1.1 million people random breath tested in 50 days

12/01/2012

The efficiency and effectiveness of random breath testing cannot be doubted.
As part of its summer routine, Victoria Police via their vaunted Booze Bus Teams took control of our roads, barely inconvenienced a safe driver, and RBT’d an astonishing 1.1 million drivers over a 50 day period.
The Melbourne Herald Sun reports this operation – Operation Summer Stay – put 2610 over the limit drivers – off the road. They lost their licenses.
How effective is random breath testing as a societal wide, behaviour changing program?
This is the quote that reveals the answer:

Mr Walshe said the drink-driving test rate of one positive per 432 motorists was poor, but an improvement on one in 332 last year.

This means that VicPol had to test 432 motorists to find and remove 1 drunk from the road.
Last year, they had to test 332, to find and remove their one drunk.
This number, by and large, keeps improving.
DUI drivers are being removed from our roads.
We need to keep up this good work and extend the same model of enforcement and behaviour change to our streets. To our entertainment (drinking) districts employing pedestrian random breath testing.
The model is proven! Beyond doubt.
Meanwhile, this humble site, made the big time in the US, featuring on reddit.com, the social media site, upon which a group called “crippling alcoholism” has been created.
This is the discussion.
Warning, the site link above contains a four letter word.
A lot of obviously distressed and unwell people on this site…
I did my best to engage, prior to being – politely – banned from the group.
I don’t wonder why!
And thanks to producers and Louise Saunders of the ABC Hobart for the spot this morning on the discussion surrounding drunk driving / dui.
It seems that the idea of mandatory RBT machines in all pubs, thus enabling fewer surprises, better education via the audio visual education facilities these machines can bring, and of course, a totally unambiguous, easy to understand, maximum pedestrian BAC Limit, went down well with the listening public.

Mike

Leave a Comment » | ABC, alcohol, Alcohol fuelled violence, alcohol related violence, Binge drinking, drink-walking, Mike Cockburn, pedestrian-08-limit, The-Pedestrian-08-Campaign | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by pedestrian08

Reaching for responsibility – are we there yet?

17/10/2011

Last Melbourne Cup Day – yes, it is a proclaimed public holiday here – Race Goers crossing Flinders Street from Young & Jackson’s famous bar, were handed a brochure proclaiming a fictitious Point 08 Pedestrian Limit for Race Day and how all Responsible Servers of Alcohol would, quite reasonably, provide an easy mechanism for Users to be able to accurately self test the amount of drug in their system via their Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) Level.
Many of the Users were already so inebriated – at 10 in the morning – that they:

  1. Took the ‘Limit’ literally [they believed it] :) ;
  2. Confessed that they were already ‘over the limit’;
  3. Look really worried – and plainly paused for thought;
  4. Took the brochure.

A year has gone on and as the Melbourne Age reports (Oct 14, 2011) the Melbourne Race Club has moved to doing something like the above hoax, this time for real:

Race-goers at tomorrow’s Caulfield Cup will be able to see whether they exceed the blood-alcohol level as part of a plan to help prevent the racing carnival turning into tragedy.

Two breath-testing devices were today installed in the members pavilion at Caulfield racecourse to give some of the expected crowd of 40,000 the option of getting an alcohol reading before they got behind the wheel.

It is believed the devices, which charge people $2 for a breath test and are claimed by their manufacturers to be as reliable as the ones police use, have never before been installed for a major metropolitan race meeting.


And the motivation?:

Melbourne Racing Club spokesman Josh Rodder said the innovation was a “good cultural thing” to help people know how much alcohol they had consumed.

“It’s good to have just as a guide, so they’ve got an idea how much they’ve had if they are driving, or if they want to avoid having too much to drink,” Mr Rodder said.


And regular readers can see the holes:

  1. Not enough machines for the massive, massive crowd;
  2. No published pedestrian limit (what’s the guideline for a pedestrian?);
  3. No mention of the behaviour changing mechanism of:
    a) Clearly and simply proclaiming a max legal pedestrian limit;
    b) Advertising and marketing the pedestrian limit;
    c) Modify so called RSA guidelines to include a minimum number of BAC Testing machines, that guarantees immediate testing;
    d) Include point of sale audio visual education messages on the BAC Testing machines;
    e) Providing police for Pedestrian Random Breath Testing (RBT).

This more complete plan of law, education, testing and action would truly ensure “a good cultural thing”.

Avoiding incidents as reported in Herald Sun (Oct 16, 2011):

More than 60 people were thrown out of Caulfield Racecourse and three arrested as police cracked down hard on public drunkenness.

However, one woman had to be helped into a wheelchair by two St John Ambulance paramedics and pushed to a first aid station because she was so drunk.

And a fight between a group of young men had to be broken up by police.


By the way, we had our 10,000 visitor, on these pages recently.
Thanks so much for your interest and support.

