I see articles like this one quite often…
It details a recent drink-driving operation in my area by police. According to the article:
Operation Lock-Down ran over five weekends recently, with 8834 vehicles stopped and their drivers breath-tested at 16 checkpoints.
More than 570 drivers were found to have drunk alcohol before driving, and 69 tested positive for excess breath alcohol.
Of these, 22 drivers chose to have blood tests to determine whether they need to go to court.
Seven of the drinking drivers detected were teenagers.
So, the number here are, 8834 drivers stopped, 570 had consumed alcohol, 69 over the limit, 22 choosing blood tests and 7 were ‘teenagers’
No, it’s not clear on which number the seven applies to, whether it’s the 570 who had been drinking, or the 69 over the limit – either way it doesn’t detail any other age group.
So at worst about 10% of drivers driving with excess blood alcohol levels were under 20. Why are they singled out?
There seems to be the perception that young drivers are the worst drink drivers (certainly that’s generally been the group portrayed in advertising, and singled out in articles like this) – but that’s not what I’ve come to believe. I think that older generations are more likely to drive when they’ve been drinking, specifically males. Whereas the younger generations have been on the receiving end of strong anti-drink-driving ad campaigns since before they could drink or drive.
I’m sure there must be some sort of statistics available, but I can’t find any? Of those caught drunk driving, what are the age group breakdowns?
