Should there be a drink driving day once a month?
Discussion
SambaS said:
Try it out. Buy a large farm, make a rally course around your land, close to hedges, ditches and your buildings. Buy a Sierra and have a pint, then try driving your course. Stop, have another...
Actually, some controlled tests of a very similar sort to this were conducted in South Africa years ago, on a skidpan.The results showed that people's car control (note: car control, not ability to drive safely) improved with alcohol up to the point where their vision and motor skills (sorry for pun) began to become noticeably impaired.
The reasoning was that they were relaxed and didn't stress out when the car started sliding around. They just, kind of thought and drove their way through it like nothing was happening.
Of course, reaction times went out the window, so they were more likely to calmly drive into the person who just pulled out in front of them, than to execute an inch perfect four wheel drift around them.
Willy Nilly said:
Pique said:
My cousin was hit and killed by a drink driver when she was 17.
So no, I don't think thats a good idea.
A friend of mine was killed when the car he was travelling in pulled out of a T junction and was T boned by another car, so we should ban T junctions.So no, I don't think thats a good idea.
Hang on ... this could be just the idea we need!
Willy Nilly said:
There is a chapter in Super Freakonomics about drink driving. Once all of the adjustments for miles travelled and one or two other things that escape me, they found it was safer to drive drunk than walk drunk.
I posted some of my best lap times on Gran Turismo whilst under the influence.....Doesn't mean I'd hone my 'drunk driving god' skills in a real car.
Stupid thread. It should be deleted. Insensitive to keep it running given some of the posts ref lost loved ones..
B.J.W said:
Willy Nilly said:
There is a chapter in Super Freakonomics about drink driving. Once all of the adjustments for miles travelled and one or two other things that escape me, they found it was safer to drive drunk than walk drunk.
I posted some of my best lap times on Gran Turismo whilst under the influence.....Doesn't mean I'd hone my 'drunk driving god' skills in a real car.
Stupid thread. It should be deleted. Insensitive to keep it running given some of the posts ref lost loved ones..
Imagine you've gone to a party at a friend's house. He lives only a mile away. You have a great time, perhaps because you drank four glasses of wine. Now the party is breaking up. While draining your last glass, you dig out your car keys. Abruptly you conclude this is a bad idea: you are in no condition to drive home.
For the past few decades, we've been rigorously educated about the risks of driving under the influence of alcohol. A drunk driver is thirteen times more likely to cause an accident than a sober one. And yet a lot of people still drive drunk. In the United States, more than 30 percent of all fatal crashes involve at least one driver who has been drinking. During the late-night hours, when alcohol use is greatest, that proportion rises to nearly 60 percent. Overall, 1 of every 140 miles is driving drunk, or 21 billion miles each year.
Why do so many people get behind the wheel after drinking? Maybe because--and this could be the most sobering statistic yet--drunk drivers are rarely caught. There is just one arrest for every 27,000 miles driven while drunk. That means you could expect to drive all the way across the country, and then back, and then back and forth three more times, chugging beers all the while, before you got pulled over. As with most bad behaviors, drunk driving could probably be wiped out entirely if a strong-enough incentive were instituted--random roadblocks, for instance, where drunk drivers are executed on the spot--but our society probably doesn't have the appetite for that.
Meanwhile, back at your friend's party, you have made what seems to be the easiest decision in history: instead of driving home, you're going to walk. After all, it's only a mile. You find your friend, thank him for the party, and tell him the plan. He heartily applauds your good judgment.
But should he? We all know that drunk driving is terribly risky, but what about drunk walking? Is the decision so easy?
Let's look at some numbers, Each year, more than 1,000 drunk pedestrians die in traffic accidents. They step off sidewalks into city streets; they lie down to rest on country roads; they make mad dashes across busy highways. Compared with the total number of people killed in alcohol-related traffic accidents each year--about 13,000--the number of drunk pedestrians is relatively small. But when you're choosing whether to walk or drive, the overall number isn't what counts. Here's the relevant question: on a per-mile basis, is it more dangerous to drive drunk or walk drunk?
The average American walks about a half-mile per day outside the home or workplace. There are some 237 million Americans sixteen and older; all told, that's 43 billion miles walked each year by people of driving age. If we assume that 1 of every 140 of those miles are walked drunk--the same proportion of miles that are driven drunk--then 307 million miles are walked drunk each year.
Doing the math, you find that on a per-mile basis, a drunk walker is eight times more likely to get killed than a drunk driver.
There's one important caveat: a drunk walker isn't likely to hurt or kill anyone other than her- or himself. That can't be said of a drunk driver. In fatal accidents involving alcohol, 36 percent of the victims are either passengers, pedestrians, or other drivers. Still, even after factoring in the deaths of those innocents, walking drunk leads to five times as many deaths per mile as driving drunk.
So as you leave your friend's party, the decision should be clear: driving is safer than walking. (It be even safer, obviously , to drink less, or to call a cab.) The next time you put away four glasses of wine at a party, maybe you'll think through your decision a bit differently. Or, if you're too far gone, maybe your friend will help sort things out. Because friends don't let friends walk drunk.
Willy Nilly said:
B.J.W said:
Willy Nilly said:
There is a chapter in Super Freakonomics about drink driving. Once all of the adjustments for miles travelled and one or two other things that escape me, they found it was safer to drive drunk than walk drunk.
