1
00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:03,720
Speaker 1: Now having a look at the high range of drink

2
00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:07,480
Speaker 1: drivers arrested in recent times. Over the last month, I

3
00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:11,440
Speaker 1: went back through the police website because it seemed like

4
00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:14,240
Speaker 1: there had been quite a number of late just in

5
00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:17,400
Speaker 1: the last little while, and it culminated today. I'll tell

6
00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:22,240
Speaker 1: you briefly what they are. Last night a man charged

7
00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:26,120
Speaker 1: thirty eight year old point two five four more than

8
00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:29,480
Speaker 1: five times over the limit. That's in the Glenelg area.

9
00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:35,560
Speaker 1: On the eighth of September, which was Sunday Regency Road,

10
00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:40,479
Speaker 1: a man found unresponsive in a Kia Sedan parked happily

11
00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:44,479
Speaker 1: enough at the ambulance station that's at Prospect. Unable to

12
00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:46,640
Speaker 1: rouse the driver, they had the fourth entry to the

13
00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:49,040
Speaker 1: car to check on his welfare. He returned to blood

14
00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:52,479
Speaker 1: alcohol reading of point one nine one, four times the

15
00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:56,120
Speaker 1: legal limit. On the first of September, I've missed one.

16
00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:56,480
Speaker 2: Sorry.

17
00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:02,240
Speaker 1: On the third of September, police to BMW in Port

18
00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:07,200
Speaker 1: Augusta just at random and the fifty year old local

19
00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:11,160
Speaker 1: woman there blue point two seven five a driver's license

20
00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:16,040
Speaker 1: also expired fourteen years ago in twenty ten. On the

21
00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:18,520
Speaker 1: first of September, man fell asleep at the wheel of

22
00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:22,560
Speaker 1: an MG at Second Valley on Main South Road, just

23
00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:24,920
Speaker 1: in the middle of the road. I suppose he blew

24
00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:32,480
Speaker 1: point three point one seven. That's quite extensive. There was

25
00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:35,120
Speaker 1: the man who collided with three officers at a random

26
00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:38,800
Speaker 1: breath testing site at West Beach on the twenty ninth

27
00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:44,280
Speaker 1: of August. Fifty eight year old from Seton driving unregistered,

28
00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:49,080
Speaker 1: uninsured and unlicensed being charged also with endangering life and

29
00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:51,760
Speaker 1: he refused a breath test, so he's been charged with.

30
00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:52,880
Speaker 2: That as well.

31
00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,760
Speaker 1: There's a woman at Nuriyukpa on the twenty first of

32
00:01:55,760 --> 00:02:01,480
Speaker 1: August seven times seven times the legal limit, where she

33
00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:04,920
Speaker 1: allegedly produced a blood alcohol reading of point three four

34
00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:08,079
Speaker 1: to eight. Thirty nine year old from to Nunda. There

35
00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:12,000
Speaker 1: was a breath operation run from the sixteenth to the

36
00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:16,760
Speaker 1: eighteenth of August and ninety six drivers caught under the

37
00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:20,679
Speaker 1: influence of drugs and alcohol. And it all seemed to

38
00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:24,520
Speaker 1: kick off around the twenty second of August, where in

39
00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:26,679
Speaker 1: fact it was a week before that, I think the

40
00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:29,240
Speaker 1: tenth of August. There we go tenth of August where

41
00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:33,440
Speaker 1: police went to Beverly. You might recall this a woman

42
00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:39,840
Speaker 1: fell out of the car with a bottle and she

43
00:02:40,639 --> 00:02:44,320
Speaker 1: recorded a blood alcohol reading allegedly of point four one six,

44
00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:48,200
Speaker 1: which is eight times the limit, and that's why it

45
00:02:48,280 --> 00:02:50,600
Speaker 1: might be familiar. A forty year old from Woodville South.

46
00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:54,480
Speaker 1: What do we do about this? What do we do

47
00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:59,960
Speaker 1: about this? It's unbelievable, isn't it That we're out there

48
00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:05,120
Speaker 1: going about our daily lives and police call them and

49
00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:08,000
Speaker 1: they advertise. You've seen the banners and the billboards and

50
00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:13,760
Speaker 1: the ads saying selfish pricks. Well that's putting it nicely.

51
00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:16,880
Speaker 1: Cameron Wearing from the Australian Driving Institute.

52
00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:19,160
Speaker 2: Morning, Cameron, Well, good morning.

53
00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:20,600
Speaker 3: They are amazing.

54
00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:21,120
Speaker 2: Figures, Yeah, aren't they.

55
00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:23,440
Speaker 1: And that's just in the last month, that is, the

56
00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:26,919
Speaker 1: last thirty or so days, just slightly over that incredible

57
00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:28,919
Speaker 1: and they're all there with the rest of us, and

58
00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:30,080
Speaker 1: you wonder how many aren't caught.

59
00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:36,400
Speaker 3: God knows. I'd love to know the bell curve of that. Well,

60
00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:39,800
Speaker 3: at what point, though, are you meant to pass away

61
00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:40,920
Speaker 3: from alcohol poisoning?

