Teen toll driven up by "PC" idiocy

John Paul College "Students Against Drunk Driving" team has just staged a mock crash to expose the dangers of driving drunk, but though the student's efforts were commendable it's not youthful ignorance of alcohol risk upping teen DUI crashes.

Not in the wake of years of hard hitting drink drive ads, say Candor Trust. LTNZ surveys actually show high awareness of drink drive risk - just zero awareness of other main toll causes like drugs and fatigue.

The Trust sees evidence that SADD's automaton like extremely narrow approach, perhaps dictated to it by funding bodies like the RST (renowned for it's refusal to face up to drug driving), could be topping up teen casualties.

The crash SADD orchestrated was designed to look like a drunk Subaru driver with four passengers collided with an oncoming vehicle, after failing to give way.

When such efforts as mock up's fail to take account realities of current social conditions, they may well contribute to more carnage than good, say Candor.

Newspaper reports about this event make clear drug intoxication wasn't covered.

None of the people in the cars was wearing a seatbelt which is very life-like to a crash featuring intoxication. One girl flew from the back seat right through the windscreen, and "died" which was a good exhibition of the trauma potential.

But the scenario of only drink possibly leading to the usual DUI crash scenario is criticised by Candor as horribly simplistic and a decade out of date. Drugs are the backbone in many Communities.

"Parents who think their kids aren't just as prone to dabble in drugs as alcohol are kid themselves." Drugs may have been less prevalent when we watched Fred Flintstone hooning around town in his convertible, but things are different now.

Taking an Ostrich mentality to drugs kills our kids, nowhere more than on road.

Parents only need to look at the news to see that sixteen college students were stood down for cannabis use last month. And P is cheap enough for many kids now, at fifty bucks a pop.

"It's kind of a unique situation we have here with authorities refusing to adjust educational messages to fit the complexity of todays DUI problem", says Candor community educator Urs.

Over 1/2 of all deceased Kiwi drivers now have high traffic risk drugs in their blood. Which is double the number that was driving drunk according to the latest research. And most drunks had used other drugs.

"Our roads are over run with drug drivers, but this especially impacts on the young drivers". A Waikato University study showed 47% of Kiwi teens who died driving with some alcohol content in them in 2005, also used cannabis.

Naturally given figures like that the Trust is concerned that Community efforts like this one are seriously remiss to deny the shadow NZs drug problem casts over road safety.

Police were the first of the emergency services on the mock crash scene and flew down Kahu St with their sirens blaring. "Ambos will be doing a lot of that, given efforts like this".

Rotorua police education officer, Rob Ball then explained that in a real-life situation, the driver of the Subaru, who survived, could face charges like careless driving causing death and drink driving ones with heavy penalties.

Candor say this is a worrying misrepresentation by Police of the real situation. Most multi fatality crashes that result in tough penalties involve drugs.

For sanity's sake teens and parents ought consider typical real life teen tragedies.

None of these impaired drivers faced drink driving charges - but they still killed, and frequently that was because "the stoner wins the coin toss".

Leah Peneha 19, on heroin and P killed two people in a brutal head on

Graeme Bignall 16, killed himself + 2 friends during un-signalled U-turn on pot

6 young people died in a crash near Ruatoria due to pot and alcohol

Teens now select drugged designated drivers (A bit of Kiwi ingenuity)

Whiti Hepi killed three young people after crashing on pot and alcohol - a friend tossed him the keys to the Subaru (same car as in SADD mock crash)

19 year old Karl Tairi was made the designated driver for eight people due to his methamphetamine and cannabis preference, he killed one and injured many

The risk SADD and cronies run here with this dated blinkered campaign, is that by making kids phobic of drink drivers they will elect drug drivers to carry the lives of their group in their hands on the road.

"In the absence of good risk education regarding drug driving, while hammered about drink driving being the devil itself - what would your teen brain elect to do?"

This exercise and similar SADD initiatives really sound like expensive mistakes, say Candor. Such things would not be carried out in this "sanitised PC way" way overseas. People would be held liable.

Drug misuse risk is always incorporated into the message by sane societies today.

We hope not to see this Government funded Organisation repeat such flawed educational efforts, not anytime soon.

Major modifications are needed to SADD and Police's messages for young people, before they can be considered even half pie safe ones to expose our kids too.

The good news though is that good evidence based information about impaired driving risk is available from Candor Trust, the only Charity set up to deal with all forms of impaired driving in New Zealand.

ENDS

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