The Solution of Drunk Driving
Ⅰ. Introduction
Drunk driving has been considered as a serious crime for many countries because it causes heavy casualties and has an enormous impact on victims’ families, and all pedestrians. You may frequently see drunk driving accidents appearing in the breaking news, which shows that drunk driving still occurs every day and everywhere, even though people are always taught not to drive after drinking. In fact, although people who can drink a lot think they are able to drive carefully after drinking, alcohol affects their ability to react appropriately while driving. Eventually, drunk drivers not only put themselves but also others’ lives in danger. As a result, the government should adopt efficient policies to prevent drunk driving and protect people’s life and property.
Ⅱ. Problem
Dai, Teng, Bai, Shen and Xuan (2010) state that Driving Under the Influence (DUI) of alcohol, or so-called drunk driving, is the primary reason for traffic accidents throughout the entire world. Taiwan is no exception. According to the statistic provided by the Ministry of the Interior, R.O.C, there are more than one hundred thousand cases of drunk driving every year from 2014 to 2018, which causes traffic chaos and the tragedies of death. In the drunk driving survey we conducted (Figure 1), 32.9% of people and their friends and relatives have ever driven after drinking alcohol, which is extremely high because it is illegal and dangerous. Besides, when walking on the streets or driving a car, we can always see numerous slogans provided by the government for preventing drunk driving such as drive after drinking greedily, the sorrow will come［開車貪杯，樂極生悲］and if you drive after drinking, I will marry someone else［你若酒駕，我就改嫁］. However, these slogans seem not to work well because there are always drunk driving occurring and contributing to casualties.
Figure 1. The survey result of the drunk driving happening in participants’ life
Why does drunk driving happen all the time and even get more and more serious in Taiwan? Wu (2019), serving as a public prosecutor for years, points that the causes of drunk driving are related to the habit of drinking, the awareness of obeying the laws, the factor of geography, and the fluke mind. Take fluke mind for example, those who commit drunk driving actually know the laws well. But they still think it is just one time, and it will be alright. Then, tragedy always happens in that way. Moreover, due to the Taiwanese culture, everyone drinks when partaking in a wedding party or a gathering. Yet, they still drive by themselves to save some money from hailing a taxi home. These examples show that some people do not deem drunk driving a crime or a hazardous action. Even so, almost all the participants in the survey (Figure2) consider drunk driving a bad behavior. 52.9% of participants agree that the current prevention of drunk driving in Taiwan needs to be reinforced. Therefore, it expressed that raising public awareness and strengthening prevention is necessary.
Figure 2. The survey result of how participants think about the prevention of drunk driving in Taiwan
Ⅲ. Evaluation of alternative solution 1
One of the solutions is to strengthen the Alcohol-Impaired Driving Laws. With laws, those who drive after drinking alcohol will be fined and they will be confronted with punishments such as license suspension and incarceration. Actually, strengthening laws means strengthening the punishments. In Taiwan, the Alcohol-Impaired Driving Laws have become stricter than before due to the rising awareness of prevention of drunk driving. Based on Deterrent Theories, a concept which can be defined as the use of threats and severe punishments to convince someone to avoid doing something, legislators believe strict laws can effectively intimidate potential drunk drivers. However, even though heavier punishments have been implemented, the number of accidents that cause casualties still increases recently (Table 1). Furthermore, the death toll is also rising compared to a few years ago. According to Wang (2019), the preventions and disseminations are more important than severe punishments. The main reason why people drive after drinking alcohol is the fluke mentality, which means people think that they won’t be influenced by alcohol or busted by police, but not the disregard for punishments. Therefore, strengthening the Alcohol-Impaired Driving Laws can just scratch the surface rather than solve the real problem.
Table 1.
Taiwan’s Drunk Driving Fatalities ( adapted from National Police Agency, Ministry of the Interior, 2021)
Ⅳ. Evaluation of alternative solution 2
Another solution is providing police checkpoints or sobriety checkpoints, which can help the Alcohol-Impaired Driving Laws to work well and to prevent people from drunk driving. Police can briefly stop vehicles at specific, highly visible locations to check drivers for measuring they are sober. According to the Police Power Exercise Act, when people encounter the checkpoints, police will check the ID card and the driver’s license, measure that the driver is legal or not, and do the sobriety test. However, it seems that setting the checkpoints is inefficient because the manpower of the police is limited. Bowman and Stemler (2005) point that the deterrence effectiveness of sobriety checkpoints depends on increasing the frequency and number. According to the data provided by Legislative Yuan, the ideal police number in New Taipei City should be 11,068, while in fact there are only 7,502, let alone the remote areas. Moreover, the drunk driving survey shows that only 18.6% of participants often encounter police checkpoints. That is, police checkpoints seem not common in Taiwan. Thus, there must be some drivers unchecked and some unknown cases happening. The problem of police checkpoints is not its function but its inefficiency because most participants of the survey still regard it as positive for reducing the cases of drunk driving (Figure 4). Consequently, the shortage of police needs to be solved so that the police checkpoints can work well.
