Daily Times
Otago Daily Times ran this article today regarding Ann Fowler’s efforts to curb the harms of alcohol in New Zealand.
Effective regulation was needed to change New Zealand’s harmful drinking culture.
She proposed the group focus on five policies to solve the national alcohol crisis.
We need to talk about raising alcohol prices, raising the alcohol purchase age, reducing alcohol accessibility, reducing marketing and advertising and increasing drink-driving counter-measures,”Acting forum chairman Peter Gibson said many points raised could be turned into submissions.
The Pedestrian 08 Campaign responded with familiar suggestions:
The Alcohol Reform Bill needs to deal with mass population behaviour change measures.
Be effective. Present your population with a measure of intoxication that they can readily understand – a BAC number of 0.08. Educate, campaign, test and heavily fine offenders. Most, if not all your alcohol problems will evaporate.
See the full article by Naeem Alvi for more.
Leave a Comment » | alcohol, Alcohol fuelled violence, alcohol related violence, Binge drinking, pedestrian 08 law, pedestrian-08-limit, The-Pedestrian-08-Campaign, Uncategorized | Tagged: alcohol, Ann Fowler, Otago Daily Times, Queenstown United in Violence and Alcohol Reduction, The Alcohol Reform Bill | Permalink
Posted by pedestrian08
20/10/2010
How can anyone blame Chief Magistrate Graeme Hensen for his comments of frustration vented in ‘Judges fed up with drunken violence clogging our courts’, published Monday, 18 October 2010, on the Sydney Morning Herald website?
Chief Magistrate Graeme Henson
Mr Hensen offers up one more massively important statistic that adds to the considerable list of blood and guts subsidies going to Big Liquor and their retail servants: ‘Alcohol plays a role in 50 to 60 per cent of the nearly 300,000 criminal cases that come before the state’s Local Courts each year’.
Add that one to the cancers, the hospitals, nursing home care for the brain damaged, the 70% of police time devoted to cleaning up after Big Liquor, the 20,000 children abused by alcohol affected adults every year etc…
NSW badly needs a Pedestrian 08 Law and Education Campaign to drill in a widespread acceptance that as your Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) increases, your ability – your reliability – to act responsibly diminishes. In short, ‘Responsible Drinking Ends at 08’ clearly illustrates a much needed, easily understood message.
We can immediately rid our streets of all alcohol fuelled violence via the immediate adoption of Pedestrian 08.
No one who wants to drink will be stopped from drinking.
Graeme Hensen’s focus would then turn to working out which of his colleagues could be retired…
Leave a Comment » | alcohol, Alcohol fuelled violence, alcohol related violence, Binge drinking, drink-walking, pedestrian 08 law, pedestrian-08-limit, The-Pedestrian-08-Campaign | Tagged: alcohol, Chief Magistrate, Graeme Hensen | Permalink
Posted by pedestrian08
15/10/2010
Almost choked on my flat white when I read this blurt in todays Age:
”I’ve got to sell over a billion beers next year, I can’t do that just through social media. It’s got to be highly engaging and participatory, but I’ve also got to reach millions and millions of Australians.”
And:
“TV is not as effective as it used to be, less people are watching it, there are more channels. But, sadly, in my opinion 10,000 Facebook friends can’t be the answer to selling over a billion beers.”
One can only guess at the number of cancers caused by the success of such an ambition…
Or the number of women and children bashed, abused, killed and injured.
The number of one punch homicides, the cases of illnesses and addictions caused.
Probably not on this bozo’s radar…
Let’s hope this guy hasnt got the IQ to succeed.
Let’s hope his efforts leave as many children as unaffected as possible.
How many would be sucked in by his company’s Facebook and social media campaigns?
How many by sporting sponsorships, TV ads during various grand finals, ads everywhere else?
You can read the full article here: Irresistible lure of driving us to drink – great work Clare.
And you can see a kind of Drinkwise like site here at his boss’s head office somewhere in Europe – DRINKIQ – not sure where it is based, taxation being such a complex issue…
And here is an analysis of the lengths Big Liquor will go to, to get the kids involved as young as possible.
Have a look at the thinking behind these campaigns. The researchers here had to resort to diagramming the relationships between all elements.
That’s behaviour changing plotting on a large, large scale. All bases are covered – there is no possible escape from their influence.
I’m sure any and every boy or girl drinking toxic, addictive and carcinogenic alcohol, was not the intent of the Facebook and Social Media campaigns alluded to above.
Nor would such an unfortunate eventuality be anywhere on the Federal Health Minister’s mind, memory or conscious.
They have the power to immediately stop this sort of ambition coming to pass.
One can only question why a funded political party would blanch for more than a nano second to put a stop to this murderous nonsense…
What’s wrong with these people?
Banning alcohol promotion isnt prohibition – its’ common sense.
Alcohol advertising doesnt make for Responsible Drinking.
Leave a Comment » | alcohol, Alcohol fuelled violence, alcohol related violence, alcopops, Binge drinking, drinkiq, Drinkwise, Uncategorized | Tagged: advertising, alcohol, Alcohol fuelled violence, alcohol related violence, Binge drinking, Clare Kermond, marketing, The Age | Permalink
Posted by pedestrian08
14/10/2010
See this article here:
Comments like this should ring alarm bells amongst us all:
School Resource Officer Deputy Doug Hale said underage drinking is a growing problem, and he hopes parents and adults are getting the message that they will be held liable for providing or purchasing alcohol for minors.
For Australians, one could ask how many adults have served any time in jail for “four counts for contributing to the delinquency of a child”, which, when you think about it, is a fairly accurate statement of what it means to provide quantities of alcohol to underage drinkers…
Leave a Comment » | alcohol, alcopops, Binge drinking, Uncategorized | Tagged: alcohol, delinquency, Middletown Journal, underage drinking | Permalink
Posted by pedestrian08
