Changing times !

All those people driving home last night after seeing in the new year might care to reflect on how different it was fifty years ago

On December 31, 1957 there was the expectation that over fifty percent of drivers sharing the road with them - were driving drunk ! They would have been over the .05 legal limit applicable today.

There has been a remarkable shift in attitude to drink driving. It was acceptable at that time because the majority of people accepted it as part of the Australian culture. Road deaths and trauma needed drastic action and this saw the introduction of breath testing and the " booze bus .

A relentless advertising campaign has changed public opinion. A person convicted of DUI is now " dumb ". There is no longer leniency and a "shrug the shoulders " attitude to what is now a " crime ".

Unfortunately not all drivers have accepted these changed rules. It is estimated that since breath testing was introduced twenty-five years ago the measure has saved 20,000 lives - but Police minister David Campbell reports that every day eighty drivers are caught behind the wheel in New South Wales with a blood/alcohol reading in excess of .05.

Now there is a new menace. People who are diving under the influence of various forms of " recreational drugs " - and this ranges from Ice, Ecstacy, Marijuana, Cocaine and Heroin.

We are about to see a new blitz with the introduction of the " drug bus ".

It will be a lot slower than the " blow in the bag " procedure for alcohol testing and it probably will be unpopular - but to date there have been 5,600 people tested by this method - and 156 have returned a positive reading.

It may take another twenty-five years for attitudes to change but the day will come when driving after taking alcohol or drugs will be unacceptable to the majority of drivers.

Unfortunately - given the example of the minority who refuse to limit their alcohol intake and still drive there will always be a similar percentage who thumb their noses at the drug laws.

A look at the road death toll from fifty years ago compared to today would convince any sane person of the need for the " drug bus " !