TELEVISION campaigns against drinking and driving should be made even
more graphic and forceful, according to a senior Strathclyde Police
traffic officer who believes that a successful Spanish ''mini series''
could form the basis of a new initiative.
Superintendent Alistair McLuckie expressed the personal view that
''good taste'' limits could be inhibiting further progress against
offending drivers who are habitual offenders.
Extolling the virtues of the sometimes distressing Spanish video,
shown at a recent London road safety conference, Mr McLuckie said: ''I
have never known a piece of safety propaganda make such an impression on
veteran officers. It is a shame it cannot receive UK exposure. We appear
to have a shock threshold beyond which the authorities will not pass.''
The Spanish footage uses a combination of actors and actual victims
and covers a period of three to four years covering accidents,
hospitalisation, funerals, and the longer-term aftermaths of personal
tragedies.
In one particularly harrowing scene, filmed using actors, a crippled
father and his surviving son vividly express their enduring resentment,
distress, and bewilderment at the loss of their wife and mother several
years after a drink-related crash.
Crash victims, including paraplegic victims, provided harrowing
accounts of experiences during and after accidents, while accident
aftermaths were filmed and those involved traced.
Superintendent McLuckie reasoned: ''As a professional who has dealt
with this blight, I believe there is a long way to go before reaching
limits of tolerance about the strength or force of the message. I would
have no compunction, with obvious domestic changes, about this type of
approach being used.''
Mr McLuckie said the claimed success of the Spanish campaign in a
country with one of Europe's worst records for road deaths and
drink-driving casualties underlined its potential value in a receptive
British environment.
He admitted that an impression had been made on UK public attitudes to
drinking and driving, but added: ''There is no point in turning corners
if you do not finish the job. The habitual recidivist has to be stopped.
Even if one of them is taken off the road, then it is worth the expense.
Peer group and family pressure are strong influences.''
A recent summer campaign against drinking and driving included
locating wrecked vehicles at motorway service areas with the stark
message that their former occupants are now dead.
Meanwhile, 10 deaths in Strathclyde during the month ended at midnight
on Sunday illustrated a deteriorating accident record in Scotland's
largest region, statistics which are dismaying and mystifying to the
police.
After an enouraging opening six months the improvement was reversed
last month with 14 accidents claiming 15 lives, against nine crashes
killing nine people last July. As a result Strathclyde's toll for the
year to date now stands at 72 deaths against 78 during the same period
last year, an improvement of only 3%.
Force analysts are hoping that last September, when 20 people died on
the region's roads, was unrepresentative of a normally low accident rate
during that month.
Superintendent McLuckie said: ''To be honest, we are mystified by the
figures. It cannot be put down to speed, weather, drink or anything
enforceable, just a tragic, random series of accidents with depressing
variety of causes and effects.''
During the month ended at midnight on Sunday, The Herald's fatal
accident audit recorded 27 deaths across Scotland's eight police traffic
areas.
....................Fatal.......No..of
................accidents.......deaths
Strathclyde.............8...........10
Tayside.................2............2
Northern................3............3
Central.................1............1
Fife....................1............1
Dumfries & Galloway.....2............3
Lothian & Borders.......4............4
Grampian................3............3
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