In 2003, the Department of Transportation released data that drunk driving caused half of the accidents in South Africa. Statistics constantly prove that drunken pedestrians are also a constant problem on our roads.
In recent years, the use of drinking water and traffic has largely depended on significant funding and concern, but the numbers are still growing. Do we pay attention to the symptoms, not the cause, when we try to keep drunkards out of the way? What makes so many people drink so much? When it comes to many pedestrians, it can be assumed that most of them will benefit if the money they use to drink is used more meaningfully.
But the poor and the unemployed are not the only people who drown in their sorrows on a regular basis. Car owners / drivers are just as bad. Their sin, as a rule, is considered worse because the influence of their alcohol rests on the weight of heavy machinery. Since previous strategies did not seem to work, how then do we plan to improve the status quo?
Call to action
Good news came in the form of an open letter to the Minister of Health (Mercury 12/22/2004). She acknowledged the report of the United Nations General Assembly that road safety received insufficient attention at the international and national levels and that multidisciplinary cooperation was needed to effectively address this issue. It was also pointed out the lack of political responsibility.
She wrote that she believes that the increase in traffic accidents is harmonious with development, an attitude that many consider defeatist - development, of course, should cover all areas of life. Despite this, she agrees that the Department of Health should be involved in primary prevention strategies, including public campaigns to reduce alcohol consumption and promote behavioral change.
Welcoming news, no doubt, for transport, which has been trying to reach the level of intra-agency cooperation since the beginning of “The Arrival of the Living” in 1997. The minister also explained that “Health is socially responsible for preventing injuries caused by huge sums of taxpayers' money, which are spent on emergency care, hospital care, rehabilitation and social security benefits.”
It is gratifying to note that the Minister intends to rally his department in order to achieve the goals of the World Health Organization in 2004 regarding road safety. In a year, few can see any sign that her department remembers its promise to help turn the growing problem of national drinking around? Does she need more motivation to act?
Research factors
Effective studies have repeatedly emphasized the effect of alcohol on the body and the brain. Only two examples are mentioned here, since they are considered sufficient to highlight interesting facts that every drinker should know about.
The first part of the brain that should be affected by alcohol is the frontal lobe, which controls conscience and executive control (including coordination and agility). This clearly means that drinkers are less able to control mechanisms or react for a sufficient time to avoid accidents, but they also lose any natural urge to have a good assessment or honestly evaluate their behavior. This can be seen in their assurances that they are just beautiful. ride or walk home, even after a few drinks.
The cerebellum is the next part of the brain to feel the effects of alcohol consumption. He controls the coordination of all types, but especially the coordination of hands and eyes. After several drinks, the drinker drinks his speech, memory loss and double vision suffer, although it seems to him that there is no warmer, fuzzy, comfortable haze in the atmosphere.
After a big night, even after the level of alcohol in the blood and breathing returned to normal, the brain still has not regained its former ability to function normally. The hangover translates into “drunk.” Due to the effect of alcohol dehydration, the brain shrinks and the hangover is actually part of the recovery process. As long as the fluids in our bodies do not fully return to normal life, our reactions and judgments will be severely affected, although the reaction improves to our judgment.
Gender Shift
“Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College in London found that women are now more likely to drink regularly (they risk drinking alcohol, Daily News, 22/1/2004). A five-year study of drinking habits of 20,000 adults between the ages of 20 and 60 showed that some women had triple deaths from alcohol abuse in just seven years.
One out of five women can be considered a drunkard - the result of greater financial and general independence. Since the female hormones do not process alcohol, as in men, their liver is more vulnerable than in men who conform to them, they drink and drink.
Interestingly, during drinking sessions, testosterone levels in women increase four to five times faster than in men. Their sex drive is rising, and it is difficult for them to control their impulses and impulses. Others seem to be more attractive than they really are, so women are likely to contact men who, in a sober situation, can avoid or take care of a second look. This information becomes fascinating when it is associated with young girls who take elevators from men who are not suitable for driving, and those who develop confidence in men are familiar only after a few drinks.
The article also reported that the heavy consumption of women may be associated with breast cancer and that women are more likely than men to suffer from brain damage caused by drinking. Reasonably good reason not to talk about your teenage daughter: “She will do it anyway”?
Every year in South Africa, too many babies are born with fetal alcohol syndrome, which stuns their growth, health and brain capacity. This is due to the maternal drug and alcohol during pregnancy, and very often babies who are born are already “damaged” will receive as little attention and attention as possible during their lives, since they were taken into account during the pregnancy period.
Very often they become part of the growing problem of orphans; their mothers dump them as soon as they realize that their children are not normal. There are not enough orphanages and special schools for them, and they rarely find a safe environment where they can develop to their limited potential. Moreover, alcoholism, being a certified disease, is also a costly habit. Even if their mothers held them, many of them knocked and / or sodomized repeatedly before the authorities intervened.
