ISRAEL Zero-Tolerance To Drunk Driving: Or Yarok’s Recommendations

Zero-Tolerance Marshal-Laws End Up Doing More Harm Than Good

I found a news article (given down below) in “The Jerusalem Post” reporting about the Or Yarok’s “White Paper”, which suggests stringent Zero-Tolerance measures toward the drunk drivers.

As always, these DUI preventative recommendations entire target is to severely punish the alcohol vulnerable gullible DUI offenders so to make them a scapegoat example deterrent for others who may dare!

On the other hand these recommendations not even mention about the hidden main culprits of the DUI. They seems to not even aware that it is the alcohol industry and the authorities who license those high alcohol content drinks, which causes almost all those alcohol(ism) problems including the drunk driving incidents accidents.

Or Yarok’s Zero tolerance recommendations to prevent the drunk driving is like proposing marshal laws to prevent widespread social unrest or to establish military dictatorship to bring in law-and-order! By which one may succeed in keeping control over the people to an certain extent. However such stringent anti-liberal, anti-democratic measures has It own downfall. It would ultimately degenerate into bureaucratic red-tape hassles, public fear of being wrongly accused when error margin so thin, corruption, fraud, miscarriage of justice that finally end up doing more harm to the society than doing any good than window dressing!

The right thing to do is to find out the root-cause of this “excessive” alcohol consumption problem “drunkenness” in those people! The people’s genuine needs and the vulnerability that leads them into this DUI problem. Instead of bringing in hundreds of such anti-democratic anti-liberal legislations for severely punishing the alcohol vulnerable gullible individuals sentencing them for long years of its terrible imprisonment the authorities should first mainly try to find out its root-cause and to remove it so most of the problems would go away along with it.

To know more on this subject matter read the following most important papers in my blog WebPages:
http://alcohol-research-misconduct.blogspot.com/2007/10/alcohol-research-misconduct-cause-drunk.html
http://alcohol-research-misconduct.blogspot.com/2007/10/standard-alcohol-drinks-sads-cause.html
http://alcohol-research-misconduct.blogspot.com/2007/10/standard-alcohol-drinks-sads-licensing.html
http://alcohol-research-misconduct.blogspot.com/2007/10/alcohol-prohibition-mission-failure.html
http://alcohol-research-misconduct.blogspot.com/2007/10/alcoholics-should-ask-compensation.html
http://alcohol-research-misconduct.blogspot.com/2007/10/drunk-driving-dui-facts-hidden-from.html
http://alcohol-research-misconduct.blogspot.com/2007/10/drunk-drivers-have-chance-to-fight-back.html
http://alcohol-research-misconduct.blogspot.com/2007/10/alcohol-drinking-is-it-matter-of-choice.html
http://alcohol-research-misconduct.blogspot.com/2007/10/drunk-drivers-alcohol-vulnerable.html
http://alcohol-research-misconduct.blogspot.com/2007/10/why-driving-with-high-bac-is-wrong.html

PS. Here I copy its original report in Jerusalem Post.

Oct 15, 2007 22:09 Updated Oct 15, 2007 22:54
Or Yarok calls for tough action on drunk driving

Eighty-five percent of Israelis believe the law should show zero tolerance toward drivers under 21 who have any alcohol in their blood, according to a survey released Monday by the Or Yarok road safety organization.

The survey of attitudes toward drunk driving supplements Or Yarok's "White Paper," a list of recommendations aimed at reducing the phenomenon.

At least 15% of traffic accidents in Israel are caused by drivers under the influence of alcohol, according to the Danek Gertner Institute. But that number only includes people involved in collisions. The real figure is higher, said Or Yarok spokesman Aharon Latitot.

The 15-page White Paper is addressed to the Transportation Ministry's National Road Safety Authority and includes recommendations based on measures used in countries that have successfully lowered drunk driving, such as Sweden, Australia and The Netherlands.

Or Yarok said the authority should take the lead and create a comprehensive, long-term plan to battle drunk driving.

The authority should also step up its collection of data from traffic accidents that involve alcohol, create a comprehensive database of the information and make it public, Or Yarok said.

The White Paper calls for tighter laws on drunk driving, including swifter punishment for lawbreakers. According to the recommendations, the government should:

· Make it illegal to have any alcohol in your bloodstream for: drivers under 21; public transportation drivers, heavy truck drivers and people who've been convicted of a drunk driving offence.

· Ensure that breathalyzer results can be admitted as evidence in court.

· Anchor the maximum legal blood alcohol content for drivers, 0.05%, in law rather than in regulation, as is currently the case.

· Have the Israel Police increase random alcohol checks and ensure that 33% of drivers are tested each year

· Publicize these efforts in an intensive campaign and warn drivers that drunk driving laws will be fully enforced, which includes towing the cars of violators and suspending their drivers' licenses.

"Surprisingly, more people are deterred [from drunk driving] by the chance of being caught than by the odds of being injured in an accident," said Latitot. "The best solution to the problem is to make sure that nobody will think about sitting behind the wheel after drinking alcohol."

The public awareness campaign should also explain the dangers of driving under the influence and suggest ways that people can avoid it, such as the use of a designated [sober] driver or public transportation.

"We want to make it socially unacceptable to drink and drive," said Or Yarok in the press release announcing the White Paper and accompanying survey of 515 people.

The survey found that 75% of Israelis don't respect people who drink and drive; 2% said they did respect such drivers.
"Things have begun to change in the last year thanks to increasing public awareness," Latitot said. "The social acceptance of drunk driving is much lower than one would have thought."