Unusually I am pleased with the National Party and particularly Stephen Joyce. Instead of simply greasing the loudest squeaky wheel they are going to take an evidence-based approach to lowering the current blood-alcohol limit. For two years drivers involved in crashes will be tested to see if their reading is between .5 and .8. Good idea. But what Stephen Joyce says about overseas studies hits the nail on the head;"They also tell you that if you didn't allow anyone to have any alcohol, you would save more lives, and if you actually didn't let anybody drive, it would save the lot."
The legislative balancing act between protecting lives and protecting freedom is constant. Protecting life, as counter-intuitive as it may sound, cannot top the list of priorities. If it did we would have no freedom to act or exercise our own judgement at all. All risk can never be removed but the further society attempts to move towards that unachievable goal, the less freedom individuals have.
Now if Joyce would just apply this understanding consistently he would be a very valuable and rare politician.
4 comments:
According to today's Dom Post Joyce was defeated in Cabinet by other ministers who opposed lowering the alcohol limit.
No doubt, Joyce, the wowser, will continue trying.
A sensible decision. Target the people who cause the worst of the problem.
Linda
Target the people who cause the worst of the problem.
Target - if only, if only.
Linda is right of course - gives cops, or better still, cops and the general public - the right and duty to target bad or drunk drivers with whatever firearms are around and the problem will go away pretty damn quick.
Hell, I'd love to sit in the bushes by a motorway with a radar gun & an RPG-7.
Manolo, So he doesn't even have the courage of his own convictions.
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