Thursday, December 28, 2006

Tis the season to impact drunk driving

We need some creative ways to curb drunk driving and underage drinking. As mentioned in this blog, alcohol related fatalities decreased dramatically from 1982 to 2004 (most recent available data year), but most of that decrease occurred in the first 10 years or so. We need new tactics in this “battle”.

A town in Vermont has come up with an unusual idea. It will be interesting to see how it works. The police department had their logo put on bar glasses and gave them out to local bars and restaurants, as a somewhat subliminal reminder not to drink and drive. I hope that they are able to make an impact, the idea clever and simple.

My wife ran across something else that might be worth a try. A blurb in Women’s Health (Nov. 2006) showed an effort to impact driving while distracted talking on a cell phone by printing “hang up and drive” in large letters on the street itself. Something similar might work for an anti-drunk driving campaign. I don’t know, something like “drink and drive and we may have to scrape you off this street”. Just a rough idea.

If only we could come up with something effective and simple to impact these serious and deadly problems.

Maybe I’ll get some Coroner’s Office logo bar glasses made up or maybe hand out “pre-registration forms”?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How does or does the coroner determine that the cause of death was due to alchol? -- mike@celebritydrunkdriving.com

Dr. Richard Keller said...

First and foremost is the measurement of the blood alcohol level, much can be surmised from the level. This is then taken into account in reviewing the crash reconstructionists information about the kinetics of the accident and the possiblitly of driver impairment in the crash.