People Against Drink/Drug Driving

Adolescent Brain Development: WEBINAR - Ken C. Winters (Ph.D. is a Senior Scientist at the Oregon Research Institute )

Lebanese were in mourning in both Beirut and nearly 9,000 miles away in Sydney, Australia, after a horrific car crash claimed the lives of four Lebanese-Australian children on Saturday night.

An alleged drunk driver lost control of his vehicle in the Sydney suburb of Oatlands, ploughing into a group of seven children. They had been riding their bikes along a footpath on their way to buy ice cream, family members said.Samuel Davidson, 29, was on Sunday denied bail and charged by the Parramatta court on 20 counts, including manslaughter and drink driving. He allegedly had a blood alcohol level three times over the legal limit.The horrific incident caused the deaths of 13-year-old Antony Abdullah and his siblings Angelina, 12, and Sienna, 9, as well as their cousin Veronique Sakr, 11.

"Yesterday I lost three of my children. I had a cousin, Bridget, she lost her daughter as well," Daniel Abdullah said on Sunday morning according to AFP. Leila and Daniel Abdullah are left with three remaining children.

"I'm numb, probably that's how I feel at the moment," he said, adding that his children had gone on to "a better place".

"All I just want to say is, please, drivers be careful. These kids were just walking innocently, enjoying each others' company and this morning I woke up, I have lost three kids."

A makeshift memorial was put in place overnight at the site of the crash, with people coming to place flowers, teddy bears and candles.Another three children from the Lebanese-Australian family were injured in the crash, with the Abdullahs' 10-year-old son in hospital in a serious but stable condition.The tragic incident has been widely shared on social media in Lebanon, with many paying their respects.

Lebanon's foreign ministry has instructed the country's ambassador to Australia to follow up on the incident and aid the grieving families, The Daily Star reported.Antoine-Charbel Tarabay, Archbishop of Australia's Maronite Diocese, also gave his condolences for the families. The Living Maronite organisation added on its Facebook page: "Tonight before you sleep we ask that you remember in your prayers a young Maronite family from our Parish who has been devastatingly affected by a serious accident."

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How many more lives? How many more? We need a Zero B.A.C. For all drivers as well as a Zero Illicit Drug Content for ALL drivers. Yet we continue to passively promote or at the very least give a tacit approval of growing drug use of all kinds, and expect Road Tolls, Family Violence and/or Hospitalizations do drop! The cognitive dissonance in culture and policy is breathtaking. Children are always the ones who pay the greatest price in ‘drug approved’ environments. The pro-drug and pro-alcohol lobby declare ‘you cant arrest your way out of this mess’. Be rest assured, as we repeatedly declare – ‘you most definitely wont be able to ‘treat’ your way out either!”

Dalgarno Institute

December 11, 2019 Press releases

The European Union should introduce a zero-tolerance drink-driving limit in 2020 as part of a package of measures to help prevent up to 5,000 alcohol-linked road deaths every year, according to the European Transport Safety Council, authors of a new report.

The EU has recently set a target to reduce deaths and serious injuries on the road by half by 2030 (1). A quarter of the 25,000 EU road deaths each year are likely to be linked to alcohol, according to European Commission estimates.  Therefore more progress on tackling drink driving is essential to reaching the overall target.

Ellen Townsend, Policy Director of ETSC said:

“Almost 70 years since the first scientific evidence was published on the link between drink-driving and road deaths – it is impossible to accept that thousands of families are still being ripped apart every year in the EU because of it.  In 2020, we want to see the EU and Member States, coming up with a vision to end drink-driving once and for all with a combination of zero-tolerance limits, a big step-up in enforcement and wider use of technology such as mandatory use of alcohol interlocks in buses, lorries and vans.”      

Around 2,654 people were officially recorded killed in alcohol-related collisions in 23 EU countries in 2018, according to the new ETSC report.  But the true figures are likely to be significantly higher due to underreporting and problems with data collection.

Currently only seven out of 28 EU countries have a standard Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) limit of 0.2 g/l or below.  0.1 and 0.2 are effectively equivalent to zero tolerance, while still allowing for  consumption of certain medicines, or drinks marketed as alcohol free.  19 have a limit of 0.5, while Lithuania has 0.4.  The UK currently has the highest standard limit of 0.8, though Scotland has set a lower limit of 0.5.  Many countries also set lower limits for professional and/or novice drivers. (2)

13 EU countries are cutting drink-driving deaths at a faster rate than overall declines in road deaths, according to the new research.  In contrast, the UK, Cyprus, Belgium, Estonia, Hungary, Sweden and Slovakia all appear to be tackling drink-driving at a slower rate than the overall progress. 

Download the new report at: https://etsc.eu/drink-driving-2019

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More Queenslanders will have to pass breath tests on devices in their cars before they can drive them under new laws designed to reduce deaths on the roads.

The laws expand an alcohol interlock program that requires sentenced drink-drivers to unlock their cars by passing a breath test on an attached device.

The program will now apply to mid-range drink-drivers with a blood alcohol level between 0.10 and 0.149, under the laws that passed in parliament as it sat in Townsville on Wednesday.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said 63 people died on Queensland roads last year because of drink-drivers.

"The year before it was 43 people. This is unacceptable," Mr Bailey said.

Mid-range drink-drivers account for more than a quarter of all drink-driving offenders and have a crash risk 20 times greater than someone who hasn't had a drink.

Under the new laws, drink-drivers will need to have an alcohol interlock in their vehicle until they can show a consistent record of clear breath tests over time.

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