A special investigation by The Standard has revealed disturbing statistics of drink and drug driving charges across the south-west.
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The data showed that in the 2015-16 financial year there were on average 19 drink or drug drivers were nabbed each month on the region’s roads.
While their numbers are down this financial year with an average of 12 drink and drug drivers caught each month, Warrnambool Police Inspector Paul Marshall said a small cohort of offenders continue to endanger lives.
“There is a small minority who flout the law and it’s extremely frustrating,” he said.
Inspector Marshall said police will respond by doing about 120,000 random breath tests across the region before the end of next June.
“We make no apologies for that,” he said.
Police nabbed 148 drug drivers across the south-west in the 2015-16 financial year with 44 picked up in Hamilton, 32 in Warrnambool and 24 in Portland.
In the 2015-16 financial year there were five drivers in Warrnambool caught with a blood alcohol level of .14 and four with a reading of .13.
In the past financial year there were 26 drug drivers picked up in Warrnambool, 18 in Portland, 16 in Hamilton, eight in Camperdown and six in Dartmoor.
There were four drivers caught in Warrnambool with a blood alcohol level of more than .12.
There were 16 drivers in Warrnambool, nine in Hamilton and eight in Portland detected with blood alcohol levels of more than .07.
All eyes on stupid drivers
WARRNAMBOOL police will conduct 120,000 breath tests for this financial year in a concerted effort to stop trauma on south-west roads.
Police inspector Paul Marshall said there were known recidivist offenders within the community who police were focused.
“We are targeting the the offending that is known to cause road trauma,” he said.
“And if you look at our road trauma, our road trauma is down. We’re targeting the right people and the right time with the right equipment.
“The intelligence gathered is really good.”
Inspector Marshall used the example of a young drink driver who crashed her car at 150km/h while taking a Snapchat video.
On August 21 Tahlyshia Potts was driving on the Warrnambool-Caramut Road in a new Mazda work car near Winslow. Police said she failed to negotiate a bend, lost control and through a road sign, into trees and collided with a power pole.
The road was wet and the car flipped onto its side. She later recorded an alcohol reading of .164.
Inspector Marshall said it was an example of deliberate and considered act. “This wasn’t one drink over,” he said. “If you know you’re going to go out and have a drink then you shouldn’t have a car with you. If you do take a car and decide to drink then organise a taxi home.
“She was very lucky to survive it. At around .02 you are becoming impaired. And one drink raises that level of impairment.
“Drink driving affects everyone. If you’re an office worker or a sportsperson. You will get done and it wrecks lives.”
Inspector Marshall said the large number of planned breath tests would also go someway in preventing drink drivers taking to the road.
He said research showed being pulled over and breath tested influenced driver behaviour.
“If you get pulled over you go out and tell everyone,” he said.
Inspector Marshall said the increased use of ice or methamphetamine had meant increased detection of drug affected drivers.
“It’s a small cohort but it has devastating consequences,” he said.
In the past financial year there were 16 drivers caught in Warrnambool with a blood alcohol level of .07, there were nine picked up in Hamilton and eight in Portland.
There were eight drivers in Warrnambool and Portland caught with a blood alcohol level of .05. In the 2015-16 financial year there were five people in Hamilton caught with a blood alcohol reading of .11 and three in Warrnambool.
In the same period there were 11 drivers in Warrnambool caught with a blood alcohol level with.07 and six in Camperdown. The police data did not show any drink drivers were caught in Casterton, Cavendish, Dartmoor, Dunkeld, Heywood, Penshurst, Cobden, Skipton and Terang for the 2015-16 year.
Mortlake, Port Campbell and Port Fairy data was omitted to protect privacy.
Volunteers live with the road trauma
WARRNAMBOOL SES unit officer Adam Jones says when called to attend to a crash he is filled with a “sickly” feeling of anticipation.
“(It’s) not only what we might be confronted with, but who might be involved,” he said.
Mr Jones has volunteered with the organisation for 17 years and in that time has been to 200 road crashes involving serious injuries, people trapped and deaths.
He said he’d responded to many incidents involving people he knew.
“Warrnambool is a reasonably tight knit community,” he said.
“Many of my family and friends live here. It is almost inevitable. No one wants to attend any road crash, let alone a fatality.
“When called to a crash there is always a sickly anticipation while responding. Not only what we might be confronted with but who might be involved.”
Mr Jones said when driving along certain roads he sometimes reflected on an incident that may have taken place at that location.
He said he still remembered the first incident he attended where a person was trapped in a vehicle and survived and the second incident which was a double fatality.
“Memories are always there and thoughts of ‘if only’ fly around inside your head,” he said.
“If only the driver slowed to the conditions or if only they had someone to stop them from getting in the car when drunk there could have been a completely different outcome.”
Mr Jones praised the work of SES volunteers who he said were exceptionally dedicated, well trained and prepared to respond to road crash incidents.
“VICSES has a dedicated peer support team made of both staff and volunteers,” he said. “These teams are available all hours to attend de-brief sessions or arrange individual counselling for those requiring further support.”
Alcohol still causes pain
THE region’s peak alcohol and drug support service says alcohol continues to be the drug which causes the most harm within the community.
Western Region Drug Alcohol Centre (WRAD) director Geoff Soma said alcohol was the number one problem for people with substance abuse issues.
“Alcohol is the most problematic,” he said.
“It’s still number one.”
Mr Soma said it was crucial that although alcohol was legal people shouldn’t ignore its impacts.
“Where there’s increased frequency it can result in dependency and there’s the impact on the major organs such as the liver, heart and brain,” he said.
“Don’t underestimate the impact of alcohol.”
The recently released WRAD annual report showed that for people who had a problem with two or more substances the primary substance used was alcohol and the secondary substance was amphetamines.
Mr Soma said the data showed the use of amphetamines had overtaken the use of cannabis in terms of using a second substance.
“Generally 70 per cent of our clients use other substances,” he said.
He said people with an alcohol addiction and who also had a dependence on drugs were more difficult to treat. “Especially if they’re using a combination of alcohol and prescription medication,” he said. According to the report, 41 per cent of clients were female and 59 per cent were male.
Some 35 per cent of clients were aged between 18 to 29, 39 per cent were aged between 30 to 40 and 20 per cent were aged between 46 to 60. The report showed 50 per cent of clients lived with family and 24 per cent were lived alone.
Thirteen per cent of WRAD clients were employed and 71 per cent were unemployed. Mr Soma said while the use of cannabis had dropped the use of methamphetamine had continued to impact on clients.
He said the reasons behind substance abuse were obviously complex and multi-faceted. “I always say you might have five members of a family all raised the same and one uses drugs,” he said.
“Giving up drugs is only a small part of the treatment.
“There are often mental health issues. There’s usually psychological and emotional issues, low self-esteem, they might have left school early, they might not have a job... homelessness is also an issue.”
Mr Soma said the report also highlighted the work being done to secure a residential rehabilitation facility to service the region.
“I’ve been humbled by the whole experience,” he said.
“From the amount of people who have supported it, to pro-bono support, to the community spirit,” he said.
“The message from the community and to clients is incredible.”