1 Comment | alcohol, Binge drinking, drink-walking, pedestrian 08 law, Pedestrian deaths and injuries, pedestrian-08-limit, The-Pedestrian-08-Campaign | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by pedestrian08

Operation Unite. Great, but what’s the message?

04/02/2011

Operation Unite, a joint operation spanning the police forces of Australia and New Zealand was run once more.

Operation Unite YouTube Announcement

This could kill

See NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione’s announcement here.

Such joint, concerted operations aimed at the victims of Big Liquor should be encouraged.

Note that the alcohol affected are victims too.

Many lives would have been saved from either death or injury because of this operation.

Many, many more would be saved if the message was more clearly spelled out!

Few of the arrested and fined idiots caught up in this operation would have a clear idea of when exactly they went wrong.

Will they change their behaviour? Do they know how much is too much? How many will be repeat offenders?

Whereas, a motorist pulled over for a breathalyser will know exactly where the boundaries are, where and when their transgression commenced and what the probable penalties would be.

How many of the alcohol afflicted caught up in Operation Unite would have gone home knowing exactly what went wrong – what was it exactly that was illegal? – and what point in time was their errant behaviour was set in motion?

What Operation Unite needs at its core, is a clear boundary to enforce.

What Operation Unite needs to enforce is responsible drinking.

You need to clearly define what responsible drinking is,  in the context of mixing with your fellow citizens in public, in order to have any chance of getting past the message “Don’t upset the police!” – which may in fact be the only campaign message being transmitted during Operation Unite.

Note, that you cannot get an clear, easily understood answer from police, Big Liquor or Government to this question:

What is responsible drinking?

This boundary should be the maximum safe blood alcohol content for a pedestrian: A BAC of point 08.

That’s a simple, easy to understand, true message in need of Government and community promotion.

If you work for a police force, ask for it and get your colleagues to ask for it:

We want a max BAC of 08 for Pedestrians

Advertise it, Educate the public, Enforce it, like you enforce point 05 for motorists.

Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe recently stated that 70% of Victoria Police workload was alcohol related.

By enforcing a maximum BAC Limit of point 08, Operation Unite should be part of a campaign to reverse that statistic.

Along with the alcohol epidemic hitting our ambulance and hospital services…

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Posted by pedestrian08

Press Release – Mike Cockburn Election Press Release No.2 – L I B campaign launch overshadowed

18/11/2010

The photo below was of our campaign launch on the steps of Parliament House, Melbourne, on Sunday.

Unfortunately, it clashed with the launch of a virtually unknown party – errr, I think their name started with L I B or something – at far more salubrious surroundings.
So, there wasn’t a lot of press about.

Fortunately, the real people were there.
The people were all families of murder victims and other serious crimes.
Gut wrenching stories poured out.
Completely rattled me, I must say.

Campaign Launch at Victims of Crime rally

Campaign Launch at Victims of Crime rally


I followed a mother whose son was brutally kicked to death by a pack of 10 – 12 thugs, who, as I understand things, managed to plead self defence!

The crime would be enough to destroy me, but the next couple of years of trying to obtain some semblance of justice for their boy, was in my estimation, at least double the trauma to these good, good people.

It’s very difficult to take a crowd from such specific experiences to speaking of something, that in contrast, appears general and even esoteric, but that was my task.

I had the support of Noel McNamara OAM, who has devoted a large slice of his life to supporting the families of murder victims, like his own family. What a guy.

After throwing away my prepared speech and shooting from the hip, i was profoundly moved by the support of people who, in their most dire hours, somehow find the space and time to be so giving.

A kindly looking man in the front of the crowd was particularly encouraging and to my eventual distress he was the next speaker.

He too had lost a son to murder.

He was generous in his support of the pedestrian 08 concept. If I got just a tolerance of my opinion, I would have been grateful, really grateful.

I’ve never felt so motivated to continue with this cause. If we can save just one family from this distress.

Why others are not so motivated is beyond me.

I hope to hear from you at some time in the future.

I believe the scones were not to be missed over at the other launch…

Mike

Mike Cockburn
The Pedestrian 08 Campaign

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Posted by pedestrian08

Press Release – Candidate Mike Cockburn will make Melbourne Safe!

10/11/2010

Text of press release sent earlier today:

Date: Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:29:38 +1100
Mike Cockburn of The Pedestrian 08 Campaign is standing as an Independent Candidate for Legislative Council, Southern Metropolitan Region.


Responsible Drinking ends at point 08.

This is a single issue candidate whose issue impacts almost every aspect of Victorian Life.

