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

Seven out of 10 under-age drinkers caught in the Cornish holiday resort of Newquay were given alcohol by their parents…

BBC Cornwall reports the above, and more:

Most of the teenagers caught drunk and disorderly said they were sent to Cornwall with alcohol [from Parents]…
…although some parents were shocked about their children’s behaviour, others verbally abused officers who confiscated the alcohol…
…one officer was verbally abused by a parent who accused him of stopping her son “having fun”. The teenager was one of four 16-year-olds caught with 64 cans of Special Brew.

The campaign ‘Newquay Safe Partnership’ was formed in 2009 after two teenagers were found at bottom of cliffs in two separate incidents.

There is little doubt that a great percentage of Great Britain’s parents are either unwilling, unable or just too ignorant to responsibly guide their children through the alcohol wars of teenage years.

The Police effort here, is focused on Drunk and Disorderly Offenses.
Is this leaving a problem until it is too late?
Do police have a viable mechanism for the wholesale population wide detection of underage drinking?
Do they consider this, their role as a law and order body?

Where parents fail, the State ‘Nanny’ has to take over.
Pedestrian Random Breath Testing (P-RBT), that includes public transport, allied to heavy fines and heavily publicised educational messages offers the most hope for:

• Identifying the largest cohort of offenders as quickly and as efficiently as possible; and
• Changing their behaviour by unambiguously delivering a message about where acceptable behaviour ends

It is Not acceptable for children to fall off cliffs, under trains, and under cars because of Parent Supported Underage Drinking.

Underage drinking is a scourge against the very development of children:

• Exposing the brain to alcohol during this period may interrupt key processes of brain development
• memory problems were most common among adolescents in treatment who had experienced alcohol withdrawal symptoms
• structural differences in the brains of 17–year–old adolescents who displayed alcohol–induced intellectual and behavioral impairment
• People who begin drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence
• Underage alcohol use is more likely to kill young people than all illegal drugs combined
• Alcohol use interacts with conditions such as depression and stress to contribute to suicide
• Pedestrian safety increased, educational messages delivered and best of all, behaviour change guaranteed by fines that take away from the irresponsible parent, the ability to wreck their children’s lives via such irresponsible, if not criminally negligent, behaviour.

Addendum:
The Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs found:

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:

And the motivation?:

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):

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

As Scott rightly pointed out in his Punch Article, Who are you calling a wowser Kristina?:

The facts speak for themselves.

Alcohol-related violent incidents are growing by over 6 per cent a year;
The number of paramedics assaulted a year has increased by over 60 per cent since 2006-07;

There were 2,855 assaults against police in NSW;

And it’s estimated that 70 per cent of these assaults against police were alcohol-related.

But Premier Keneally cannot see these statistics, hear the cries of the victims nor speak ill of the perpetrators – Big Liquor.

Getting BAC Testing into the survey options list
An interesting survey at Adelaide Now.

5.3% doesn’t look much, but, some of our now successful political parties and politicians started with less…

Democracy Doesn’t Come Cheap!
I suggest you read Norman Thompson’s article on NSW party political funding in New Matilda.

A Quote for those too busy to click:

In the past 10 years while Labor has been in power, the AHA and hotels companies have contributed over $4.5 million to the NSW ALP. The Coalition only managed to obtain a little over $2 million during this period.

Every alcohol dollar given to Labor, Liberals and others in NSW was based on Addiction and or Binge Drinking. That’s the rub. That’s why funding of political parties by the purveyors of addictive substances is so wrought with moral dilemmas. Have no doubt, the money received was based to a large degree on the grief of addicts and their families and the strangers they hit, hurt, killed or injured.

Obviously, this sort of spending would cause ructions in any association. But as a former AHA President said: “Democracy doesn’t come cheap!”. And here.

Spending $450 k a year on most things can go a long way to achieving your aims.

What’s this got to do with Pedestrian 08?

It’s important to realise the connections between Big Liquor, Advertising, Sponsorship, Media Involvement, Politicians and political parties and the fact that laws and regulations are written to INCREASE binge drinking. Thereby creating a greater need for pedestrian 08.

[Mr Doyle] questioned whether there was anything more authorities could do to fix what was ultimately a cultural problem.
”We can’t arrest our way out of this,” he said.
”It is cultural, and therefore it’s going to take a lot of time to try to fix this.”

Lord Mayor, Pedestrian 08 is all about effecting cultural change!
Melbourne’s Herald Sun reckons the increase in street violence amounts to:

AT least three extra assaults a week happened in Melbourne’s CBD last year compared with 2009.

Queensland’s Courier Mail (24 Feb) by Xavier La Canna, describes Melbourne’s dilemma thus:
Police can’t stem Melbourne violence

THE number of assaults in Melbourne has risen for the seventh straight year despite a police crackdown on violence in the city.

So after all the funny camera cars, press conferences, photo opportunities, blah blah, 3 more fellow citizens are being assaulted every week.
The Mayor’s efforts will not stop the once per month, alcohol related, one punch homicides.
The Mayor’s ongoing failure to give loud and active support any of the known EFFECTIVE counter measures listed elsewhere on this site is disappointing.
Almost all Melbournians are paying the price for our political leaders constantly running spin over substance with some 85% of Victorians scared of the city after hours.
Others have paid a heavier price via deaths, injuries, illnesses and traumas associated with Big Liquor’s Binge Drinking violence.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that alcohol is killing 2.5 million people per year.

Too few countries use effective policy options to prevent death, disease and injury from alcohol use.

- World Health Organisation

Millions more are harmed or injured.

These deaths, these injuries and harms are occurring every year.

In Big Liquor’s nirvana, the Russian Federation, 1 in 5 deaths are due to alcohol.

Media identities who insist on not aggressively pursuing Liquor companies, politicians and political parties who continuously champion deflecting, ineffective measures and continuously ignore the short list of policies known to be effective ought to hang their heads in shame.

This is a world wide challenge eclipsing AIDS and tuberculosis.

Alcohol is the world’s third largest risk factor for disease burden; it is the leading risk factor in the Western Pacific and the Americas and the second largest in Europe.

It is against your national interest to permit:

1. The advertising or promotion of alcohol
2. Sporting sponsorship by Big Liquor
3. Extended trading hours
4. Ubiquitous availability of liquor licences
5. Minimum drinking ages below the age of 21
6. Not having a set maximum, on street BAC level for pedestrians – especially in built up areas.
7. The bribing/fund-raising for politicians and media by Big Liquor

There is a world of difference between prohibition of a drug of addiction and allowing the rampant promotion, advertising and sponsorship by the corporate producers of this toxic, cancer causing drug.

Controlling alcohol is not, nor has it ever been confused with, prohibition.

Any self respecting government should pull out all policy options to minimise the consumption of alcohol and therefore minimise the harms of alcohol.

As the World Health Organisation states:

no [amount of] drinking is entirely safe.

- Shekhar Saxena, the director of WHO’s mental health and substance abuse department

Links:

The WHO report.

The Economist Article

Rasta Livewire

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…

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.

You can also see it at anytime via our Radio Files widget on right hand side of main page.

A link to Carole’s blog.