Protect Yourself and Others – Don't Drink and Drive

 

According to journalist Stephen Hume despite the best efforts of the police and courts we are still killing more people in traffic accidents than are being killed by enemy combatants since World War II.



He wrote in his Saturday March 13, 2010 column in the Vancouver Sun, "Impaired drivers are killing their fellow Canadians in numbers that exceed our war casualties in Afghanistan." And figures show that between 1980 and 2006 the traffic casualty figures are about the same number as the number of Canadian soldier casualties fighting the Axis powers.

He cites from very alarming figures claiming that in 2006 alone 1,278 persons were killed, and some 75,374 persons were injured, with property damage reach the $12.8 billion mark.

In order to help reduce this carnage drivers  should be making drastic reductions in the amount of alcohol  consumed before driving. Studies in Japan show that driving skills deteriorate rapidly once the average person has reached the .02 level -- never mind .08 which is the current indicator used by police forces and courts for determining that a person is legally impaired.



So as drivers and pedestrian we should be voluntarily greatly reducing the amount we drink before driving -- and throwing our support behind proposed changes that would see the legal impairment level reduced from the current .08 level to .05 or even .02.

This would not only protect our own lives but also the lives of our loved ones and fellow drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians.



Wait until we get home to drink with family and friends or at the very least stopping playing Russian roulette behind the wheel and have a designated, sober person  drive us home.


Drinking would be much more enjoyable knowing that we hadn't  endangered  other persons' lives or wiped out a young child and mother because we had too much to drink.