MP John Barilaro, Jess McNeill, Nikki Rabbitte, Kellie Holster, Alecia Jones and Bob Stewart at the Drink n’ Drive Prevention Night held at the Globe Hotel last Friday.
BOMBALA’S Globe Hotel hosted a successful Drink n’ Drive Prevention Night last Friday, with patrons of many different ages and backgrounds participating in the activities.
A joint initiative between the Southern NSW LHD Drink Drive Prevention Team, NSW Police, RMS and the Globe Hotel, the night gave Bombala residents the opportunity to learn more about alcohol and driving.
A free barbecue was supplied, along with information, interactive displays and giveaways, with all deeming the informative night worthwhile.
The initiative was led by LHD Drink Drive Prevention Worker, Jessica McNeill, who was assisted by the Southern NSW Medicare Local Youth Worker, Nikki Rabbitte.
The evening was planned in response to the high number of drink drive statistics in Bombala and the launch of the Globe Hotel’s installation of a permanent breathalyser.
The promo night was welcomed by our local area police officers from Delegate and Nimmitabel, while Mayor Bob Stewart and local MP, John Barilaro were also in attendance.
The basic message was that drink driving is a serious problem here and some people do not realise that they are affected. In fact, it was proven on the night that most people do not understand the concept of a BAC (blood alcohol content).
Drink Wise Australia advises as a general rule to keep under the 0.05 BAC limit, males can drink no more than two standard alcoholic drinks in the first hour, followed by one standard drink after that. However, females can drink no more than one standard drink every hour.
The Southern NSW Local Heath District has been running “R U OVER IT?” campaign, aimed at advising people that, “you can still be over the limit the morning after”. This was the campaign used for the prevention night.
The patrons were interested in hearing about the elimination times and standard drinks. Most patrons did not realise that they were consuming more than a standard drink.
“Alcohol has a negative effect on our driving skills even at low doses, the purpose of this evening was to bring awareness to a rural location, and hopefully educate Bombala locals on both the dangers of drink driving but also some strategies preventing drink driving happening,” Ms McNeill said.
“We are finding increasing numbers of patrons being caught for being over the limit as they simply don’t understand how much alcohol they are consuming or how long it takes the body to eliminate.
“We would like to raise awareness in our local communities, not just around drink drive prevention but around alcohol in general.”
There was much interest shown in the Globe’s breathalyser, which allows patrons to test themselves if they are unsure on whether they will be ok to drive or not.
The new campaigns emphasise ‘Drink or Drive; make the choice before you go out’, but the machines are aimed at those patrons that may only be having one or two drinks and are unsure on if they are able to drive.
The breathalyser machines are funded by the NSW Roads & Maritime Service, and when used correctly are shown to be highly accurate.
The machine was available free of charge for the evening to allow patrons to become accustomed to it, in case they may need to use the machine at a later date.
You can find more information about the campaign at www.ruoverit.com.au
