Horse 944 - The Road Tolls for Thee?

http://editorial.countrycars.com.au/Editorial/ArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleId=58963
The number of people sentenced for high and mid-range drink driving in NSW local courts has fallen, but they cop harsher penalties, a study shows.
Since 2002, the proportion of drivers sentenced for high range prescribed concentration of alcohol (PCA) dropped 20 per cent, while mid-range PCA dropped seven per cent, the Judicial Commission of NSW study found.

This might be something to think about over this holiday period. Whilst the above article in isolation might sound like a good thing, it's also interesing to note that especially over the past 9 months in particular (though not of recent weeks) the price of petrol rose to the point where people were forced by higher prices out of their cars; onto public transport and generally doing fewer kilometers in their cars generally.

Call me a cynic if you will, but I would have thought that it logically follows that if the total number of miles driven in motor cars by the general population falls then there should be a proportionate drop in the number of offences that those drivers cause. Less Miles = Less Driving offences?

In 2007, 445 people died on the roads in NSW which was the lowest since 1945. Does it follow that with increases in car safety coupled with a reduction in passenger trafic that this can be anything other than what was recorded in the statistics?

I bet for instance that when the price of petrol hit $1.50/L during the year, that the road toll fell even further and now that we're looking at $1.10/L that it will be on the increase again. I also wonder if the credit crunch, economic crisis and general feeling of monetary woe will have had anything to do with the figures? Can people afford to buy alcohol and run their cars at the same time? Now there's an interesting thing I'd like to see a survey on.

Tony Blair's Imaginary Lunch:

Christmas Cake!