Designated drinkers?

Among the responsibilities we ignore, often with bravado and defiance, are the laws relating to driving motor vehicles. We have often mentioned various aspects of our traffic lawbreaking in this space in the past. And we return today, appropriately in the Carnival season, to discuss the crime of driving under the influence of alcohol.

The police service is currently appealing to, and indeed warning the population, not to drink and drive. In the words of Acting Sergeant Vijay Ramdhanie, who spoke on the subject at a police press briefing on Thursday, when he told people: “don’t drink and drive…period!” Speaking about police ticketing drivers in the Southern Division, where he is stationed, Ag Sgt Ramdhanie said that it was the “most ticketed” Division in the country, and that they recorded the highest number of drunk driving charges.

Now this does not necessarily mean that the people from South Trinidad are drinking and driving more than people in other Divisions. It could be that the police in Ag Sgt Ramdhanie’s Division are keener and are catching more drivers who have exceeded the legal alcohol limit.

Ramdhanie echoed the recent call of Deputy Police Commissioner Mervyn Richardson in appealing to all partygoers to ensure that they have a designated driver to take them home. But the response has not been what the police had hoped. In the matter of “designated drivers” our scofflaws are coming to the fore. It would seem that “designated driver” is a term for someone who is going to drive, and not someone who is not going to drink. Or maybe our citizens think that the standard required of a designated driver is that he or she should not be obviously rolling drunk. However, the legal limit, as opposed to some bravado’s assumed alcohol limit, is about two drinks. Most of us believe that having two drinks does not impair our vision or reflexes, and have no problem declaring ourselves sober after “just” two drinks.

We highlight this situation because the police are telling us that many drivers found to have alcohol levels in excess or of the legal limit turned out to have been the “designated driver” for the group of persons in the vehicle. In these cases it appears that the least drunk person is “designated” as driver for the group. And this is the sort of folly which makes a mockery of the law and of our police service attempts to prevent drunken driving and thus reduce road deaths.

We wish to point out that the term “designated driver” should apply to someone who has not been drinking in the party or fete. Failing this, the designated driver must be someone who understands fully that they cannot have more than the two drinks which would keep them “under the limit”.

We totally support the police in their quest to get drunk drivers off the roads. We are encouraged by the fact that the Breathalyser will be used extensively through the current Carnival season. Further, we reiterate our earlier calls for autopsy reports on drivers killed on the roads to state clearly if the drivers were found to have been drinking. Our people need to understand the clear correlation between drinking, driving and death.

So as you enjoy the season, please ensure that you have a properly licensed and totally sober and responsible person to drive you safely home.