There are plenty of normal Australians – normal being defined as prone to uncharacteristic lapses of judgment – who have a dark tale involving an incident of drink-driving where they could easily have killed themselves, a friend, an unsuspecting stranger.
Whenever I see former British Prime Minister Tony Blair I’m reminded of mine. Unlike most of my mates I got through my teens and most of my 20s without ever drink-driving, in large part because I didn’t bother getting my licence until I was 22 and escaped the road-related rattiness that comes with youth.
All except for the day of the 1997 British election, when with friends I’d attended a dawn breakfast at the National Press Club in Canberra to watch the BBC coverage, where we ate a hearty English breakfast laid on by the British High Commission, washed down with English beer. Lots of English beer.
So much English beer that, by noon, I was half-cut and keen to kick on, shamefully telling my mates I was fine to drive the short distance to lunch, and some four hours later, by which stage none of us knew what we were doing, fine to drive the short distance to my apartment to continue the carry-on.
If one of the drunkest moments in your life can also be the most sobering, I will never forget the look on my wife’s face when she arrived home to find us listening to deafening music and drinking tequila, and said above the din – “I thought you took the car today and, if so, why is it in the driveway?”
The two good things that came out of this reckless act, in order, are that nobody got hurt and I’ve never done it again. And nor would I.
It’s hard to imagine more selfish and extraordinarily dangerous behaviour than putting a car in motion, especially one with other people in it, when you’ve had a skinful. But for all the shock ad campaigns, RBT blitzes, tougher penalties, there’s evidence that in some states the number of drink-drivers is going up, not down. In NSW last year there was a 10 per cent spike, with 27,548 drivers caught, up from 25,284 in 2007.
There’s a case before the courts in Sydney now which should give pause to those who argue that the laws are too skewed against the more restrained drinker who, unlike my Canberra shocker, has two or three drinks, doesn’t even feel drunk, and ends up having a prang.
It involves a fellow called Gregory Francis Campbell who had three pints after work and blew what people refer to as “just” 0.085 – which is classified as low-range PCA – after his vehicle crashed into an oncoming car, killing four-year-old Tahlia Gilmour.
Cases such as these should end the legally-permitted flirtation between alcohol and driving.
Melbourne’s Sunday Herald-Sun newspaper deserves accolades for starting the debate over whether to adopt a 0.02 limit. The Daily Telegraph has also editorialised to that effect.
My only query is whether such calls go far enough.
That’s not written as a nanny state enthusiast – far from it. It’s written as someone who supports the right of adults to get drunk and have fun.
But that should never involve using a car. There’s no reason why people can’t plan their get-togethers, be they slightly tipsy or the full lampshade-on-the-head blowout, to make sure that they use public transport, cabs, have a sober skipper, or sleep it off.
The best anti-drinking ad is by Victoria’s TAC where two blokes try to work out if they’re under or over the limit, with the barmaid pouring and re-filling tiny portions of beer out of their pots.
It’s impossible to work out. Why does the law let us try?
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