The Designated Driver

Road Safety

 A fortnight ago, I won some converts. All were male and professionals whose daily routine requires lots of driving and sometimes very risky engagements. Their conversion took place at a venue I was invited to give a talk on a topic I tagged, ‘’Managing Driving Safety which I once presented to the Maitama Chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Management. Some of them are at the top hierarchy of their career.

I am compelled today to reconsider the issue of driving under the influence with the Designated Driver as an antidote. A designated driver for your information is a person chosen to abstain from intoxicants such as alcohol so as to transport others who may have taken too many.

So allow me to put you through the following posers. Do you know that alcohol causes nearly four percent of deaths worldwide, more than AIDS, tuberculosis or violence, according to the WHO? Do you also know that approximately 2.5 million people die each year from alcohol related causes and that the harmful use of alcohol is especially fatal for younger age groups, while alcohol is the World’s leading risk factor for deaths among males aged 15-59?. Do you know that alcohol is a causative factor in 60 types of diseases and injuries, according to WHO’s first report on alcohol since 2004. Alcohol consumption has been linked to cirrhosis of the liver, epilepsy, poisoning, road traffic crashes, violence and several types of cancer, including cancer of the colorectum, breast, larynx and liver.

From this week, I intend to serialize the Revised Highway Code and most importantly, my focus will be on specific themes that form the cornerstone of FRSC’s campaign strategies in her goal of cutting down crashes by 30percent and fatalities by 20 percent. Drink driving or what is known globally as impaired driving, is my main focus for this week. Let me first wet your curiosity with certain facts from countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Canada. This detour should help you if you fall into the category of motorists who indulge in “ one for the road” the cliché simply translate that even if you have consumed a number of bottles of beverage alcohol, once it is time to travel or drive, you need another extra driver to help you see clearly and remain alert.

Do you know that in 2010 in the UK, nearly 10,000 reported road casualties happened when a driver was over the legal alcohol limit? Did you know that as a result, 250 people were killed in drink driving accidents?That report is not getting as good as it is expected.

Do you know that in the United State of America almost half of all drivers who were killed in crashes and tested positive for drugs also had alcohol in their system?Do you know that about one-third of all drivers arrested or convicted of driving while intoxicated or driving under the influence of alcohol are repeat offenders?

Do you know that over 1.41 million drivers were arrested in 2010 for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics?I will bring you up to speed with the current status.Do you know that among persons aged 12 or older, males were more likely than females (15.1 vs 7.9 percent) to drive under the influence of alcohol in the past year?

Do you know that driving under the influence of alcohol was associated with age in 2010? The rate was highest among persons aged 21 to 25 (23.4percent). an estimated 5.8 percent of 16 or 17 year olds and 15.1 percent of 18 to 20 year olds reported driving under the influence of alcohol in the past year. Beyond age 25, these rates showed a general decline with increasing age.

Did you know that in the fatal crashes in 2010, the highest percentage of drunk drivers was for drivers ages 21 to 24 (34 percent), followed by ages 25 to 34 (30percent) and 35 to 44 (25 percent)?Do you know that the average person metabolises alcohol at the rate of about one drink per hour? Only time will sober a person up. Drinking strong coffee, exercising or taking a cold shower will not help.Do you know that the speed of alcohol absorption affects the rate at which one becomes drunk. Unlike foods, alcohol does not have to be slowly digested. As a person drinks faster than it takes the alcohol to be eliminated, the drug accumulates in the body, resulting in higher and higher levels of alcohol in the blood.

Do you know that impairment is not determined by the type of drink, but rather by the amount of alcohol ingested over a specific period of time?Do you know that in 2010, 211 children were killed in drunk driving crashes? Out of those 211 deaths, 131 (62percent) were riding with drunk drivers.

Do you know that in 2010, 16 percent of all drivers involved in fatal crashes during the week were drunk driving crashes, compared to 31 percent on weekends?

Do you know that alcohol impairment among drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2010 was four times higher at night than during the day (37 vs 9 percent)?

Do you know that adults drank too much and got behind the wheel about 112 million times in 2010? That is almost 300,000 incidences of drinking and driving each day. Do you know that in the United States, the number of drunk driving deaths has been cut in half since Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) was founded in 1980?

In 2011, MADD served more than 63,000 victims and survivors of drunk and drugged driving crashes. Every day in America, another 27 died as a result of drunk driving crashes.Drunk driving cost the United States $132 billion a year. If all 17 million people who admitted to driving drunk in 2010 had their own state, it would be the fifth largest in the US.

Do you know that car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens, and about one-third of those are alcohol related? Do you know that teen alcohol use kills about 6,000 people each year, more than all illegal drugs combined?

Do you know that one of the five teens drink drive? Only one in a hundred parents believes his or her teen binge drinks. Do you know that on average, one in three people will be involved in a drunk driving crash in their lifetime? Do you know that almost one in three 8th graders has tried alcohol?Do you know that drunk driving costs each adult in the US almost $500 per year?

Do you know that one in three people will be involved in an alcohol-related crash in their lifetime?Did you know that in 2011, 9,898 people died in drunk driving crashes-one every 53 minutes?Do you know that almost every 90 seconds, a person is injured in a drunk driving crash? Did you know that an average drunk driver has driven drunk 80 times before first arrest.