Christmas and New Year’s celebrations are usually marred by major car accidents. However, in a turn of events, only one major car accident occurred during the two days where road accidents are most likely to occur.
During the festive season of 2015, we’ve seen a number of campaigns advising against driving under the influence of alcohol, including the Medical Association’s #checkmate campaign, amongst many others on social media locally. There has never been as many campaigns as we’ve seen this season, and it seems like Malta is finally becoming more aware of the dangers of drink-driving, with most major taxi companies being completely booked during New Year’s Eve.
Since all the awareness has had a positive effect, why aren’t we seeing more campaigns during the rest of the year? In a Eurobarometer survey in 2010, only 1% of Maltese surveyed knew the legal drink-drive limit, so isn’t it high time we educate Maltese drivers? After all, drink-drive accidents don’t occur solely during the festive season.
With the donation of 15 brand new breathalyzers to the Malta Police Force, tests can be taken more quickly and accurately. So why not create roadblocks in roads around Paceville or Clubbing Establishments?
Police Commissioner Michael Cassar responded to calls to perform random checks on drivers with this statement: “apart from not being viable, it would be unthinkable for us to subject everyone to a test in the hope of catching a few people. Our aim is to make our roads safer but not to oppress people.” So are we “oppressing” passengers by making them go through airport security checks? And why not take the term random literally and perform the checks on random drivers. This would discourage people from driving under the influence because they know there will be a chance they will be caught.
Let’s not kid ourselves, drivers choose to drink and drive throughout the whole year. The continuation of awareness campaigns and roadblocks will have a positive effect on our roads, making them safer to drive on.
