Could stigmatising public transport cause an increase in drink driving?

[Luke McDonnell]

One thing that passed my mind is that does anyone think that stigmatising use of rail (and other forms of public transport) for a longer period of time could encourage more drink driving hence resulting in another public safety risk?

I would think this could well be the case after the pubs open, but maybe as now we can meet small grips of friends and family for barbeques etc could it result in a situation where more are tempted to drive after having a few beers etc rather than use the train or bus and have to wear a mask or feeling stigmatised about using it or even through the fear of infection?

I hope it won't be the case at Christmas but do you think if we had similar issues coinciding with Christmas drink driving could be a bigger issue? I suppose people could use taxis and use designated drivers but I supposed it could be showing a potential road safety issue of discouraging (non work related) public transport use

Luke

 

[Skymonster]

It’s not just drink driving... Rail travel is intrinsically safer and causes fewer deaths than car travel, therefore any long term migration to cars puts more lives at risk. It’s yet another ramifications of the virus that doesn’t seem to have been taken into account in official decision making.

 

[Huntergreed]

Our roads are going to become far more crammed as a result of the rail industry practically (and in some cases literally) telling people to **** off and find another way.

Drink driving will increase I imagine (the 'pint' after work before heading home, normally on a train but not anymore) as well as a spike in RTA's. I really think the railways have done more damage than good here with their rather hostile attitude.

Another risk that the government are completely blinded to in their misguided quest to get the R rate down to 0.0000001 before it's safe to open the front door again.

 

[yorksrob]

One thing that passed my mind is that does anyone think that stigmatising use of rail (and other forms of public transport) for a longer period of time could encourage more drink driving hence resulting in another public safety risk?

Undoubtedly yes.

 

[alex397]

I can see there being an increase in drink driving. Its going to take a very long time to encourage all previous bus and train users to return to using public transport, especially with a government which seems very pro-car and rather indifferent to public transport.

 

[Mikey C]

A good question. I suspect that while the vast majority of people won't "go over the limit", more people than usual, if driving to the seaside/countryside etc will be tempted to "drink up to the legal limit"

 

[Bletchleyite]

A good question. I suspect that while the vast majority of people won't "go over the limit", more people than usual, if driving to the seaside/countryside etc will be tempted to "drink up to the legal limit"

Perhaps a temporary[1] "zero limit"[2] should be imposed until public transport and taxis are widely available? As well as allowing random checks, which the Police are not presently allowed to do, they have to have suspicion?

FWIW I reckon the other thing that might cause it to increase is being able to visit people for a party but not stay over if you've had a bit much.

[1] If it causes a big drop in deaths due to drink driving, perhaps then make it permanent.
[2] Not actually zero, because otherwise you trip people up who've used mouthwash or had a bit of red wine in their spag bol, but you can use a figure of 10 whatever-it-is instead of 80, which misses incidental cases but catches any realistic consumption of alcoholic beverages at all.

 

[Andyh82]

A lot of what-ifs in this thread

Firstly pubs are not open and secondly many people are working from home, which means the roads are not congested and people can’t go for an after work pint even if pubs were open.

Once those two things get back to normal, it is quite likely the rail network will get back to normal as well.

 

[railfan99]

I'm Australian so my perspective may be different as we've "only" had 102 deaths from coronavirus thus far, out of a population of 25 million, but winter has started here.

Given that in my country 1500 to 3000 die of winter 'flu' each year, so far the threat seems to have been exaggerated, although medicos suggest that this novel virus is far more dangerous than others, and of course as with the common cold, there's as yet no vaccine.

That said, criticising public transport is silly when one can change seats every so often to minimise risk of staying with the same other passengers. There's insufficient space in most cars and trucks to 'socially distance.'

More will be killed and injured on UK roads (like my country) if some decline to use public transport, so in mitigating one small risk for people aged under 70 (COVID-19), we're creating what could be a bigger risk (road travel).

 

[Megafuss]

If Pubs open on 4th July and guidance regarding using public transport is not changed at the same time, then the risk of drunk driving will increase.

 

[Huntergreed]

If Pubs open on 4th July and guidance regarding using public transport is not changed at the same time, then the risk of drunk driving will increase.

If by this point the public transport guidance and messaging hasn’t changed, we’re in a very bad position indeed from an economic perspective and we would be literally discriminating between those who own a car and those who don’t.

 

[Megafuss]

If by this point the public transport guidance and messaging hasn’t changed, we’re in a very bad position indeed from an economic perspective and we would be literally discriminating between those who own a car and those who don’t.

To be honest, we are at that stage now with non essential shops opening tomorrow and with no way to get there if you don't have a car or it's too far to walk/bike (if you go by the guidance that is)

 

[yorksrob]

To be honest, we are at that stage now with non essential shops opening tomorrow and with no way to get there if you don't have a car or it's too far to walk/bike (if you go by the guidance that is)

We'll have to read the guidance in detail. As with exercising with others, it might be the case that the guidance is substantially more generous than transport operators are letting on.