A welcome stigma

State officials in Poland have proposed that drivers found guilty of operating their vehicles in a state of illegal inebriation might be “named and shamed” from the pulpit at Mass, as we reported last week.

While the concept of using the Mass as an occasion for public humiliation of individuals is dubious at best—Poland’s sobriety chaplain opposes the idea—the notion that the act of drink-driving should acquire a social stigma is to be welcomed.

South African society continues to tolerate drink-driving (as well as other forms of recklessness on our roads, ranging from operating un-roadworthy vehicles to using cellphones while driving).

Those dimwits who regale their audiences with tales of how they were “so wasted” that they could not remember how they managed to drive home safely can still count on receiving appreciative guffaws and backslapping for their supposedly valiant antics.

A more compelling response to such stories would include a severe reprimand and perhaps a withdrawal of future offers of alcohol. Alas, in most sectors of our society, those who might adopt such an approach risk being patronised as killjoys.

Nonetheless, even at the risk of compromising good relations, Christians have an obligation to take a strong stand against drink-driving.

According to statistics, 55% of all drivers involved in car accidents in South Africa in 2003 were under the influence of alcohol.

Many drunk-driving accidents have fatal consequences. Driving in a state of inebriation puts others at risk; sometimes whole families are wiped out because a stranger did not know when to stop drinking before taking charge of a vehicle. There can be no excuse for this, and there can be no excuse for producing such a risk in first place.

The Fifth Commandment —one of the few still widely taken seriously in our increasingly secularised age—instructs us not to kill. Drunk drivers frequently kill (including themselves), and every drunk driver takes the risk of killing somebody, be it total strangers or their passengers.

Drink-driving is in conflict with the Fifth Command-ment by virtue of creating an avoidable possibility of others being killed. Even those who encourage or tolerate drink-driving are complicit in the commandment’s violation.

Few people would be willing to accept other forms of behaviour that put the lives of others at risk. There is no good reason why drink-driving should be tolerated. It is a social convention which requires correction to such an effect that drink-driving becomes a taboo, and people who drive drunk are held accountable for their recklessness.