WomanOnWheels.ca

Drinking and driving: Even those you wouldn't expect ...

Just when you think some people should know better, the news headlines come out. Al Unser Jr., who twice won the Indy 500, was arrested this week on charges of drunk and reckless driving.

It seems that Unser was arrested near his home in Albuquerque (shoulda made a left turn there, Doc) when police caught him drag-racing another car, driving his Chevrolet Suburban at just over 100 mph. His blood alcohol content was twice the legal limit.

When will people learn?

I had a bit of an issue, if you could call it that, with Unser earlier this year. As part of a press launch I was attending, he had been hired by the car company to drive a pace car around a racetrack while we followed in the new models we were assessing. I was riding a lap when my (male) co-driver ran into a slippery curve and went off into the grass. It was nothing serious; just some wheels in the green stuff, and then he got back on and off we went. But afterwards, Unser asked someone who had gone off the track. "The white car," someone said.

Three male colleagues and I were standing beside two white cars, so it could have been any one of us. Unser shook his finger at me and said, "It got away on you, did it?" That's the dinosaur thinking: a driver screwed up, so it had to be the woman.

And now it seems that his dinosaur thinking goes even deeper. Drinking, texting, phoning, eating ... when are we going to realize that the most important thing you can do behind the wheel of a car is drive it?

Teens stop drinking - but are the roads any safer?

 My friend and colleague Lorraine Sommerfeld has an excellent opinion piece in the Toronto Star this weekend on teenagers drinking and driving. You can read it by clicking here.

In Ontario, the rule is "zero is zero" - young drivers can't have any alcohol in their systems, or they risk license suspensions and can even get sent back to beginner status if they're still on a graduated license. According to Lorraine, they're listening, and that's quite a change from many of their parents, who believe you can still drink until your eyeballs float and then get behind the wheel.

That said, though, are we just trading one problem for another? How many of these young drivers call their parents or take a cab when they've had a beer - but then, when they're completely sober behind the wheel, reach for their cell phones or start typing text messages?

Unsafe driving is unsafe driving. While we're never going to entirely eliminate drunk driving, we've done a pretty good job over the years of taking it from something you brag about, to something you avoid doing. Now we need to work on phone calls and text messages. Get rid of the ridiculous $125 fine that drivers face in Ontario. Take it into the thousands, and tack on demerit points and license suspensions. Make it very expensive and very inconvenient to be caught talking on the phone or tapping away on a device when you're behind the wheel. Get rid of Bluetooth in cars, and turn them back into vehicles instead of phone booths.

Drunk driving kills people. Distracted driving does exactly the same thing. I remember one pundit who said that, given the awful choice, he'd rather see someone tipsy behind the wheel than talking on a phone. As he pointed out, at least the drunk is attempting to drive.

Drinking and driving: Here's one possible solution

It's called DADSS, or Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety, and it's being researched in the U.S. with the ultimate goal of possibly incorporating it into every new car. Systems being considered include sensors that would determine the driver's blood alcohol concentration through the starter button or breath analysis, but without any active driver input. You can read all about it in my story by clicking here.

More on the fatal Ontario crash ...

A little while ago, I commented on a case here in Ontario where a 20-year-old driver put a car into a river, killing himself and two other passengers. Today, the paper speaks with the driver's father regarding the crash.

According to the man, his son and three friends consumed a total of 31 drinks in three hours at a restaurant. Speed was also cited as a factor in the crash; the driver already had several charges on his record and was in danger of losing his license due to speeding violations.

So what does his father think needs to be done? "Parents need to lobby the government to make changes," he said.

Apparently, father now wants "zero tolerance for speeding" and said that if "the licence was revoked for one speeding incident, then word would quickly get around that you can't speed and (keep) your license."

Now, keep in mind that we're talking about a young man with enough speeding violations that he was close to having his licence yanked. So how did father answer when asked what he would have done differently as a parent?

"I would not have bought him the car that I did ... When he asked me for the car I argued with him incessantly and I finally gave in and wish I hadn't."

The car he bought for his son wasn't just any run-of-the-mill sedan, but a 340-horsepower Audi S4. Given to a young man with relatively little driving experience and, apparently, enough speeding tickets to plaster his bedroom wall.

According to the article, father told his son "don't drink and drive and don't speed. I know that I have said this to Tyler over 100 times. Obviously that doesn't work."

Apparently, focusing on the speeding part didn't, either. "As I said, I told Tyler not to speed ... Just because his friends talked about speeding so much. I was just shocked at the amount that the boys discuss cars and how fast they are and how much they like racing."

But apparently not shocked enough to withhold payment on a 340-horsepower Audi S4, it seems.

And what do people need to do? "People need to take a stand against this with the government."

Well, yes, of course, when it's obvious that they can't take a stand right in their own garage.

Ummm ... okay ...

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Canada has sent out a message to everyone for this upcoming holiday weekend: don't drive when you're impaired.

But this sentence in the press release, a quote from the association's national president, raised an eyebrow:

"We don't want any unnecessary crashes this holiday..."

Fair enough. But pray tell, have any of you out there ever had a necessary car crash? 

The jaw drops ...

In the news today: Ontario's Alcohol and Gaming Commission is investigating whether staff at a club might have played a part in a recent crash that killed three young men when the driver put an Audi S4 into a river. Police have stated that alcohol and speed were factors in the crash.

The 20-year-old driver had several traffic charges already on his record. The sole survivor of the crash said that he was praised by his friends for driving the S4 at high speed, and that she reached over and turned up the already-loud stereo when her favorite song came on. According to newspaper reports, the Audi S4 belonged not to the driver, but to the driver's parents.

According to an article in the Toronto Star, the father now says that, "In retrospect, it is obvious I would've wanted the Joe Club to take away the keys or stop serving..." But while he doesn't think closing a bar or restaurant is the solution, according to the story, he does support "zero blood (alcohol) level for new drivers until (age) 21-25, and zero tolerance (for) speeding infractions to age 21. In both those cases I feel the licence should be revoked and every kid will really think before drinking or speeding when driving," he said.

Let's do the math.

The driver was 20 years old.

According to this article, he had so many speeding violations that he was in danger of losing his driver's license.

And yet his father apparently lent his son a 340-horsepower vehicle under circumstances that he now says should have been grounds for revoking the young man's license, with zero tolerance.

I don't get it. I simply don't. I wonder how much money the lawsuit will initially name...