The headline, Booze, drugs kill more drivers, is not news to anyone following trends. The number of drug and alcohol related road deaths is increasing. So I read this story with no other purpose than finding the predictable, almost guaranteed, response from a bureaucrat. I wasn't disappointed. Here it is;
"Were it not for the significant investment in enforcement and education targeting drink-driving, the figures would be much worse," he said.
Of course the above statement can never be proved or disproved. So once set in motion 'education' programmes that spend taxpayer money are almost impossible to get rid of. There are too many interested parties.
It's similar to the anti-family violence campaign. Violence is going up but that's good. The campaign is working. More people are reporting violence. If violence starts going down, then that's good. The campaign is working.
In fact I can think of no reason a bureaucrat might offer as to why any programme should be discontinued. Hence the machinery of the state just hammers on ...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Yup, that's the illusional democratic, bureaucratic, political cycle. They keep eachother in tact, each one serves the others.
JohNZ
Spot on, Lindsay. There's no such thing as zero-based budgeting in the public service - just hold on to what you already have, and add new "programmes", "capacity" and "policy analysis". Salaries set, by-and-large, not on strategic accomplishments but on the size of individual empires - staff numbers and operating expenditure.
No reviewable business cases requiring measurable accountability, of course (with resignation a consequence of failure!) - just self-sustaining fiscal profigacy at the expense of the taxpayer.
Perhaps as part of the EFA - all education campaigns should simply be banned
we don't need the state telling us what do to, what to eat, what to drink, where to smoke, how to bring up our kids, how to drive, not to drink and fry!!!
make it all illegal. Ignorance of the law is no excuse: it is each person's responsibility look after themselves and know what is and is not legal. If a law cannot be passed without requiring an "education campaign" (i.e. taxpayer-funded advertising for the Labout party) then it should be unconstitutional to pass such a law, and the law should be thrown out by the courts.
But the government has absolutely no role in being on TV. ever.
Post a Comment