I posted some of my best lap times on Gran Turismo whilst under the influence.....Doesn't mean I'd hone my 'drunk driving god' skills in a real car.
Stupid thread. It should be deleted. Insensitive to keep it running given some of the posts ref lost loved ones..
Imagine you've gone to a party at a friend's house. He lives only a mile away. You have a great time, perhaps because you drank four glasses of wine. Now the party is breaking up. While draining your last glass, you dig out your car keys. Abruptly you conclude this is a bad idea: you are in no condition to drive home.
For the past few decades, we've been rigorously educated about the risks of driving under the influence of alcohol. A drunk driver is thirteen times more likely to cause an accident than a sober one. And yet a lot of people still drive drunk. In the United States, more than 30 percent of all fatal crashes involve at least one driver who has been drinking. During the late-night hours, when alcohol use is greatest, that proportion rises to nearly 60 percent. Overall, 1 of every 140 miles is driving drunk, or 21 billion miles each year.
Why do so many people get behind the wheel after drinking? Maybe because--and this could be the most sobering statistic yet--drunk drivers are rarely caught. There is just one arrest for every 27,000 miles driven while drunk. That means you could expect to drive all the way across the country, and then back, and then back and forth three more times, chugging beers all the while, before you got pulled over. As with most bad behaviors, drunk driving could probably be wiped out entirely if a strong-enough incentive were instituted--random roadblocks, for instance, where drunk drivers are executed on the spot--but our society probably doesn't have the appetite for that.
Meanwhile, back at your friend's party, you have made what seems to be the easiest decision in history: instead of driving home, you're going to walk. After all, it's only a mile. You find your friend, thank him for the party, and tell him the plan. He heartily applauds your good judgment.
But should he? We all know that drunk driving is terribly risky, but what about drunk walking? Is the decision so easy?
Let's look at some numbers, Each year, more than 1,000 drunk pedestrians die in traffic accidents. They step off sidewalks into city streets; they lie down to rest on country roads; they make mad dashes across busy highways. Compared with the total number of people killed in alcohol-related traffic accidents each year--about 13,000--the number of drunk pedestrians is relatively small. But when you're choosing whether to walk or drive, the overall number isn't what counts. Here's the relevant question: on a per-mile basis, is it more dangerous to drive drunk or walk drunk?
The average American walks about a half-mile per day outside the home or workplace. There are some 237 million Americans sixteen and older; all told, that's 43 billion miles walked each year by people of driving age. If we assume that 1 of every 140 of those miles are walked drunk--the same proportion of miles that are driven drunk--then 307 million miles are walked drunk each year.
Doing the math, you find that on a per-mile basis, a drunk walker is eight times more likely to get killed than a drunk driver.
There's one important caveat: a drunk walker isn't likely to hurt or kill anyone other than her- or himself. That can't be said of a drunk driver. In fatal accidents involving alcohol, 36 percent of the victims are either passengers, pedestrians, or other drivers. Still, even after factoring in the deaths of those innocents, walking drunk leads to five times as many deaths per mile as driving drunk.
So as you leave your friend's party, the decision should be clear: driving is safer than walking. (It be even safer, obviously , to drink less, or to call a cab.) The next time you put away four glasses of wine at a party, maybe you'll think through your decision a bit differently. Or, if you're too far gone, maybe your friend will help sort things out. Because friends don't let friends walk drunk.
The difference is, drunk walking is a lot less likely to get someone else maimed or killed.
Feedback from me is:-
Ridiculous idea and it can't be compared to the germans and speeding. You can drive fast and be safe but to drink before driving, any amount IMO, is not safe and can never be safe.
You say '5 pints but not 15 unless you're just round the corner' - thats why there is a limit at the moment so people know what to drink or, in most cases now, not drink.
If this day did exist which is can't and won't, it wouldn't make us a more liberal nation but almost murderers because we know what the result of drink driving is.
I have also had an aunty killed by a drink driver. He fled the scene and by the time the police caught up with him he was at home tucking into brandy - 'I was in shock, I didn't know what to do'. So instead of getting done for death by wreckless driving and drink driving plus jail, he got done for wreckless driving and leaving the scene.
Ridiculous idea and it can't be compared to the germans and speeding. You can drive fast and be safe but to drink before driving, any amount IMO, is not safe and can never be safe.
You say '5 pints but not 15 unless you're just round the corner' - thats why there is a limit at the moment so people know what to drink or, in most cases now, not drink.
If this day did exist which is can't and won't, it wouldn't make us a more liberal nation but almost murderers because we know what the result of drink driving is.
I have also had an aunty killed by a drink driver. He fled the scene and by the time the police caught up with him he was at home tucking into brandy - 'I was in shock, I didn't know what to do'. So instead of getting done for death by wreckless driving and drink driving plus jail, he got done for wreckless driving and leaving the scene.
t.Captain Muppet said:
V8mate said:
Mr2Mike said:
Pesty said:
Can we have a 'kill one person you dont like day' without getting prosecuted?
There's far more merit to this idea, though killing might be going a bit too far (I know, I'm an old softy). Gentle maiming should be adequate to release pent up anger and teach the target a lesson.You have the right to challenge anybody to a duel they don't have to accept. If they don't accept you cant touch them or normal laws apply.(unless its kill anyone you want day obviously)
if they do accept it has to be to the death whoever the victor is faces no charges.
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