New campaign to prevent drink driving deaths in country regions

5/6/01
The Minister with Responsibility for Road Safety, Michelle Roberts, has applauded the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Police, who have combined with Roadwise and members of Kalgoorlie's local Liquor Accord in an initiative to reward motorists who register a blood alcohol level of 0.00 at RBT stops throughout the city in June and July.
Drivers who register 0.00 will go into a fortnightly draw of dinner vouchers from Liquor Accord members.
Mrs Roberts said the initiative was an excellent 'grass roots' campaign.
"Using positive reinforcement in this way makes people realise that not drinking and driving is a responsible and community-minded thing to do," she said.
"It's great to see local groups such as Kalgoorlie Roadwise and the Liquor Accord joining forces with the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Police to use a creative method to combat something that concerns the whole community, not just in the Goldfields but across Western Australia."
In Kalgoorlie for tomorrow's meeting of State Cabinet, Mrs Roberts said road death statistics for the past decade revealed a horrifying picture in relation to the role played by alcohol in fatal road crashes in regional areas of WA.
"It's a disturbing fact that alcohol is involved in a high proportion of road fatalities in regional WA," she said.
"In regions such as the Kimberley and the Mid-West, alcohol was a factor in more than half the number of fatal road crashes.
"In the Goldfields alcohol was present in 39 per cent of all fatal crashes - still higher than the State average of 35 per cent.
"These figures reinforce the need for a joint approach in the fight against drink-driving.
"There is a growing community awareness of the harm caused by drink driving - and the high chance of detection - so initiatives like that being undertaken in Kalgoorlie make people think carefully about the consequences of what they're doing."
Analysis of roads crash statistics in WA from 1990 to 1999 shows that alcohol was present in a high number of fatal crashes especially in regional areas. The percentage for each region is outlined in the following table.