Walking shoes
Despite the fact that drunk pedestrians are not essentially part of the problem with drunk driving, they are the real cause of accidents, serious injuries and fatalities on South African roads. The influence of alcohol on the body and mind also affects the ability of drunken pedestrians to cross the road safely, without jeopardizing the movement of vehicles (and themselves), as they make those who are behind the wheels of their cars under the weather.
Although many argue that a pedestrian is much more vulnerable and, as such, does not control inevitably dangerous mechanisms, every drunk pedestrian who is dangerous for him is a great danger to car traffic. When motorists get into drunken pedestrians, the statistics do not show how many cars have already managed to avoid the same person. When a motorist cannot avoid a drunken pedestrian, the life of everyone in his vehicle and in surrounding vehicles is also at risk.
It is realistic to assume that one drunk pedestrian on the road could be responsible for the death of a taxi with a minibus or a bus full of passengers. In fact, in some cases, when tragic accidents on buses claimed the lives of several passengers, it is unacceptable that evidence of the presence of a drunken pedestrian be discovered, despite the investigation after the incident.
Arrival Living figures for 2002 reported 126 drunken dead pedestrians. During the first ten months of 2003, 56 drunk pedestrians were reported. It should be remembered here that people who die after admission to a hospital are initially reported as “serious injuries”. Cases and death rates could be subject to days after accidents.
Alcohol review
The article “Pedestrian injuries” - some of the facts (Peden & Van der Spuy, Trauma and Emergency Medicine, June / July 1996) reported on an adult pedestrian survey conducted by National Trauma Research: all 196 consecutive adult pedestrians who represent Groote Schuur in during the nine-week period, in 1993, they were clinically evaluated, had samples taken for analysis of alcohol in the blood (BAC), and determined the levels of alcohol in the breath.
A staggering 61.2% of the total amount consumed alcohol; only 2.6% had a BAC in the range of 0.01-0.07 g / 100 ml. 18.4% were between the levels of 0.08-0.15 g / 100 ml, while 40.3% were 0.16 g / 100 ml or higher (more than three times the legal limit for drivers). The average BAC for those taking alcohol was 0.19 g / 100 ml.
Not unexpectedly, on weekends, especially on Saturdays, there is an accumulation of such injuries, and most of them can be associated with money. The most common injuries were the lower limbs (contact with bumpers that cause primary damage) and pelvic lesions, which were usually fractures. The next most common were head injuries caused by falling victims and hitting their heads. It was not mentioned whether victims could fall before they were hit by a vehicle.
The obvious trend in alcohol consumption was obvious. The findings also noted the fact that drunken pedestrians were not noticeable. This angle has been widely discussed. To be honest, light clothing rarely makes pedestrians visible enough at night to prevent a catastrophe. Only light-reflecting devices can warn drivers for a sufficient amount of time to slow down and prevent a collision. Table 1 shows pedestrian injuries that can be expected at two different impact speeds, one slightly higher and the other below our speed limit in cities, even before darkness or alcohol became part of the equation.
Impact rate% Mortality% Damaged% Not affected
65 km / h
50 km / h 45 50 4
Source: City Safety and Peace, Tiwari and Patel
Table 2 shows the blood alcohol levels measured during the study of the adult pesticide. Further annual beverage consumption surveys conducted by the Scientific and Industrial Research Council on behalf of DOT showed that in several metro areas adult pedestrians who walked on days but did not participate in collisions detected 10–13% to determine the level of alcohol in blood> 0.08 g / 100 ml (these examinations were carried out before the legal limit was reduced to 0.05 g / 100 ml). This underlines the tragedy - more than 10% of urban pedestrians have nothing to do with crossing the road alone, in the evenings.
It is a miracle that passing cars will not suffer anymore.
Table 2: Percentage of pedestrians observed in Groote Schuur with blood alcohol levels> 0.08 g / 100 ml
Description of injuries% Pedestrians with a blood alcohol level of> 0.08 g / 100 ml
Mortality in hospital 70
Severe injuries 61.2
Lesser injuries 50.9
Source: adult pedestrian survey, national injury study
The results of the study of adult pesticides also showed in Table 3 that patients with significantly elevated levels of alcohol increase the requirements for patient management. In other words, care has become more difficult - the drinker is the keeper, the more attention and skills needed for the nurses, and then for his rehabilitation. The presence of alcohol also affects the use of drugs and anesthetics and the ability of patients to recover from emergency surgery.
Table 3: Percentage of pedestrians observed in Groote Schuur with blood alcohol levels> 0.08 g / 100 ml
BAC + Disability
BAC-
No 15 (12.5%) 12
(15.8%)
Short-term (8 weeks) 33 (27.5%) 21 (27.6%)
Permanent (for example, severe injuries of a closed head, amputations, etc.) 18 (15%) 7
(9.2%)
He died in hospital 7 (5.8%) 3
(3.9%)
Source: adult pedestrian survey, national injury study
From the sample included in the study, the injuries and deaths of pedestrians, apparently, were predominantly adult, black men. The injuries were severe, the cost of treatment is high, and alcohol plays an important role both in deaths and as a result of injuries. The consequences of drunken pedestrian collisions are serious - for the pedestrian, the driver of the vehicle, the health care system and the state.