62
00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:41,720
Speaker 2: Yeah? Good question.

63
00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:45,640
Speaker 3: You know that the numbers that you're quoting now, I'm

64
00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:49,240
Speaker 3: going surely some of those are heading into that area

65
00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:52,200
Speaker 3: where you should be in hospital, But I don't know

66
00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:56,560
Speaker 3: enough about that. Do you know high range strength driving

67
00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:00,960
Speaker 3: has been a climbing thing, and it's been a vague

68
00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:07,080
Speaker 3: discussion amongst myself and colleagues. The only thing that we

69
00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:12,880
Speaker 3: are coming across is the higher alcohol that's in things

70
00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:17,120
Speaker 3: like beers for example these days. Is that a contributing factor?

71
00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:19,280
Speaker 3: But at the end of the day, but just on

72
00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:21,120
Speaker 3: that all massive attitude problem.

73
00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:23,320
Speaker 2: One hundred on the beers.

74
00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:26,480
Speaker 1: I mean, there are so many other alternatives these days,

75
00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:29,039
Speaker 1: like beers and zero strength beers and all of that,

76
00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:32,280
Speaker 1: which if you're going for the taste, it tastes the same.

77
00:04:32,839 --> 00:04:35,760
Speaker 3: Look at the end of the day, Well, yeah, exactly,

78
00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:37,919
Speaker 3: So what's what's the point that you're drinking to get drunk?

79
00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:43,480
Speaker 3: And that's a whole new thing. I was involved in

80
00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:49,360
Speaker 3: a reasonably interesting but not that scientific test years ago.

81
00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:54,560
Speaker 3: I've done it twice where a collection of people that

82
00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:57,680
Speaker 3: were from seasoned drinkers to those that don't and those

83
00:04:57,720 --> 00:04:59,560
Speaker 3: that reckon that they can drive when they're drunk, and

84
00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:04,279
Speaker 3: a whole raft of people. And one thing that was

85
00:05:04,279 --> 00:05:07,520
Speaker 3: really interesting is that at point I five, no one

86
00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:12,440
Speaker 3: was outperforming themselves. And the interesting thing with the most

87
00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:19,280
Speaker 3: seasoned drinker, who was a fairly typical brash male and

88
00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:22,040
Speaker 3: he got really cross with me when I intervened when

89
00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:24,039
Speaker 3: we were going through some of the exercises, and the

90
00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:28,839
Speaker 3: exercises were made up of like pretend junction and a

91
00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:31,280
Speaker 3: slalem and a few other bits and pieces. That's why

92
00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:33,600
Speaker 3: I say it wasn't particularly scientific, but it was interesting.

93
00:05:34,279 --> 00:05:36,560
Speaker 3: This guy went through the slalem too quickly and he

94
00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:39,120
Speaker 3: kept building speed and I said, you need to slow down,

95
00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:42,600
Speaker 3: and he knew what he was doing, and then the

96
00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:45,000
Speaker 3: car started to slide, and so I intervened, and that's

97
00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:49,320
Speaker 3: when he got crossed. And I thought, wow, that amazing.

98
00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:52,240
Speaker 3: His attitude and his demeanor to what it was, say,

99
00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:55,320
Speaker 3: two or three hours prior, were completely different. And so

100
00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:58,360
Speaker 3: the attitude change is one thing, but the perception that

101
00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:01,440
Speaker 3: you've still got those skills is such a twisted, bent

102
00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:06,800
Speaker 3: perception that you believe your own bullshit, quite frankly. And

103
00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:08,839
Speaker 3: so when we got back, I actually sat down with

104
00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:10,919
Speaker 3: him in the producer and said, look, you need to

105
00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:15,120
Speaker 3: realize what's just happened there. I'm a sober one, oh

106
00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:18,360
Speaker 3: I'm a seasoned drinker. That made it's clear. And what

107
00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:21,320
Speaker 3: became clear to us at point oh three was where

108
00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:24,680
Speaker 3: people's attitude and performance really started to dive off was

109
00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:28,800
Speaker 3: at point oh three, and so that was interesting, and

110
00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:31,680
Speaker 3: at the time, point oh eight was still seen as acceptable.

111
00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:35,040
Speaker 3: So you know, and you really have to ask the question,

112
00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:39,279
Speaker 3: what makes point oh five acceptable? But we're still dealing

113
00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:42,600
Speaker 3: with the attitude of it's okay, I can be completely

114
00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:45,240
Speaker 3: blot three sheets to the wind and still drive. It's

115
00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:49,599
Speaker 3: just a completely absurd thing to Interestingly, though, the part

116
00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,000
Speaker 3: of the brain affected by decision making with alcohol was

117
00:06:52,040 --> 00:06:55,080
Speaker 3: the same part of the brain affected with fatigue, So

118
00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:59,640
Speaker 3: you have a similar attitude problem with fatigue. But I

119
00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:03,839
Speaker 3: put it down to cultural and I think that there's

120
00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:07,120
Speaker 3: so many things attached to our driving culture which are

121
00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:12,520
Speaker 3: a negative that have this type of impact. I truly

122
00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:14,840
Speaker 3: don't have the answer, and I don't believe anyone really does,

123
00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:17,320
Speaker 3: but because I think the discussion is too broad. It's

124
00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:19,240
Speaker 3: not just that but unacceptable.

