John MacDonald: Is it time for a zero-alcohol limit for drivers?

'Maybe the time has come for us to decide once-and-for-all that if someone is going to drive a vehicle, then they can’t have any alcohol at all in their system.' Photo / Duncan Brown

OPINION:

I love a beer or a glass of wine. And I like to think that I know when I should or shouldn’t be driving after I’ve had a drink. Even so, it’s still a bit of a guessing game, isn’t it? Because no one ever really knows.

And, let’s face it, once you’ve got a few drinks on board you’re probably not the most qualified person to make the call as to whether you should drive or not.

And, today, there will be a 21-year-old chap ruing his decision to get behind the wheel and shoot off to get a few extra supplies on the night of his 21st birthday party in October last year.

“Ruing” is probably putting it mildly. Because, just a few minutes after heading towards Rakaia from where the party was being held, this young guy lost control of the car and ploughed into a tree.

It was a straight piece of road and he’d driven it countless times. But with a few drinks on board, it was a different story.

The upshot was, his friend who had been travelling in the front passenger seat was dead and three other passengers who hadn’t been wearing seatbelts were outside the vehicle either seriously or critically injured.

We can assume they’d been having a brilliant night, decided to shoot out to get a few extra things in Rakaia, and didn’t think twice about getting in the car with their mate.

Now I am not going to defend the guy driving. Because there is no excuse for what he did. But you can so easily understand how this sort of thing happens, can’t you? We’ve all been in situations where the vibe on the night makes everything seem possible.

“We’ll be fine. We’re just heading down the road, we’ll be back shortly. And I’ve only had one-or-two. I’m fine to drive.”

And, again, I’m not defending this guy. But it does seem nuts, doesn’t it, that after all the carnage on our roads caused by drunk drivers we still rely on the people who’ve been doing the drinking to decide whether they should be driving or not.

And surely the time has come for some major change. And maybe the time has come for us to decide once-and-for-all that if someone is going to drive a vehicle, then they can’t have any alcohol at all in their system. A zero limit.

As I say, I like to have a few drinks. And what I’m proposing would undoubtedly impact on me if we had the fortitude to finally do something meaningful to try and prevent these sorts of tragedies.

But, you know, it is possible to go out and not drink. A mate of mine was having a party a few weeks back out in Darfield. Both of us couldn’t go, so I had to drive out there myself.

And so I didn’t drink. I had some no-alcohol beers - which were pretty sweet and nowhere near as enjoyable as what I might normally drink - but there was no way I was going to drink and then drive all the way back to town from Darfield. No way. So I made a plan and stuck to it.

Which is what every person would have to do if we made it illegal for anyone to drive with any alcohol at all in their system.

Over the years, we’ve tinkered around the edges with drink-driving laws. I distinctly remember when John Key’s National government reduced the legal blood alcohol limit.

And I remember how, pretty much overnight, everyone I knew was so much more cautious. In fact, I remember people deciding then that they just wouldn’t drive even if they’d had just one drink. They didn’t think it was worth the risk of getting caught.

But I think that was more of a reactionary thing at the time and I don’t think that level of vigilance has stuck.

The other thing, too, is when you have a legal alcohol limit - whatever it is - it’s still pretty hard for people to decide whether they should be stepping-in and stopping someone from driving.

Sure, if someone’s slurring their words or staggering around the place, it’s pretty obvious. A lot of the time, though, who would know whether or not someone’s ok to drive? Unless you or they have kept a written record of the intake, again - it’s just a guessing game.

But if we had a zero alcohol limit, it’d be easy. “You’ve had at least one drink mate, you’re not driving”. No arguments. Easy.

And if we had a zero alcohol limit, and you’re heading out for the night, you’d pretty much know whether you’re going to be drinking or not and so you’d plan accordingly.

What’s more, it is so much easier these days for people to get around with Ubers and all that, that I don’t think it would be a major inconvenience at all for most people.

And so what if it is an inconvenience? I’ll take inconvenience over more tragic road deaths any day.