Lower limit a feeble half measure

Polices proposal for a zero limit for youth is supported by impaired driving specialists Candor Trust. But Trust workers add that this should also cover marijuana, as it is as risky as alcohol for the kids we license to drive.

Introducing a near zero-tolerance of drink driving by reducing the breath alcohol limit to 250mcg per litre of breath, by way of instant fines and short periods of disqualification for those blowing between 250 - 400 mcg is mis-directed underkill.

It will not save the 14 lives Police hope it will, as they panic about meeting OECD drink driving targets. The idea, as a stand alone one would constitute a poor use of the Road Police resource.

Because other road safety issues than drivers who aren't driving legally drunk, and who aren't at greatly heightened crash risk, as borne out by their NZ crash rates, are far more pressing - such as drug and drowsy driving (each a 1/4 of toll).

Candor Trust feel people need to be reminded midst the hysteria of some recent horror smashes associated with alcohol, that the drivers we all saw predictably involved in homicide eg Rotorua Motorcyclist killer, were not responsible sub limit drivers, but alcoholics.

So a lower limit would not have changed history. The same conclusion can also be drawn about our abundent drug induced crashes, when these are closely analysed.

The reason this strategy or a reduced alcohol limit should be ineffective;

1) We do not have even half the 14 lives being lost as claimed due to drivers dying or being killed as a result of the 250-400 mcg level (M.O.T. Statistics 2000-05). Kiwi drunks who crash and kill are inevitably way over the current limit and would no more be deterred by a lower limit than they are by the current one.

Only a zero limit and complete cultural change will fix that half of the problem.

2) The use of short disqualification periods will be ineffective if the Ministry of Justice overturns the current 28 day grace period for applications for limited licenses based on so called "hardship" grounds for disqualified drivers.

Such a plan is apparently on the drawing board according to notes within the Criminal Justice Reform Bill (p47).

Ron Marks' recent written Parliamentary Questions established that license disqualifications are not enforced as approximately 99% of applicants for limited licenses are granted them.

3) This leaves only fines pursuant to infringement notices as a deterring factor for those driving with low risk low alcohol limits, which may discourage the more responsible drivers. But as with speeding fines will have no effect on the hardcore types that need targeting, who scoff at fines anyway.

4) The reason drink driving action is no longer working is that there is no such thing, or it is a rarer beast in pure form than we realise. Drugs are the major problem today. Any new penalty regime should target this offending.

The Police / ESR drug driving study has established that only 14% of deceased Kiwi drivers had used alcohol alone.

However half of them had recently used one or more of the other 4 traffic risk drugs (pot, opiates, benzodiazepine tranquilisers or 'P').

The task force on drug abuse in Western Australia reported similar results to those we are finding in our drivers today, back in December 1995. As a percentage of fatalities involving drugs in dead drivers here is the breakdown;
1) alcohol 49% (83% had used other risk drugs as is the case here)
2) cannabis 48% (similar to NZ figure)
3) opioids 23% (our opioid factor is slightly lower)
4) psychostimulants 11% (NZ had only 4% methamphetamine involvement)

Our statistics per ESR study are clearly similar. However, of relevance to Polices latest proposal, figures lately released by the Ministry of Transport show inconsequential levels of drug misuse by people dying with low alcohol levels.

While heavy drinkers clearly like adding drugs here, large numbers of drug drivers evade checkpoint and legal ramifications by getting thei high solely from drugs.

Local drug abusing drivers tend to either abstain from alcohol while using drugs heavily, or to mix their drug use with high alcohol consumption. Which means a reduction in sub-limit drinking will not dent the epidemic drug driving harm, atop having only minor effects on the drink driving problem.

It helps in considering this issue to contrast the risk level of a sublimit drinker with that posed by people intoxicated by drugs, whose threat level is much higher.

A male social drinker who has had 0.04 mcg is at 4x the crash risk of a sobre person and that is 4x a low risk. They are still half as likely to crash as your average sixteen year old driver.

Whereas at the 0.08 limit they are 16x more likely to crash than a sobre driver (twice as likely as an average 16 year old). And at .12 they are 64x as likely, and at double the limit the crash risk is 264x normal.

The Immortal study (2006) which covered thousands of drug drivers has shown that risk drug misuse and particularly drug cocktails put people at the same astronomical risk as the high alcohol readings oft present at serious crash scenes.

The smart thing, all considered, is therefore to leave the limit where it is or to make it zero for everyone. And to zoom in on drug use. Tinkering with alcohol tolerance levels (apart from a zero limit) will achieve pitifully little.

The drug abusers cause approximately 16% of fatal crashes (NZ Police estimate), and a body of research shows that fatal drug driving are more often multi fatality ones, than drink driving ones.

It is likely therefore that drug driving crashes kill 130 - 150 Kiwis yearly, and the drug driving carnage is somehow more shocking than that coming from alcohol as it is more of a daytime threat and therefore harder to hedge against.

Epidemiological studies show that drug abuser crashes occur between 9am and 9pm, with lunchtime being a real risk period. A fine example seen sneaking through the courts lately was the methadone mum who killed an elderly man on his mobility scooter near his home in Cranford Street, Christchurch around noon.

Given the hard facts Candor must ask why the emphasis on drink driving? Why the proposal to expend energy on major law changes just to save a mere 14 lives, if that?

Drink driving is only half of the impaired driving problem. Pure drink drivers are only 15% of the inebriates dying on our roads, 50% of the problem is dope of just a few varieties. Druggies not under limit drivers are the ones to go after.

Candor assert that some major changes are certainly needed. The level of drink driving and of drug driving in New Zealand is world leading. But that is a consequence of a failed penalty system, inadequate treatment facilities and the ridiculous delays in implementing a program to deal with drug driving.

Trust educators say, "what we are hearing from the community is that disqualifications need to be genuine, that jail on the second or third DUI offense should become the gold standard - as judges are reckless in ignoring guidelines."

"And it has been advocated by the Sensible Sentencing Trust that permanent license loss may often be appropriate. We think demerits should attach to DUI convictions or fines for drink or drug driving - going towards permanent revocation."

Overseas innovations include placement of alcohol detecting anklets on offenders, drug testing of offenders and the installation of alcolock ignitions in recidivists vehicles at the cost of a mere $1000.

"It is crucial to get drug testing as well as breathalysing at all towaway or injury crashes as in some Oz jurisdictions. The number 1 priority is clearly to get drug drivers into the system on time - as these incidents are commonly red flags for major disasters to come, not sub limit drinking".

"The foregoing interventions are the kind needed to save lives and reduce the huge economic burden of crashes - not just fines and token meaningless disqualification periods".

Drug driving enforcement is the road safety priority for today, and a review of the entire penalty regime for driving drunk and / or drugged - it's an ass", say Candor.

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