125
00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:20,440
Speaker 2: Can you go?

126
00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:23,520
Speaker 3: I was doing the calculations in the head as you

127
00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:26,480
Speaker 3: were talking about if we are still at point oh five,

128
00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:28,920
Speaker 3: that's still three times higher, or that's still you know,

129
00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:34,520
Speaker 3: it is crazy. People need to actually stop people from

130
00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:35,440
Speaker 3: getting in their cars.

131
00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:39,160
Speaker 1: People need But how do you when that attitude changes

132
00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:41,000
Speaker 1: and they get angry and you say, I'm going to

133
00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:42,720
Speaker 1: take your keys away, You're not going to drive as

134
00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:45,480
Speaker 1: they're getting in. Well, you're in for, you know, potentially

135
00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:48,160
Speaker 1: a coward punch. You're in for god knows what sort

136
00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:50,920
Speaker 1: of strife if you try, especially to a stranger.

137
00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:56,400
Speaker 3: A stranger. Gosh, I've done it to friends and the

138
00:07:56,440 --> 00:08:01,000
Speaker 3: response has been generally a pretty firm negative. But you know,

139
00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:02,880
Speaker 3: you're the one that's say that, You're the one that's

140
00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:04,800
Speaker 3: dealing with a friend, and you're the one that needs

141
00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:07,840
Speaker 3: to sort of control the emotions of the situation, and

142
00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:10,680
Speaker 3: you know, may be part of an active solution and

143
00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:13,600
Speaker 3: prevent them from getting out on the road. It's if

144
00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:16,000
Speaker 3: you have a moral I believe you have a moral obligation.

145
00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:21,960
Speaker 3: So the question is not just putting it back to government,

146
00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:25,400
Speaker 3: which is something that I object to to say, well,

147
00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:26,600
Speaker 3: we can't put it back to the government, but we

148
00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:28,440
Speaker 3: actually need to deal with it at a social level,

149
00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:31,000
Speaker 3: so we actually you know, what, what are you doing?

150
00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:33,360
Speaker 3: What are you doing about it? When you see someone

151
00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:37,120
Speaker 3: in a pub this is probably throwing people under the

152
00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:38,560
Speaker 3: bus a bit, But I'd be going back to the

153
00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:41,280
Speaker 3: responsible drinker, person behind the bar and saying that person's

154
00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:45,319
Speaker 3: drunk and they're about to drive out, you're now implicated,

155
00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:49,559
Speaker 3: and you know, surely there's a process to go around. Unfortunately,

156
00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:51,720
Speaker 3: they might call the police. That would be you know,

157
00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:55,240
Speaker 3: even uglier. But you know it's either that or what

158
00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:57,280
Speaker 3: are you going to wipe out? These people falling asleep

159
00:08:57,280 --> 00:08:59,080
Speaker 3: for God's sake, in the middle of the road. They

160
00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:01,360
Speaker 3: wouldn't know if they drive out someone killed them.

161
00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:03,080
Speaker 2: So we need to reduce it to point o three.

162
00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:05,440
Speaker 2: That's what you're saying, Well.

163
00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:07,280
Speaker 3: I believe that's one of one of the things that

164
00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:11,120
Speaker 3: we should look at it properly. When if I've got time.

165
00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:15,160
Speaker 3: There was a more scientific but still not scientific enough

166
00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:20,559
Speaker 3: thing done by MythBusters that was just hilarious, and they

167
00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:23,720
Speaker 3: had to drive around a set course. They weren't being

168
00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:26,080
Speaker 3: timed from a silliness point of view, so they weren't

169
00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:32,199
Speaker 3: driving quickly, and they had hands free phone and hand

170
00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:37,120
Speaker 3: held phone sober and from memory point ohs five and

171
00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:41,240
Speaker 3: point oh eight and did these back to back tests,

172
00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:43,800
Speaker 3: and what was interesting is that the cognitive ability of

173
00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:47,800
Speaker 3: someone on hands free was similar to that of someone

174
00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:52,240
Speaker 3: at point oh five, and with the hand held phone,

175
00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:55,200
Speaker 3: their ability to react and drive and do what they

176
00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:58,360
Speaker 3: needed to do, a similar to point O eight with

177
00:09:58,559 --> 00:10:01,920
Speaker 3: hand held phone. That's why I say it's a bigger

178
00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:04,360
Speaker 3: subject because we've still got phone use, which is just

179
00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:08,800
Speaker 3: a curse. Phones are a bloody curse. My two things

180
00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:14,920
Speaker 3: are alcohol and phones. That's what I reckon we should

181
00:10:14,920 --> 00:10:15,600
Speaker 3: be talking about.

182
00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:18,600
Speaker 2: Cam, appreciate your time this morning. Thank you, my pleasure.

183
00:10:18,679 --> 00:10:20,840
Speaker 2: Cameron Wearing from the Australian Driving Institute