No Fewer “Bloody Idiots”

POLICE are frustrated with local people who continue to drink and drive.

More than 40% of cases brought before the local court since January have been related to drink driving and that figure does not include people before the court for driving whilst disqualified, which is often related to an initial offence of drink-driving.

Inspector Guy Guiana at Scone Police Station

Inspector Guy Guiana from the Hunter Local Area Command, said the behaviour of local people is not changing and it is in everyone’s interest that it does.

“It’s not that there is an increase in drink-driving, it’s that there is no decrease,” said Inspector Guy Guiana.

“I’ve been doing this for 30 years now and I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been to an accident where alcohol was involved,” he said.

“I’ve seen the consequences many times be it the inconvenience of losing your licence and getting a big fine right up to the trauma of losing a loved one or killing someone else.

“People can say they are fine, they can have a few drinks and drive home but how would they feel if someone else thought that way and killed one of their loved ones?” Inspector Guiana questioned.

Inspector Guiana said there is a culture in the area of drink-driving which is compounded by the lack of public transport, but said people need to find other options.

“If you’re at a party or a function with a friend and you know they’ve had too much to drink and they intend to drive home I’d be encouraging everybody to persuade them not to and give them an option; be a good mate and drive them home or find someone who can; it’s for everybody’s safety,” he said.

“It’s breaking old habits of believing you can jump in your car and drive down to the pub or a party and then drive home,” he said.

“I think people suspect when they have had too much to drink but they think they’ll be able to chance it and not get caught,” Inspector Guy Guiana said.

The Upper Hunter has one of the highest areas of fatalities in the Northern Region which stretches from the Hawkesbury River to the Queensland boarder; while it doesn’t include the Tamworth area it does take in all of the coastal command areas.

“We have a high fatality rate here compared to the rest of the region,” he said.

“We generally do RBT (random breath testing) everyday, our car crews are tasked to do it day and night, so every shift,” he said.

“We’ve also got a lot of visiting highway patrol who periodically come through here, so it’s not just our local highway patrol and there are often extra vehicles sent up this way,” Inspector Guiana said.

The first ad in the “If you drink and drive you’re a bloody idiot” was aired on December 10, 1989 titled: Girlfriend.