Jo Raphael: Ease up on the booze for a clear head

Let's all get home safe this summer, writes Jo Raphael. Photo / 123RF

OPINION

We’re a nation of imbibers.

Most of us will partake over the silly season - some of us are still nursing hangovers from Christmas.

Imbibe. Partake. They’re great words, aren’t they?

Quaff’s another. It means to “drink (something, especially an alcoholic drink) heartily”.

They conjure up images in my mind of sophisticated dinner parties.

Or a gaggle of friends and family sitting on a deck in the afternoon sun sipping craft beer, or cool, crisp pinot gris and nibbling on cheese and grapes.

Sounds pretty fancy, doesn’t it? To me, it’s a great way to spend an afternoon.

But those whimsical and idyllic descriptions belie the reality of what really goes on when our alcohol consumption gets out of hand.

Alcohol abuse has links to many community harms such as car crash fatalities, family harm, youth crime, court convictions, and lives ruined.

The consequences and the impacts on the community are almost immeasurable.

Joshua Heath’s family can attest to that.

The Rotorua teenager was killed by a drink-driver a year ago.

During the driver’s sentencing, Joshua’s dad, Spencer Heath said they now lived in fear of how easily one person can make a decision beyond their control and take everything they loved and cared about.

It’s utterly heartbreaking.

According to NZ Police, alcohol impairment is one of the four biggest contributors to death and serious injury on our roads.

A 2019 report by the Health Promotion Agency said alcohol is known to be a factor in one in five fatal car crashes.

I, myself have overindulged on many occasions, every single one of them regrettable.

Whether it’s the amount I drank or the stupid decisions I made while drunk or just the horrible hangover the following day.

The older I get, the more time it takes for me to recover, which is why these days I like to keep the drinking to a minimum - enough to take part but not enough to prevent me from driving home.

I’ll nurse a glass of cider during a catch-up at the pub and go home with a clear head - and a clear conscience.

I have never gotten behind the wheel of a car while drunk.

It’s entirely too frightening to comprehend the potential consequences. Because to live with the regret that I harmed another person is unimaginable.

As journalists, my colleagues and I regularly see the impacts of those decisions other people make.

So while we’re partaking in the imbibery and quaffery this summer, let’s make sure we’re doing it responsibly.

Let’s make sure we all get home safe.