Saturday, December 15, 2007

'Bloody idiots' shock police - 16 Dec 2007 - NZ Herald: New Zealand National news

'Bloody idiots' shock police - 16 Dec 2007 - NZ Herald: New Zealand National news The police launch a massive campaign to blitz drink drivers the weekend before Christmas. We can all agree that acceptance of this form of entrapment is better than the death the drinking driver causes to our friends, family, children. If you are the recipient of a Drunk In Charge of a vehicle and you are wanting to fight it you better get the best lawyer you can as it is a case that it is hard to wriggle free of as the evidence is collected right under our noses. Now, there is no reason under the sun to support drinking drivers. They are more than a nuisance, they are accident waiting to happen. But it is the non-compliance with the law that is of concern. Out of 52,000 motorists, only 51,670 were sober. If it does prove that the anti drink drive messages are not working, perhaps it is time the police reviewed the objective. 99.36% observing the law is not that bad for non-alcoholics - but for those 335 people, welcome to the system. There are no real winners - if you are caught drunk and controlling a vehicle, it is not like they need to prove that much more. Imbibe too much plonk and "risk it" could put your life out to dry for a few months and cost you more than you hoped. Is there a reason we can not get 100% of all drink drivers off our roads? They can use buses. We should recognise some are part of a heavy drinking culture and insist they take a bus or taxi home. But if it's the suburban BBQ or beach party as well as the city, the public transport system is not saving lives we way we hoped.

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