How attitudes to drink driving changed

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Attitudes have changed, certainly. That is a good thing.

In saying this, I differentiate (on the basis of observation within a fairly narrow social grouping) between attitudes to conviction and those towards people who seem casual about their own consumption.

Conviction: Thirty years ago I had a friend who was a twice-convicted drink-driver. The word was that if caught again after his lengthy second ban, he'd be incarcerated. He attracted a good deal of sympathy that I'm sure would be absent today. Nobody told him off and he was known to like a drink.

There are other tales with a similar tenor, the response to which would be less approving today.

That is a very good thing.

Casual attitude to consumption: Twenty years ago, if a guest who'd come by car was seen to be drinking with an enthusiasm above that which would make driving sensible, others at the gathering might wring their hands and say "He is awful, he does that all the time". I've seen it and heard it. Many of us have.

I recall instances of a couple both giggling at 'home time', saying "I thought you were driving". One no longer sees that. People seem pretty strict about consumption.

These days, hosts or other guests square up and remind a guest that he or she is driving. We've offered people a bed for the night and they've stayed. It can be awkward socially, but it is done regularly and many years ago it was not. It is common now for a host to say "I think a juice might be better".

There is also a greater awareness these days that one can still be over the limit in the morning. That is a good thing.

Also, the generation who'd driven before current laws were passed are getting older, no longer driving or simply dead.

I remember my late father offering me a lift to the station thirty or so years ago and being offended when I told him he was over the limit. The reply was classic: "My dear boy, all I've had is a pint before lunch, a couple of glasses of wine with the meal and one or two whiskies in the afternoon". It was about 4 on a Sunday. The whiskies were (by pub standards) very generous triples. When I did the maths for him, he was shocked. He simply had no idea. He later said "If what you tell me about the legal limit is accurate, I probably drove home illegally every evening for the last twenty years I worked". I should add that he never crashed and had only one conviction (double white line) in 45+ years. That generation are either driving less or not driving.

I worry that people still cycle while tired and emotional on their way home from a legless pub session, but they are unlikely to cause distress or injury to others. Like the drunk pedestrian who staggers off a pavement under a bus, they may kill themselves but will not cause other road users inconvenience, peril or loss of sleep. I know many who (like drunk drivers of old) swear that they cycle better when drunk and shoot statistics about how few accidents are caused by cyclists, but I still find it slightly silly and have had to swerve round mash-up riders in the past. I've always found it hilarious as soon as the event passes, but it would be sad if one of them were to be walloped by a truck.
 

Linford

Guest
Speeding was implicated in over a thousand deaths on the roads last year, cannabis in none.

Drink driving casualties have declined dramatically, I look forward to when speeding drivers are viewed with the same disgust as drunk drivers. And those Kerry councillors are publicans, funnily enough.


You are confusing the terminology here.

There is a distinct difference between 'speeding' - travelling at a velocity which is 'above' the posted speed limit, and 'Innapropriate speed' which is travelling at a speed which they cannot stop within the distance to they see to be safe.

All accidents which are categorised in the latter desciption are included in the stats for 'speeding' as you read it, and that 'innapropriate speed' can be the causation factor in anything from 20mph to 200mph.
 
I'm not confusing anything, the faster you drive a car the more likely you will kill or injure someone.

Cannabis wasn't implicated in a single death last year. Drivers who tested positive for cannabis may have had a joint in the last 30 days, it doesn't mean it caused the accident any more than if they had a cup of tea that morning.
 

Linford

Guest
I'm not confusing anything, the faster you drive a car the more likely you will kill or injure someone.

Cannabis wasn't implicated in a single death last year. Drivers who tested positive for cannabis may have had a joint in the last 30 days, it doesn't mean it caused the accident any more than if they had a cup of tea that morning.

Speed related deaths can easily be attributed to not making a corner on a twisty road, There are many instances of single vehicle accidents where loss of control happens because the driver/rider is within the limits, but too fast for the road. How many roadside memorials are pinned to a telergaph pole or tree where there is only one vehicle involved....many around this way.

This is anecdotal, but my story so bear with me.
Back int eh early 80's when I was 16, I had a Yamaha FS1E, and whilst around my mates he asked me if I could run him around to a local dealer to buy some cannabis resin. We were invited in, and the dealer offered us a go on his bong.
I'd only smoked joints up until that point, and you get a good idea how stron they are when you roll your own, and by the amount they burn on inhalation.
Anyway, The dealer fills the bong with a bit of tobacco and some fairly high grade pakistan black, has a go and passes it to me.
I start puffing away on it thinking this is good (no burn), and he then accuses me of hogging it.
I pass it on to my mate, and the room starts to swim.I got up making my excuses as I was desperate for fresh air, he asked me for the time and I greyed out. woke up 15 minutes later, and staggered outside Sat there for about 10 minutes, and then because my judgment was gone, decided to ride the 3/4 mile back home. Thankfully basically along a quiet single road with little traffic, but I would have been screwed if it was any further or on busy roads.
I managed to get the bike into the garage, and then flaked out again for about an hour on an old sofay in there.
I really was out of control, and very unaware of what was going on around me.
I smoked resin and grass regularly for another 3 or 4 years, but never mixed it and control of a road vehicle again. I was lucky I didn't hurt myself or anyone around me. It took away my ability to make rational judgments.
 

Linford

Guest
Light weight.

So you are happy to see drink and drug compromised people on the road in charge of heavy machinery, but you aren't happy that someone does 75mph on an empty motorway.

If this is the limit of your reasoning, there is little point in continuing with this.
 

Linford

Guest
No finesse at all in your trolling buddy.
 
Saying you flaked out on a girl after a resin joint (It's spelled "Sophie" by the way) isn't the same as saying I want pissed lorry drivers banging up and down the roads. Tell you what, find a single RTC attributed to cannabis last year.
 

Linford

Guest
By the sounds of your tone, I doubt you were even born when I was smoking it. It was my first go on a bong which caught me out (try reading the post )
wised up and realised that I preferred riding my bikes to the stupifying effects of ganja

Stupify is a description for a state of stupidity. It sounds like you are you smoking some now.

You need to provide evidence of your ridiculous asserrtion about the 0% death rates from driving under the influence as User stated.as there is a lot of evidence from both clinical and case studies from people coming a cropper under its influence.
 
"Under the influence" means there was a trace in his blood from a joint smoked up to a month before, I'd suggest that the vehicle being flipped over suggests speed was more of a factor there, the sort of speeding that Linford defends as he wordlessly ruts away on poor old Sophie.
 
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