Health, Law and Order, Education, Public Transport are some of the areas of Victorian Government adversely affected by the Binge Drinking Crisis.
Overseas students fear coming to Melbourne.
People standing against lenient sentencing need to recognise that our prisons could cope with longer sentences if beds were not used by alcohol related criminals.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by pedestrian08

Alcohol and other Drugs Council of Australia (ADCA) – Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival booze up dangers

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:

  1. Racing Authorities ensure all bars have a plentiful supply of Breathalyser machines – for patrons to track their intoxication;
  2. Racing Authorities declare a committment to Pedestrian 08 as a condition of entry to the race courses;
  3. Racing Authorities publish highly visible information posters and handouts educating race goers about BAC levels and the dangers of increasing BAC Levels.
  4. 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…

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Posted by pedestrian08

Queenstown United in Violence and Alcohol Reduction

21/10/2010
Ann Fowler in Otaga Daily Times

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: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by pedestrian08

Judges fed up with drunken violence clogging our courts

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

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: , , | Permalink
Posted by pedestrian08

Taking a drunk from the Brownlow…

20/09/2010

The Brownlow Medal is the greatest individual prize in the world’s greatest sport – Australian Rules Football – albeit a sport completely unknown in most countries…

The Brownlow Medal has a chequered history in presenting an example of behaviour not always desirable and sometimes downright embarrassing and shameful.

Most recently most publicised was the reporting of footballer and media personality Brendan Fevola.

Critics fell for the trap of finger pointing and isolating and picking on an alcohol user who appeared to be out of control. The culture encouraged by Big Liquor is to continuously point out that behaviour of this ilk is unusual and shouldn’t be thought of as typical. In fact, such behaviours are normal for those using too much of this drug of addiction. This drug pushes at least a significant, predictable percentage of users over the edge into unsocial behaviour.

Hence the 70% of acts of violence associated with the product sold by Big Liquor. Hence the thousands of children abused in this country because of the use of this drug and marketing success of Big Liquor.

Recently Andrew Demetriou, CEO of the AFL outlined a reduction in the provision of alcohol to the invited and that those players who were overly affected by alcohol would be asked to leave.

The Pedestrian 08 Campaign sent this letter to Andrew for his consideration:

Dear Andrew,

I listened to your segment on Radio 774 this morning.

You were pushing the commendable line that less alcohol would be made available to attendees at the forthcoming Brownlow Medal Presentation.

This is a terrific initiative on the part of the AFL and shows up the total failure of the Government’s and Liquor Industries so called ‘Responsible Serving of Alcohol’ policy, which consistently seems to be place the inebriated on the streets and often in trouble.

Of great concern was your initiative to evict any player who may be considered too drunk, by whatever standard that defines it (RSA?)

Be aware that at a BAC of 08 you are twice as likely to get killed or injured as a pedestrian than would be the case if you had a BAC of 00.

You are more likely to get hurt or do someone an injury in an act of alcohol fuelled violence at a BAC of 08 plus than at 00.

I strongly urge you to announce at the Brownlow that every AFL player will be contracted to stay under a BAC of 08 at all times.

That pubs frequented by AFL – especially in an official capacity – be expected to carry on site Breathalyser Machines to facilitate this behaviour.

That players will be educated to anticipate how many drinks over what timeframe would push them over 08.

I especially urge you to take measures to make sure your employees/players are safe on leaving the Brownlow, and remain under the care of others until their BAC drops below 08.

The message is ‘Responsible drinking ends at 08’.

Please find a generic pitch we send out to those interested in the Pedestrian 08 Campaign.

This is a ‘Responsible consumption of alcohol’ program, putting the focus and responsibility for alcohol consumption onto the user.

Regards

Mike etc

No response or acknowledgement from Andrew or the AFL was received at time of writing.

To see what The Pedestrian 08 Campaign is all about, please click here…

Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized, Alcohol fuelled violence, Pedestrian deaths and injuries, alcohol related violence, pedestrian-08-limit, pedestrian 08 law, The-Pedestrian-08-Campaign | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by pedestrian08

Queensland Police Union Submission misses a major point

02/11/2009

The Queensland Police Union have released their submission to the Inquiry of the Law, Justice and Safety Committee of the Queensland Parliament on Alcohol-Related Violence in Queensland. The main recommendation is to restrict nightclub hours until 2am and suburban hotels to 12 midnight.

Well done, although some might argue for even shorter hours and greater limits to the number of outlets selling liquor after hours would be a good thing.  And why get involved in Big Event Boozing? Why get sucked into continuing to allow Big Liquor to profit from Big Events and continue to push the association of  ‘any excuse’ with binge drinking? This is what has occurred in Victoria and Queensland needs to make no concessions on liquor opening hours on the excuse of an event.

Great statistics and facts are provided such as:

  1. 50-70% of all police work is associated in some way with alcohol
  2. 60% of all alcohol-related incidents attended by police occur on or within sight of licensed premises
  3. 60% of all police attendances and 90% of late night calls [involve] alcohol Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a Comment » | alcohol related violence, Binge drinking, pedestrian-08-limit, The-Pedestrian-08-Campaign | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by pedestrian08

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