By Sive Konkwana
A number of times it has been proven that where ignorance is bliss it is folly to be wise. However, one’s ignorance impacts negatively to the vast number of surrounding people, and ultimately spell the way to the impairment of their lives in many ways.
This follows 556 drivers, who were held-up following driving under the influence of alcohol in Johannesburg. According to Independent On-line news, Johannesburg Metro police officers arrested 556 drivers for drunk and driving on different occasions during the Easter weekend. IOL news further revealed that all the drunken drivers had taken for blood samples before being released on bail of R1 500 each.
Meanwhile, on the 15th of March, 2015, South Africans wailed after receiving sad news about the sudden death of the Public and Administration Minister, Collins Chabane and his two body guards, after a fatal accident. This accident happened on the N1 between Polokwane and Makopane in the early hours of Sunday. According to The Citizen, Nissan truck which was travelling towards Pretoria, was in front of Chabane’s vehicle when it allegedly made a U-turn on the highway. Nissan truck driver, Amukelani Chauke, 30, had been driving under the influence of alcohol. He was arrested at the scene.
This discloses the alarming rate of deaths and paralysed people as results of car accidents under the influence of alcohol abuse. Minister of Transport, Dipuo Peters, revealed that out of 1, 118 fatal road accidents within the period of December 1, 2014 and January 5, 2015, there were 1, 368 people who lost their lives, and in that statistic alcohol abuse has contributed for about 31, 9% of deaths and injuries.
The road accident statistics has proven that while someone decides to disobey the law which says “don’t drink and drive”, he is putting in danger the lives of other sober people surrounding him/her during the time he/she is behind the staring.
Every citizen deserves to be happy and live their lives to its fullest without the possibility of being paralysed or lose their lives due to reckless driving as a result of alcohol consumption while driving. Therefore it is utmost important and everyone’s responsibility to drive using sober minds than driving after munching what is on the bottle of something on Friday night.
A bottle of wine consumed in the bedroom worth a series of lives than a bottle of wine “masticated” in the night club. This could contribute to decrease the 6000 people killed per year by drunk and driving.
Action movies like Fast and Furious 5 and 6 are to be blamed because such wonderful fatal driving scenes in the movie are being implemented in real life by drivers, especially when driven by too much alcohol. Surely every driver wants to be proven as the best driver who can drive exactly the same as Dominic Tourato on Fast and Furious 6, but surely when that is done under the influence of alcohol it will spell someone’s life into its demise and even course “artificial disabilities” as result of major injuries.
Too much alcohol causes human brain to lose driving skills
Researches have shown that the brain comprises of three major parts which are: the cerebrum, the cerebellum and the medulla. According to the findings from the research, the cerebrum controls reasoning, recognition, vision and emotion. Too much alcohol decreases self-consciousness, affects judgement and vision. Drinking too much could result drivers to take a lot of time to slow brakes in times of emergency. The cerebellum controls mainly co-ordination, movement and reflexes. This means too much alcohol results into too much loss of balance. Then the medulla is responsible in controlling heartbeat and breathing.
Furthermore, research also shows that driving involves the usage of judgement, quick physical reaction, decision making and so on. Therefore all of these skills and functions of the brain get lost when there is high volume of alcohol in the brain and may result to:
Ø Lack of stable speed maintenance by drivers
Ø Time consuming to react in controlling staring, brakes handling and stopping the car in cases of emergency
Ø Lack of basic knowledge such as identifying moving car to the inert one
Ø Carelessness about the road signs and pedestrians
Ø Paying lot of attention to the conversation held in the car and or even reminiscing about the incidents or mood of the party coming at and
Ø Lot of visions and or imaginations about being titled as “best driver of the moment”.
However, the issues of car accidents as results of alcohol abuse are not only instigated by irresponsible drivers, but also pedestrians who are coming from different places of “malt contentment” and walk on the road recklessly. It is a bad habit by traffic officers to focus on drivers only as if there are no pedestrians using the same road.
Ijuba (Zulu traditional beer) has its own warning to the consumers which states, “do not drink and walk in the road, you may be killed”. However the caution is not only based to the Ijuba consumers, but to each and every alcohol consumer, for the purpose of life protection.
So what needs to be done to resolve alarming rate of mortality as results of drink and driving and alcohol abuse by pedestrians?
· Arrive Alive should establish campaigns in all taxi ranks in order to educate taxi drivers about the hazards of drink and driving and life importance of a pedestrian
· It is a responsibility of each and every pedestrian to wear clothes which are in bright colours to make it easy to be identified by drivers at night
· Department of Transport should establish stop and go in each and every 20 kilometres where the drivers will be edged by traffic officers to stop the car and get tested for the volume of alcohol in the body. Such testing should be impartial and done not only during the holidays but for a period of 365 days a year
· Should the driver found exceeding the limit of alcohol, conviction and sentence in jail should be taken strictly and a permanent removal of licence should be done without fear or favour
· Piloting of alcohol trackers inside the cars which will automatically track alcohol level to the drivers and make the car to not move when there is high volume of alcohol in the body of the driver
· Awareness raising events must be held by Department of Transport amalgamated with Arrive Alive, drivers, pedestrians and rank managers
· High concentration of traffic in a small tar road, especially on weekends or during the festive season, could result to an increase of road accidents hence alcohol contributes in the loss of vision and basic driving skills, therefore there must be extension of tar roads width
· Society in which everyone aspires to live in should mobilise each other to educate and ultimately find a way to fight alcohol abuse problems.
There are other initiatives which are already taken to counter attack these problems of excessive drinking and drink and driving, but people continue to lose their lives left right and centre. SAB has conducted the most effective measures by creating partnership with public and private sectors of liquor channels to fight against alcohol abuse issues. SAB has also urged commitment to the government, communities, businesses and NGO communities. “It was only after society in its entirety rallied together to address this social disaster that real progress started being made. The same principle should apply to our fight against the scourge of alcohol abuse. There is no social problem which was ever resolved by one sector on its own.” The SAB’s executive director of Corporate Affairs and Transformation, Dr Vincent Maphai, said to the SABC news.
One happy hour could result into life sentence in jail. For every 48 seconds, a drunk driver makes another person paralysed. A ride in a cab costs a lot less than a ride in an ambulance. Fines can be paid and jail time can be served but lives cannot be re-instated.