Ingrid Tiriana: Time to get tougher on drink drivers

There's been debate in the past couple of weeks about whether drink-drivers should be "named and shamed" in the media.

Police in some places, including Rotorua, have been supplying this information but have stopped, citing privacy concerns.

Some people say that's nonsense, that "naming and shaming" is a way to tackle our country's disgraceful incidence of repeat drink-driving. Whether it actually reduces this dangerous behaviour is debatable. The number of people being named and shamed every month certainly didn't appear to be getting any smaller.

There's no doubt people didn't like having their names published but whether it actually stopped others from drinking and driving is something we will likely never know unless proper research is done.

Being outed in a newspaper would be a huge punishment for the likes of first offenders who are perhaps trying to keep their indiscretion from whanau, friends and employers and are unlikely to do it again. However repeat offenders - and there seems to be plenty of them - clearly don't care about others so it's likely to be more embarrassing for their families than for them.

It could be argued the sentences dealt to repeat drink-drivers are less than satisfactory from a public viewpoint and this may be where a solution lies.

It's not uncommon for people to clock up multiple offences before they even get close to jail time. How about third strike and you're behind bars? Sounds reasonable to me.

These people certainly aren't being reasonable and if they can't help themselves, some time in jail before it becomes a habit they can no longer break might give them the push they need to change their ways. At the very least, it will have them off the road and out of our way for a time and if they re-offend after being released, it should be straight back to jail. It could be the only way to keep some of these menaces off our roads.

As for their disqualification periods, there should be no discretion for judges to allow these offenders to serve that time while they're in jail, it should start the day they are released, otherwise it is meaningless.

Jails are for people who are putting our communities at risk. Isn't that what repeat drink-drivers who refuse to do the right thing are - a risk?

Why does New Zealand pussyfoot around these issues? These people are potential killers; let's not give them any more chances than we absolutely have to before we finally decide to punish them properly. It's a sad fact but some people can't or won't be helped.

I guess some people who regularly drink and drive think they are fine drivers after a few drinks. It's like people who say they can still function fine after smoking cannabis - how would they, in their drug-altered state, know that? They don't - just like drink-drivers wouldn't have a clue how well or not they are driving when they're over the limit.

It is easy to not drink and drive - just don't do it. It really is that simple. If you get into the habit of just not taking the risk even after a couple of drinks, you won't take the risk when you've had more than one too many either.

It is very frustrating following ongoing debate about drink-driving when it seems like nothing is being done to bring about any real change that might actually have an impact. It's time to toughen up, to make life difficult for people who simply can't help themselves and constantly put everyone in our community at risk.

Ingrid Tiriana is a freelance writer based in Rotorua.