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News: Drinking and driving: Immediate removal of a driver's license saves hundreds of lives per year Alcohol-impaired driving continues to cause thousands of deaths per year. Immediate suspension of a driver's license is a highly effective deterrence. Timing appears to be even more important than the severity of the sanction: the quicker the better. Read more |
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Alcohol-impaired driving continues to cause thousands of deaths per year |
March 2008
Each year a huge number of people loose their life or become seriously impaired because of road traffic accidents. The World Health Organization estimates that till the year 2020, approximately 2.4 million people yearly will be loosing their lives in road accidents.
The causes of this disastrous situation are many. Excessive speed and alcohol consumption are among the main culprits.
Alcohol-impaired driving is still a significant public-safety problem in all over the world. Managing effectively this serious problem is a challenge. The immediate and long term measures against offenders who drive with excessive alcohol in their blood has raised controversies.
Recent research from the United States, sheds light and provides guidelines for future directions in the struggle against unscrupulous drivers under the influence of alcohol. Immediate suspension of a driver's license upon failure of an alcohol breath test can reduce alcohol-related fatalities by approximately five percent, saving an estimated 800 lives each year.
Additionally scientific evidence shows that timing is more important than the severity of the sanction. It is important to get unscrupulous drivers off the road immediately and not wait few months until the trial occurs.
The message we get is that laws that allow police to immediately suspend the license of a driver who fails a breath test have a deterrent effect across the entire population and save many lives each year.
We present you more information on this interesting topic in the article Drinking and driving: Immediate removal of a driver's license saves hundreds of lives per year that you will find attached with our 62nd Progressive Newsletter.
We should never forget that road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death worldwide among young people aged 10-24 years. Each year nearly 400.000 people under 25 die on the world’s roads – on average more than 1000 a day.
It is our obligation as individuals and as a society to take immediately all measures in order to minimize this loss of life and human suffering. The United States example of immediately suspending a driver's license upon failure of an alcohol breath test, should be applied in other countries as well.
Takis A. Haggiandreou
Director
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If you punish a drunk driver six to 10 months after the crime, the behavior is not changed. If you suspend the license immediately, the connection is made and the behavior is affected (in most cases) |
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