The Alphabet game

X-traordinary, just opened a bottle of Johnny Walker's red. Cheers.

Yowza - make mine a treble.

Zig zagging like a waiter, but a treble is on the way lmur.

(Morning my friend, all well?)

Ah, that's better! I can feel it doing me good!

Blimey lezzles, hadn't noticed you slipping in, helped yourself did you?

Can Dutchy lay his hands on another bottle, seeing as lezzles has quaffed the last one when no-one was looking?


(All's well Dutch; storm raging outside!)

Dutchy's bar is loaded, what brand do you prefer this time?

"Egal" is the German word for these situations! Us paddies would drink sulphuric acid if nothing else was available. Surprise me!

Forgive me for not offering earlier - I brought my own bottle and your glasses were full when I poured mine. Here, it's J&B Rare, is that Okay?

Glass of whisky went down well but not now, at breakfast.

How about a glass of orange juice?

Interception by random breath testing patrols in the morning always makes me wonder if I look so obviously degenerate!!

Just a minute lezzles, what does an upstanding lady like you, doing out and about in the early hours of the morning?

Kindly back off there, buddy. I wrote that in response to Clary talking about breakfast!

Maybe in your neck of the woods they don't have morning RBTs, but I have encountered a couple. Me! Little Miss Goody Two Shoes, Perennial Designated Driver, Wouldn't Dream of Doing the Wrong Thing, pulled up at 9 am and breathalyzed!

(Oh, yeah, um, you might be surprised at what an upstanding lady like me might be doing out and about in the early hours of the morning! )

Laughing at the above.

On a serious note, RBT's have only been introduced here in Paddyland within the past month. The problem of speeding on sub-standard roads is a hot issue here at the moment, with every road-death receiving wide media coverage (it's a small country, c'mon!). It has reached the stage where people are reluctant to go for a walk on country roads and kids no longer walk to their schools, as the perception exists that it just aint safe.

Did a similar situation exist in Oz? Has RBT'ing make a difference?

Man oh man, where have the Irish been Lmur? We have had RBT's for the last 25 years at least, has made no difference, the high road tally of fatalities never vary much year by year. We now have also drug testing on the road, introduced in the last 12 month's, because it has been proven 1 in 4 motorists uses drugs. Speed limits have also been reduced, makes no iota of difference, the carnage continues.

Lezzles I can tell you from experience, many motorists bite the dust for exceeding the limit between 6am and 10am when breath tested!!!

I'm still not convinced you're causing evil twisted havoc in the early hours of the morning either lezzles, I think my original impression of you stands scrutiny.

My own impressions are that it has made a big difference. There were far too many deaths on the roads before RBT was introduced.
Much of this was because of the long distances between towns and people just tended to put the pedal to the floor. It was nothing to travel miles and miles to a dance or party and of course, home again, and drunk driving was a big problem.

This is still a huge problem in country areas, especially with the young drivers.

Macho egos did not help, possession of the car keys being a certain sign of male supremacy, so a lot of wives and sweethearts were either killed or old well before their time through unmitigated terror. This has, thank God, changed to a great extent. A very strong campaign about designated drivers (who don't drink alcohol that night), handing over the keys, booking taxis, etc has changed that attitude dramatically. Mind you, it was not only the men!

I think things have improved immensely since RBT was introduced. People tend to entertain differently now and MOST people have a much more sensible attitude to drinking and driving. Having said that there are still plenty of idiots out there willing to take the risk.

The morning RBTs I mentioned above were to change the habits of people who would have a few hours sleep and then drive home in the morning - still well over the limit.

It has just been announced this week that random drug testing is about to be introduced as well!

I'd like to hear Dutchy's views on this issue, too!

EDIT: Pipped, but I'll post it anyway! Well, there you go. two completely opposite viewpoints! Must be that I've quietened down so much I figured everyone else has too!!

Notwithstanding the two previous posts, I am happy to say I'm not completely nuts!

http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/roadsafety/crashes/hundredyearstats.html

I emphasise that is only for New South Wales - which used to be dreadful. Maybe things have not changed in South Oz.

Not my belief that driving with alcohol in the bloodstream is the main cause of accidents. In my humble view, excessive speed, inattention and unable to control a car properly are the major causes of fatal accidents, and yes I agree alcohol does contribute to a number of these.

As far as drug use is concerned, we all know it is unfortunately wide-spread in this country, but what bearing it has on one's driving I would not know, I have never taken drugs. I certainly like my drop of intoxicating liquor and do know the effect of this. I like to think I am a responsible driver because I know what over-indulgence can lead to, so have always drunk with caution, and knew when not to drive.

I agree RBT's certainly have altered peoples drinking and driving habits, however speed detection units (like radar and camera's) have also had a dramatic effect on speeding drivers and for me have certainly been more responsible for the lowering of the road toll than RBT's. Not forgetting road education either, much harder to obtain a licence these days then years ago, and publicity about accidents in the media.

Lezzles have a look at the following site and you can see the trend of fatal accidents in South Australia for the past 30 odd years. Certainly backs up your views in the early part when RBT's ,radar and camera's were first introduced, but the figures strangely enough haven't dropped over the last 12 years.

http://www.transport.sa.gov.au/rss/content/safer_people/issues/sa_crashes.htm

Obliged to you both for responding. Interesting stats, lezzles. I will also look in greater detail at Dutch's link shortly.

I found this European comparative table which suggests Ireland is by no means the worst "offender".

http://www.rte.ie/news/features/roadsafety/1987-2003.html

Interesting that the figures for countries like Latvia and Lithuania are still less than NSW in 1970! Was that when the Summer of Love hit Sydney, I wonder?!

Dutchy, I agree that speeding and inattention appear to be the main contributers to road carnage. Lack of enforcement is a major contributing factor here. A penalty points system (PPS) was introduced here about 3 years ago and, in the first few months of its inception, road deaths dramatically fell. (I recall one week where NOT ONE fatality occurred). Once people "copped on" to the absence of any meaningful enforcement presence on our roads, road deaths crept upwards again and have now exceeded the level "achieved" before the introduction of the PPS.

No doubt it varies from state to state and between rural- and urban centres, but, in the main, are kids driven to school in private cars or by a public transport system?