TeenTimes: Guilty as charged, I am a "young person". Much ink and airtime is spent on my demographic and the issue of drink driving, and yet the young voice is rarely heard as loudly and with due consideration as other commentators in this paper.
The general trend in commentary falls into three categories: those who blame the Government, those who criticise young people, or those who condemn both. People question the stupidity of young people who drink excessively and drive; I question the logic behind mixing alcohol and driving at all.
I accept the over-representation of my peers in the statistics, yet cannot understand why we repeat the same national dialogue, coming to the same conclusion, every few weekends. I will not deny that we are, to a degree, responsible, but so are you.
The Government has a fundamental responsibility to curb the rising death figures. But, more than that, it's a question of attitudes and responsibility. I would be the first to lambaste the Government if it was entirely its fault. The fact is though, that Bertie Ahern and Michael McDowell don't drive cars off the road - we do.
The Ray D'Arcy Show team is trying to reduce the carnage using stickers. Stickers? I applaud the sentiment, but question its effectiveness. Gay Byrne heads the Road Safety Authority. It's hard not to love Byrne, but is he attracting the right target audience? Gardaí decorate some of the safest roads in the country, at 2pm on a Saturday. Who are they hoping to catch? Where are they at peak accident (though anti-social) times? I simply cannot understand why one can drive after drinking, at all.
The moral law, though not the legislative one, is that driving under the influence is simply wrong. So, why do we need a blood alcohol limit? There should be no grey areas, no lame excuses, no escape routes. If you drink, you don't drive - regardless of the quantity or volume of alcohol.
Research shows that any level of alcohol in the blood affects one's concentration, reflexes and ability to drive. It's time to stop toying with blood alcohol levels, tests of all types and drawn-out challenges through the courts. Drunk driving is the single most contested piece of legislation, presumably because people reckon that they can get away with it. It's time to make the limit zero.
Alcohol is a drug. Dress it up how you will, it is still a mood-altering, cell-killing, depressive, addictive drug. While it may line the bank accounts of this State, it should not continue to inhabit its currently cosy position in society, through endorsements, sponsorship, advertising and even the shots of Bertie having bevvies. It is clearly time for decisive action. Who was it that introduced the smoking ban and the plastic bag levy? These were progressive initiatives, if a little unpopular in the teething stages, which produced real results and most importantly, a change in attitudes.
Fob this off as simplistic if you will, but it is the reality. We don't need audits, committees and experts. We need an attitude shift, to common sense and responsibility. Drive, don't drink. Drink, don't drive. As I type, my spell-check automatically replaced the word "drink" with "think". Perhaps, for once, we should listen to Windows Spellchecker.
Clare Herbert (19) is in second year at NUI Maynooth, studying English and History
500-word articles are welcome from teenagers to teentimes@irish-times.ie. Please include a phone number
