Young Australians driving after boozy nights: report

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By Tim Beissmann | December 07th, 2010

Almost half of Australia’s young drivers admit to driving the morning after a night of heavy drinking, according to the results of a new survey.

The AAMI Young Drivers Index surveyed about 3000 young people aged 18 to 24, and revealed 46 percent had chosen to drive after a night out, even though they believed they were still over the legal blood-alcohol limit.

Half of those surveyed also admitted to regularly using a hand-held phone while behind the wheel, while 11 percent said they had used the internet or checked emails while driving.

Prof Russell Gruen, who is the director of the National Trauma Research Institute at The Alfred in Melbourne, told reporters approximately 1500 people die and 4000 are injured on Australia’s roads every year.

Young men aged between 18 and 24 accounted for 1767 (or 72 percent) of the total 2471 hospital admissions for road-related trauma between 2002 and 2009.

Prof Gruen said there was a general lack of understanding about the effects of heavy drinking, and insisted that if people consumed large amounts of alcohol in the evening, some of it would still be in their bloodstream the following morning.

davie

So the increasingly violent and frightening anti drink drive adds have no effect on a generation brought up on video game violence and scary movies.

Wow, what a surprise! I’m shocked!

I guess we should BAN something then. Not sure what we should BAN but that doesn’t usually matter. Just make sure the BAN inconveniences a majority of law abiding people who don’t drink drive.

Failing that, we should probably have more speed cameras and revenue. Yes, that will fix things.

Oh, What about more cops and RBT’s? Well, that will just cost overtime money in police wages, won’t it?.
Hart

i don’t see what everyones problem with speed cameras are. Don’t speed, don’t get caught. Its ridiculous that people are complaining about getting caught for breaking the law.

Yonny

Oh no, another one. Engage brain, try to look past the propaganda distributed by a government keen to preserve its massively profitable speed camera program.

Anyway, exceeding a posted speed limit is not automatically dangerous – unlike driving drunk, which is what this article is about.

MahindraPikUp

No its not ‘automatically dangerous’ but you have to draw a line somewhere..

Yonny

Of course you do. I’m not suggesting we don’t need speed limits.

Ben xr6

85 in an 80 zone isnt dangerous. Your safer concentrating on the road rather than looking at your speedo for a second or two to make sure your not 3 k’s over the limit when you go through an intersection.

Dave S

I am sure Hart has heard this already…

- Speed cameras dont save lives.
- They dont teach better driving.
- The cant test for drink/ drug driving.
- They cant stop accidents.
- Cant catch unroadworthy cars.
- does nothing about dangerous driving.
- They are inaccurate, many cases of incorrect readings.
- Often designed to catch people out, while they sit at the bottom of a hill or behind a bush.

Camry lover

Speed cameras are not an inconvenience. Far too many valuable lives are terminated on our roads due to serious hazards including, but not limited to: drivers not obeying the speed limit and also by engaging in conversation with others via mobile phone.

I am of the opinion that mobile speed cameras and safety cameras, as used throughout New South Wales and Victoria, are excellent safety initiatives. The safety value of such devices cannot be disregarded.

If drivers inspect the speedometer of their vehicle more regularly, then the road toll would be much lower. To quote the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) of Victoria:

“Many drivers believe that exceeding the speed limit by 5 to 10 km/h is still “safe”. This belief is not supported by the evidence from research. In fact, the evidence indicates that if Victorian drivers reduced their average speed by 5 km/h, some 95 lives could be saved and 1,300 serious injuries prevented in one year.”

This is very intriguing information, and governments should be commended for working hard to make our roads safer. The State Government of Victoria deserves particular approbation, as it has taken a particularly hard-line against those audacious individuals who intentionally exceed the speed limit.

Hung Low

That is exactly what most Camry drivers would say!
Pity the fool!

Skeeter

they shouldve added some fine print at the bottom of the survey that said if you answer yes to any of these questions you will lose your license
Bold

This is not really about driving, it is a drinking problem, rules about how to drive can’t really help when the driver gets drunk.
D Is For Drive

and wasnt it a good idea to restrict red p platers to having 1 person in their car at night, that helps the driving home drunk situation

Andrew M

Not really, I wouldnt call a car load of drunk rebels a good idea either.

There is something called public transport for those without a sober friend to cure their driving home drunk situation

D Is For Drive

That helps in rural communities where there is no public transport. i dont drink, i never have ive never been booked and ive never had an accident, i hold a public service vehicle licence and drive a bus on a daily basis, i am more than capable of taking a few mates home. No its the minority which ruin it for the majority.

Hung Low

The movie “Idiocracy” comes to mind with the current generation of teens!

I reckon lock them up for at least a fortnight for first time offenders just over the limit and 2 months for high range offenders with no bail. The consequences might be more of a deterrent than just a fine and loss of licence for a few months !

Andrew M

Do you think this only affects the current generation of teens??

I’d place a dollar that it was just as evident “back in the day”, only now its a little more frowned upon.

Also, and Im not defending drink drivers, but the presented road accident/trauma stats relate in no way to drink driving, it is just a general stat being presented and isnt relevant unless they tell us what percent of those figures are alcohol related

Hung Low

No Andrew I did not address that, all I am saying is that the American Idiocratic way of teen life has crept into the current generation. For some of them a big fat spoon in the mouth is still not enough for them to determine right from wrong even though the awareness of the issue is much more prevalent than it was for the past generations!

Devil’s Advocate

You are bored aren’t you??!!!
Dave S

This sounds like another attack on young drivers.
The good thing here is that they are sleeping it off somewhere and going home the next day.

I am sure a geration ago, they would just drive home and have a joke about it.

I am sure after a big night they really would not be doing much driving anyway, more likely resting and grabbing some fast food.
Devil’s Advocate

“If you truly belive(sic) this and are not stiring the pot then you are real dumb.” Sound familiar?! TIC

If it IS true then I hope karma pays you a nice visit. I just hope in the process you don’t take out any innocent drivers/pedestrians etc who are doing the right thing. I suppose you can’t really expect anything less from the “ME, ME, ME” generation…