Impaired driving - 8 Dec 2008

December is the month of year-end parties, general festivities and often - major overindulgence. At this time of the year the police are particularly diligent about road blocks and frequently increase the haul of impaired drivers as a result.

But, impaired driving on South African roads is not just something that happens around the end of the year. It is a year-round phenomenon and something that needs to be addressed, urgently.

However, there has also been a recent report by a company selling a road side drug testing kit that South African drivers are impaired by substances other than alcohol - 'drugs' in popular language. Their report showed what they described as shocking statistics, suggesting that driving under the influence of other drugs is a major problem on our roads.

While it may certainly be the case that for some people alcohol is only one of their 'drugs of abuse' this report in no way justifies the call for universal drug testing on our roads, and in fact, takes attention away from the real problem - alcohol (see the article by Marius De Kock). The report is not scientific and it provides no evidence that the amounts of the other drugs that were detected using their test were sufficient to impair driving performance.

On the other hand we know, all too well, exactly how alcohol impairs driving, and the levels under which drivers may be safe (although this is regarded as zero in many countries).

Alcohol plays a major part in general human misery in this country - causing everything from road accidents to wife beating to major trauma. Other drugs are also an increasingly major problem, but require a different approach from alcohol, because they are illegal, while alcohol is legal and freely available.

So let's get our priorities for road-side testing and law enforcement right. Concentrate on alcohol and driving and hopefully reduce the awful toll of death and injury that characterises this time of the year.