Fund facts
Given that pedestrians in some cases cause their own death and cause accidents in which others are killed and seriously injured, shouldn't they also contribute to the RAF treasury? Drivers are the group that bears all responsibility for possible payments. Should drivers forever count on funding the claims of those who carry a share of the blame?
The RAF’s generous and timely support for road safety at the start of the Coming Live campaign failed as an exercise in reducing claims. Seasonal promotion is also not enough to change the bad habits of any person. Advertising and PR costs do not guarantee changes in attitudes or behavioral changes among road users.
Serious, permanent, formal, social education is probably the only strategy that will affect people's habits, as well as from forbidden legislation. The dangers of consuming alcohol in general do not seem to have caught the public imagination. Or that the DoG: Rocket scientist does not understand that alcohol addiction should cause at least as much suffering in this country as tobacco addiction - ask any family member that you are drunk ...
No one, neither the body nor the organization, seems to feel responsible for drunkenness, with the exception of road safety, traffic and alcoholics anonymous. The sensitivity of the liqueur and hospitality industry, profits at stake and their individual rights are still considered fairly sacred. Smoking reform was considered a priority, where alcohol consumption was not.
There is no reason why alcohol abuse (in general) could not face a similar attack on the fact that tobacco survived. Nevertheless, the bad effects of alcohol abuse on those who do not drink are considered by many to be much worse than the bad effects of smoking on those who do not smoke. South Africans love their pariahs, and here’s a reason that does not distinguish between race, color creed or political affiliation!
education
Previous strategies to restrict alcohol use and traffic did not work. A comprehensive nationwide campaign against alcohol abuse is justified, and the DoT should not be afraid to lead on conviction because of the horrific statistics on alcohol use and traffic.
Teaching people to know when it was enough for them, when alcohol poisoned their systems, and when regular use jeopardizes their work and destroys their health and families, it will not be an easy task, because each situation is so individual, but there is no reason why such a strategy used anti-smoking cannot be accepted by the government. As a disease / illness, alcoholism is the direct responsibility of DoH.
Sufficient evidence of the consequences of alcohol abuse should be easily obtained from organizations such as ISCs, helplines for children and families, centers for dealing with children and sex organs, safety sites and trauma centers / hospital records to provide a convincing suggestion that the President of the State and National Minister of Health.
legislation
Being publicly inclined to road safety and promised follow-up, immediate actions could be expected from the Minister of Health. The goal for lobbyists should be to explain the health costs of drunk behavior in general and, in particular, drunk driving / walking.
It is the drinking culture that causes these problems, not the transport / traffic culture. Accidental pedestrian breath testing should become the norm, since pedestrian enforcement has long been ignored. Почему уровни алкоголя в пешеходах считаются болезнью транспорта / транспорта, когда они явно намного более социальны, кажутся странными.
Если рестораторы и гостиничные предприниматели, как ожидается, будут препятствовать курению, почему они не должны также злоупотреблять алкоголем? Почему бы не ограничить общественное потребление, как это делается на пляжах? Как курильщики узнали, требуется только один действительно определенный национальный министр здравоохранения, чтобы превратить статус-кво наизнанку и переименовать историю, если она выберет - и она утверждает, что хочет выбирать.
Законодательные изменения (не только в интересах безопасности дорожного движения, но и в интересах общего здоровья населения) должны учитывать затраты на экономику соответствующих социальных программ, аварийных служб и реабилитации. Законный предел для пешеходов должен быть законодательно закреплен. Поскольку пассажиры также являются пешеходами с обеих сторон своей поездки, это также относится к ним.
Ограничение количества алкоголя, подаваемого на одного клиента в любом общественном месте, будет важным элементом, и все общественные места, где можно купить алкоголь, могут потребоваться для хранения карманных наборов для тестирования дыхания. Клиенты могут быть обязаны купить их, чтобы доказать свою трезвость, прежде чем их заказы будут приняты (обход пабов был изобретен теми, кто не хотел, чтобы его видели чрезмерным впитыванием), и цена на комплект может быть начислена клиенту.
Новые пьющие вступают в систему непрерывно, так как они достигают совершеннолетия, поэтому никакая инициатива не может считаться краткосрочной - по крайней мере, в течение нескольких лет - до тех пор, пока более низкие уровни потребления алкоголя среди всех южноафриканских участников дорожного движения не станут образцом жизни. Это за неделю до Рождества. Будем надеяться, что к этому времени в следующем году кто-то подумает о том, чтобы сделать что-то рациональное, чтобы помочь пьяным пешеходам самим помочь.
