THE messages 'Don't drink and drive' and 'If you must drink, leave the car at home' are broadcast and re-broadcast, repeated in newspapers and drummed home endlessly on advertising hoardings. Yet there will always be someone who thinks he drives better drunk or trusts his instinct that alcohol cannot affect his driving. That is why at least one pedestrian was seriously injured this weekend as he stepped back to get a closer look at the Christmas decorations straight into the path of an oncoming car. It was careless. But it need not have led to an accident if the driver of the vehicle had not been drinking.
Hong Kong's first serious drink-driving laws came into force on December 15, 20 years and more after most Western countries introduced them. In the short space of time since then, more than half the drivers of cars involved in accidents in which someone was killed or seriously injured were found to be over the legal limit. No doubt, each of them thought he was the best driver on the road at the time.
The courts should come down hard on them to ensure the message gets across that drink-driving costs lives. The only true deterrent for most drink-drivers is the fear of getting caught. Yet the police are still going easy on drivers, giving them time to get used to the new laws. At present, only drivers who are in traffic accidents, or who have committed driving offences or are 'reasonably suspected' of driving under the influence of alcohol may be tested. There is no talk yet of random breath tests, or of road blocks outside clubs or bars. For the next three months, drink-driving charges will be analysed to see if too many motorists who are obviously under the influence of alcohol are scraping under the limit and whether stricter limits should be enforced. There is no need for such analysis. It is clear to most people who are not hardened drinkers that the quantity of alcohol experts say the average adult can take and remain within the limit means the ceiling is ludicrously high.
While the police are approaching drinkers with kid-gloves and the limit is set high enough to catch only the seriously inebriated, another festive season is slipping by without serious controls. Lax controls may mean a merrier Christmas for some - but spell tragedy for the victims of other people's indulgence. It must not be allowed to happen again next year. Let us have lower limits and tighter controls before more people die.
