When the subject of driving while on the turps comes up at my local watering hole quite a few fellow greybeards immediately start pointing a finger at young drivers.Now if there's one thing northern NSW is known for it's the imbalance between age groups in the local population - with the number of older people steadily growing over the years and those in the late teens to twenties thin on the ground in towns and villages because many are moving away to get steady work .
So who exactly is responsible for the high number of drink-drivers on our North Coast roads?
Well a clue or two can be found in The Daily Examiner piece on 17th September 2009 when it reported that the Coffs-Clarence Area Command district had twice the state average of recorded driving under the influence nabs by police.
That works out as about 1 in every 75 drivers pulled over clearly testing positive for over-the-limit alcohol consumption.
But are they mostly youngies?
Nup and they're not tourists either.
Of the 49 drink-drivers mentioned in that newspaper since the very end of August 2009 up to last Monday, a whopping 33 of these drivers were between 30 and 68 years of age (half of these were middle aged and older).
They clearly trounced the young when it came to being caught with a skinful and accounted for all the high range PCAs highlighted.
Only 8 of the 49 drivers could be definitely tagged as tourists.
So the next time a mate at the bar starts mouthing off about the trouble with the young generation - tell him to pull his head in and watch how much he's knocking back himself.
Pic from Google Images
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