One-in-four drivers over limit

Sunday Times Nick Taylor
September 05, 2009 06:00pm
EXCLUSIVE: THE WA Government will overhaul its $1m anti-drink drive campaign after it was revealed one in four had driven over or near the alcohol limit in the past year.
The figures, contained in a new government internal report, have prompted road safety experts to come up with a hard-hitting campaign pinpointing where every drink driver has been busted, to prove there are no so-called safe roads. It will be launched later this year.

The figures were revealed in a comprehensive survey of road safety. It also revealed motorists believe the chance of being caught on a midweek random breath test was relatively low and that one in five drivers do not know, or incorrectly assumed, the legal blood-alcohol limit.

The Road Safety Council spent about $4m of its $15m budget on road safety campaigns last year as part of the ``Towards Zero'' strategy aiming at a 40 per cent drop in people killed or seriously injured on WA roads by 2020.

Office of Road Safety executive director Iain Cameron said the change in strategy was not an admission that previous campaigns had failed.

``Drink driving is not an easy message to sell and it's not glib to say any negative trend concerns us,'' he said.

``We have to adjust our focus. We're not being complacent.

``Our challenge is to know where the community is at and this survey tell us what we need to look at, what is going on.''

The office was working with police on a new campaign that shows where drivers are caught.

``Police are targeting specific hotspots and have told us they are catching more drink-drivers,'' he said. ``What we don't want is people who are not in those targeted areas to think it's OK to drink and drive because they won't get caught.

``We want to keep them honest.''

The Sunday Times revealed in June that 3801 drivers were charged after booze bus tests -- up almost 1000 on the previous year and the most in five years.

The number of drivers who had been drinking when they took an initial breath test also rose more than 1100 to 4573.

Mr Cameron said most drivers were responsible, but there were a group that lapsed into drink-driving. Many found the concept of ``standard drinks' hard to accept.

The report, Road Safety in WA - the Community Perspective, is an ongoing survey that started a year ago. It questions 110 people a week -- 60 from regional WA and 50 from the metropolitan area.

Professor Ian Johnson, interim head of Curtin-Monash Universities Accident Research Centre said RBTs had a considerable effect when introduced because people were talking about them.

``There was a bigger perception of them being on the roads,'' he said.

``What we have to do now is keep police numbers up and regenerate interest. That is why this campaign is good because it will become a talking point.''

Opposition road safety spokeswoman Margaret Quirk said the survey was a powerful incentive for Road Safety Minister Rob Johnson to secure funding for ``Towards Zero''.

``Although he announced the strategy in March, Mr Johnson has failed to secure any funding for this critical program,'' she said.

``The Minister must immediately fund and implement the programs that will make both metropolitan and regional roads safer and restore the confidence of WA motorists.''