For a generation that has grown up with the knowledge that drink driving is a dangerous, possibly fatal move, there are still way too many young people doing it. We know alcohol and driving is a stupid combination, so why is this still a problem?

Drink driving remains the second largest behavioural factor that causes fatalities on WA roads, despite 20 years of awareness campaigns and preventative measures. In fact, while WA drivers invariably condemn drink driving, research shows that 15% drink and drive anyway.

Unfortunately, this kind of risky driving behaviour is especially common among young people, and according to studies, drink driving actually substantially increases as drivers move into their mid-20s. In WA, 29% of those killed on the road in 2016 were aged between 20 and 29.

So, what the hell is going on?

Australia, We Have A Drinking Problem

You only need to look to The Melbourne Cup to see how proudly we have tied our national identity to alcoholism. Getting well around the bevvies is an infamous part of Aussie culture and defying the social pressures to ‘get lit’ can be a struggle.

For decades, research into drink driving has cited Australia’s excessive drinking culture as a key part of the problem.

The fact that “Australia is a country where alcohol is intricately entwined in almost every leisure, and many business activities”, combined with our tendency to drive to where we want to be (and the relatively sub-par public transport options available at night) means that Aussies have a greater exposure to drink driving opportunities.

And it’s clear that our drinking problem leads to our drink driving problem.

“I think that people who end up drink driving, have, in their minds, overcome those potential costs and risks with the notion that they need to drink to be in a social situation,” says Chris Raine, CEO of Hello Sunday Morning, a charity dedicated to helping people change their relationship with alcohol. “That highlights how valuable we find [drinking] as a culture, and also how important it is that there are services available to help people.”

We Rationalise That ‘Drink Driving’ Isn’t As Bad As ‘Drunk Driving’

Some of us get on board with drink driving if we rationalise that the driver is only borderline over the limit. It’s a psychological game of compromise between the risks and the gains. Usually the potential risk of drink driving is overlooked because people just want a hassle and cost-free way home. For the record, that’s no excuse.

The ‘borderliners’ take a gamble on their safety as well as the potential of getting caught. Professor Homel, a criminologist who has studied drink driving, says “People have been playing breathalyser roulette ever since breathalyser was invented… and it’s a calculated risk really.”

Part of the problem is that young drivers often lack the experience and knowledge to understand the exact effects of their alcohol intake, which skews the risk calculations by a lot. Initiatives like DrinkWise are highlighting the hard truth, which is that “there’s no absolute safe level of alcohol consumption for competent driving. Even after just a few, your driving ability is affected.”

For Some Of Us, Risk-Taking Is A Lifestyle

On the other end of the spectrum, there are the people who drive way over the alcohol limit with absolute disregard for the potential consequences. These tend to be the same people who engage in a whole bunch of high-risk behaviours (like drugs, drag racing or speeding), and those behaviours become a core part of their social identity.

A study into drink driving culture describes how “drink-drivers considered driving as an expected rite of adulthood”, which manifests in a severe defiance of authority and reason. On top of that, these ‘extreme’ risk-takers fall into the trap of getting cocky when drunk, backing their own driving abilities with a dangerous enthusiasm. The study went on to explain, “At one level extreme drink drivers understood the potential for harm, yet harm would happen to others who did not possess superior driving skills.”

People Behave According To Gendered Norms

If we want to address our drink driving problem, we need to address toxic masculinity. The overwhelming majority of drink drivers are men. In 2016, 76% of alcohol-related fatalities on WA roads were male. And it’s a problem that spans across metropolitan and regional WA – in metro areas, alcohol fatalities were predominantly males aged 30-39, while in regional areas, alcohol fatalities were predominantly males aged 18-29.

The desire to adhere to social stereotypes of traditionally ‘masculine’ behaviour pressures men into all kinds of toxic situations, such as risk-taking and bravado: behaviours that are at the heart of drink driving.

 

We Need A Cultural Change

There are many reasons young people drink and drive – and we can’t possibly cover them all here.

But one thing is strikingly clear: to have a real impact on the numbers of people drink driving, our culture needs to change – and that’s not up to one individual or a government policy. It’s up to all of us.

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(Feature image: The O.C/Warner Bros. Television)

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To find out more about the dangers of drink driving, pay a visit to WA’s Road Safety Commission here.