Figure 4. The survey result of how frequently the participants encounter checkpoints
Ⅴ. Evaluation of alternative solution 3
The last solution is to install ignition interlocks, a device that can test the BAC (blood alcohol content) to prevent drunk driving. Drivers have to pass the sobriety test, which is a test that determine if a person suspected of impaired driving is intoxicated with alcohol or other drugs so that they can drive. If one fails the test, the vehicle will not be ignited, neither will the engine. According to the Traffic injury Research Foundation (2008), many advanced countries, such as the United States, Belgium, France, and Germany, have made it mandatory to install Ignition Interlocks for those who are recidivists of drunk driving and proved Ignition Interlocks are effective in reducing occurrence of drunk driving. In Taiwan, Ignition Interlocks are included as a preventive measure for recidivists of drunk driving after the Amendment to Act Governing the Punishment of Violation of Road Traffic Regulations in 2019. Also, the research of the Department of Statistics of The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (2019) indicated that the recidivism rate, which means the rate of those who continue to commit crimes even after having been punished, was 38.10% from 2014 to 2018 (Table 2) and showed recidivism was one of the most crucial problems. However, based on the report of Huang(2021), LIN,TE-FU, a member of Legislative Yuan in Taiwan, said that among the 911 recidivists who should install the Ignition Interlocks, only 35 of them have installed the Ignition Interlocks. As a result, the government should set schemes to help the policy of installing Ignition Interlocks to work well, which can truly and effectively decrease the incidence of drunk driving.
Table 2.
The recidivism rate of drunk driving during 2014 to 2018 (adapted from Department of Statistics of The Ministry of Transportation and Communications,2019)
Ⅵ. Recommendation
The contents above offer three possible solutions, strengthening the Alcohol-Impaired Driving Laws, providing more police checkpoints, and installing the Ignition Interlocks. All of them have pros and cons, but the third one seems to be the most feasible. According to the survey, 62.9% of participants consider Ignition Interlocks the best solution (Figure 6). Compared to other solutions, Alcohol-Impaired Driving Laws adopted in Taiwan seem not to work well even though the government has raised the fines. Police checkpoints, as we say, are hard to cover all the area and thus have little influence on drunk driving. Among all, ignition interlocks is the most effective and efficient way to solve the problems caused by drunk driving because people cannot drive if they fail to pass the sobriety test. Still, only installing the Ignition Interlocks is not enough because it needs to integrate with the others. For instance, the Alcohol-Impaired Driving Laws should include the regulation to force recidivists to install Ignition Interlocks. When recidivists encounter a police checkpoint, they have to prove that they have installed it so that they will not be fined or punished again. Therefore, Ignition Interlocks is extremely vital for preventing drunk driving.
Figure 6. The survey result of what participants think is the best solution
Ⅶ. Conclusion
In conclusion, although Alcohol-Impaired Driving Laws and police checkpoints are not the best solution overall, they are still crucial for preventing DUI from happening. However, with Ignition Interlocks, we can reduce the number of drunk driving more effectively. In addition to finding feasible solutions, it is also important to reinforce self-regulation to avoid drunk driving. When each person truly realizes the harm resulting from DUI, drunk driving can be easily prevented. In the long run, the government should start from education to enhance public awareness and inner quality. Simultaneously, keep promoting the consequences of drunk driving in a much more effective way to let all the people understand and the punishments they will receive when committing drunk driving.
References
Bowman, J. F., & Stemler, J. (2005). Sobriety checkpoints: Doing more checkpoints with LESS. Police Chief, 72(7), 20.
Dai, J., Teng, J., Bai, X., Shen, Z., & Xuan, D. (2010, March). Mobile phone based drunk driving detection. In 2010 4th International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare (pp. 1-8). IEEE.
Huang,Kuo-Lun. (2021, march 5). 藍委質疑酒精鎖成效不好 林佳龍：研議修法. Central News Agency. retrieved from:https://www.cna.com.tw/news/aipl/202103050209.aspx
Traffic Injury Research Foundation (2008). Worldwide Brewing Alliance drinking and driving report 8th edition recent trends and programmers.
Wang,Po-Chi. (2019). 亂世用重典, 行不行? 刑不刑?─ 對酒駕防治策略的另類思考 .Criminal policies and crime prevention Journal, (21), 78-79.
Wu Xin Ying, (18 Feb 2019), 酒駕等於殺人？問題不在「擬制故意」，而在背後原因 Retrieved from https://opinion.udn.com/opinion/story/12626/3650563
