Was that drink worth it?

Image courtesy: European Transport Safety Council

So, you like your beer. Maybe you even like getting drunk. Maybe you think, it’s the one weakness you have; or that you get to be young once – why not be a bit reckless too? Never mind what your idea of reckless is – getting drunk and getting behind the wheel of a car must not be one of them. Here’s why:

Alcohol affects your judgement, playing havoc with your speed of response, your physical coordination and your depth perception. So, while you might think that today you are driving like on any other day, it’s most likely the alcohol that’s doing the talking. It needs no digestion and is rapidly absorbed by the blood. It's dubious effects are felt instantaneously, quite unlike the effects of overeating when you might still have a few hours before you feel the effects of your gluttony. With alcohol, you don’t have a few hours after downing that last drink, to drive home and sleep it off.

Yes, it might be that you have been driving drunk and have gotten away with it in the past. But consider statistics for a minute. Reducing per capita alcohol consumption by 1%  will reduce road fatalities by 1%. This was found following a study by Lowenfels and Wyn with data from 19 countries. According to data from United Nations Road Safety Collaboration, road fatalities caused by DUI (Driving Under the Influence) can vary between 20% in high income countries to 69% in middle to low income countries. In real human terms, thousands of people are killed on Indian roads to satiate somebody’s need for alcohol.

India allows a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) value of 0.03% per 100 ml blood. What does that mean to you sitting there at the bar, nursing your drink? As a general rule, disregarding things like individual weight, gender, and personal metabolic rate, 2 standard drinks consumed during the first hour of drinking, will increase a person's blood alcohol content (BAC) to approximately 0.05%. Symptoms now will include a mild sense of elation with its undesirable counterpart, a decrease in judgement and inhibitions. Any higher and we are looking at a physiological sedation of nearly all systems, decreased attention and alertness, slowed reactions, impaired coordination, and reduced muscle strength, reduced ability to make rational decisions or exercise good judgment. You might agree, now is not the best time to get behind the wheel of that two ton SUV.

Studies done over decades have clearly established the link between DUI and crashes. The risk starts to increase significantly at BAC levels of 0.05% and at a BAC of 0.24%, the risk is 140 times higher. And if you are an inexperienced young driver, your risk of crashing is three times higher at all BAC levels.

And that’s not all. Alcohol intoxication correlates positively with more severe injuries. In a study by NIMHANS (Bangalore), patients with injuries subsequent to alcohol intoxication sustained more injuries that were more severe than the non-intoxicated group. Compared to the non-intoxicated group, more of the intoxicated group required surgical interventions (8% and 5% respectively), more died (6.5% and 4% respectively) and more sustained neurological disabilities at discharge from hospital (13% and 9%).

Do you think that DUI might not really put you at risk, sitting there, safely ensconced in your car? Then, this might be of interest to you - drink-driving crashes often involve high speed and a single vehicle (your vehicle) running off the road. Many of these crashes also result in the vehicle hitting a fixed roadside object, such as a tree or a median.

And none of these statistics apply just to car drivers. Bike riders, DUI, are five times more likely to be killed than non drinking riders.

According to the proposed amendment to the Motor Vehicles Act, DUI could see a penalty of upto Rs. 5000, a significant rise from the previous penalty of Rs. 2000. According to an article in The Deccan Herald, ‘Life term if drunk drivers cause death’, this clause could be included in the Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill. The Parliamentary Standing Committee which vetted the Bill has recommended road fatalities following DUI be treated as culpable homicide, which under the Indian Penal Code could be awarded a life term.

Yes, we hear what you are saying. ‘This is India. What does it matter what the law says?’ You might even have a point there. India has set a lower (i.e more stringent) BAC than most other countries (UK 0.08%, Australia and Norway 0.05%). It is a well established fact that it is better to set a higher (i.e. more lax) BAC which is tightly enforced than lax enforcement on lower BAC.

When a person is arrested for suspected DUI, the law states that within two hours of his/her arrest, the person be subjected to a medical examination by a registered practitioner. If this proviso is not kept, they are to be released from custody. This is if the person refuses to take the breathalyser test or even if they fail it. Lack of transport for the suspect is in itself enough to put a policeman off following up on any failed tests.

More often than not, in case of an accident, the suspect has escaped the site of the event, before emergency services make an arrival. Even if the suspect is eventually apprehended, it is often several hours after the incident, by which time the alcohol will have worked through his system, making BAC reading irrelevant.

In a February 2016 article in the Times of India reports following the infamous Salman Khan episode, the Maharashtra state government assured the bench comprising Justice Abhay Oka and Justice C V Bhadang that it had begun the process of compiling data from commissionerates about requirement of equipment, including breathalysers, for police stations. The bench had questioned what procedures were being followed for administration of breathalyser assessments, as this could easily sway convictions. It is still unclear if these guidelines have been framed.

In another surprising statistic, convictions by the Tamil Nadu police resulting in cancelled driving licenses has dipped from 1356 in 2008-2009, to 755 in 2009-2010 to 275 in 2011-2012. This is an interesting paradox as road accidents have increased from 60,409 accidents in 2008-2009 to 65,873 accidents in 2011-2012.

While there is evidence on several fronts that the police are trying to clamp down on drivers misusing alcohol, and the MVA Bill certainly appears to be taking a sterner view of DUI, the law is only as effective as the enforcers allow it to be. But beware, the laws of biology and physics will hold steady through the centuries. Still not convinced? Check this out.

Drink driving can alter lives - and it could be your own.