Unit 1 Micro: Drink Driving and Government Intervention

A culture of drink-driving has been a scourge in many countries for decades. The human and economic cost of lives lost and wrecked by motorists driving under the influence of alcohol is huge and most governments have introduced a range of interventions designed to change the incentives facing drivers. But which ones have most impact?

Northern Ireland Transport Minister Alex Attwood has announced plans to ramp up the regulations for drunk drivers in the province. He wants the blood alcohol limit from the current level of 80mg/100ml to 50mg/100ml with a lower limit of 20mg/100ml for young drivers and people whose livelihood depends on them keeping their licence. There are also proposals for police to have the right to make more frequent use of random stops and a tougher set of gradated penalities for offenders. He has produced figures showing that over the last five years 75 people have been killed and 473 seriously injured by drivers impaired by drink or drugs in Northern Ireland.

An alternative approach has been used for several years by Australian state governments. Their incredibly hard-hitting cinema adverts are designed to make everyone think very carefully about the risks involved. This montage is not easy to watch but undeniably moving. I use it when teaching this topic.

A five minute retrospective of the road safety campaigns produced by the TAC over the last 20 years