Actually, all year round is the season to drive sober and Highway Safety Administrator Fred Zwonechek said Nebraskans are getting that message, as shown by a long-term trend toward fewer alcohol-related traffic fatalities on the state’s roadways.
“Actually, we’re going to be up a little this year because we have 68 alcohol-related fatalities out of 200 fatalities overall and we’re still counting, compare to 51 alcohol-related fatalities out of 181 last year,” Zwonechek said.
But when viewed over a longer period of time, the trend is clear. Zwonechek’s office 22 years worth of statistics on both overall traffic fatalities in Nebraska and on alcohol-related traffic fatalities.
Total alcohol-related fatalities for the first 11 years of that period are 1,087, which is an average of nearly 99 alcohol-related traffic deaths per year. For the second 11 years in that period, alcohol-related fatalities totaled 922 deaths, which is an average of just under 84 alcohol-related traffic fatalities per year.
If the period of just the last seven years is examined, the difference is even more dramatic. The total alcohol-related traffic fatalities is 517, which is an average of just under 74 alcohol-related fatalities per year.
When asked the reason for the declines, Zwonechek answered, “It is a combination of several things.” One of the first things he mentioned was enhanced enforcement by law enforcement. Zwonechek said that includes setting up sobriety check-points and saturation patrolling, which he defined as heavy patrolling of roads and highways that law enforcement has identified as having a high number of alcohol-related accidents.
Those patrols also may be scheduled to coincide with the times that law enforcement has identified to be the most likely for alcohol-related traffic crashes, Zwonechek said.
He said one tactic law enforcement may use is to use saturation patrol for a particular section of highway or roadway that it has identified as having a higher probability of people driving while impaired, then switching later in the patrol shift to another location to try to catch impaired drivers.
He said enhanced penalties for people are caught driving under the influence is another reason why fewer people are dying in alcohol-related traffic accidents. People know fines are higher and suspensions are longer if they are convicted of driving under the influence.
That is part of the reason why The Independent looked at the seven-year period starting in 2005 to see how much lower the number of annual alcohol-related traffic fatalities have gone. Starting in 2005, several laws have been passed that were specifically designed to discourage drinking and driving. That includes two rounds of enhanced penalties for people convicted of DUI, passage of an underage dram shop law, and two rounds of ignition interlock laws.
Zwonechek specifically mentioned ignition interlock laws as being an effective method for trying to keep people who have been convicted of DUI from getting in a vehicle and once again driving under the influence.
So perhaps it is not mere happenstance that alcohol-related fatalities since 2005 have averaged about 74 per year.
Zwonechek said another factor that may be contributing to that trend may be all the public service advertising designed to discourage driving under the influence. He said some public service announcements stress that if people drink and drive while intoxicated, there is a high probability they will be caught by law enforcement and be prosecuted
Other public service advertising stresses the very real possibility that if people drink and drive, they could kill themselves or someone else, he said.
Zwonechek said all this advertising likely has changed public attitudes toward drinking and driving. He said drinking and driving have never been socially acceptable. But he said there may be even stronger social disapproval of people who drink and drive. Zwonechek societal attitudes can help change behavior.
However, he also said that is an on-going process because there is always a new generation of drivers being created. Zwonechek said young people — specifically between the ages of 18 and 34 and especially males — tend to be risk takers, which means the efforts to end drinking and driving must be on-going.
Zwonechek said it is a timely reminder in December for people to know how hard law enforcement works to prevent people from drinking and driving. He said Nebraska law enforcement often receives grants for DUI and traffic safety enforcement in general. He said right now is a period of “stepped-up enforcement.”
He said there are 55 law enforcement agencies in Nebraska who will put in 6,000 additional enforcement hours during the month of December though the New Year’s holiday to promote traffic safety, including trying to prevent people from driving under the influence.
Crowds on the busy streets of Mumbai Central were in for a pleasant surpriserecently when they realised that actor Shahid Kapoor was shooting in the bylanes there. But while the shoot promised thrilling moments for Shahid’s fans, the idea of shooting at a real location, and that too a crowded one, had kept the cast and crew on edge for several days.
A source reveals that the filmmakers were keen to shoot their film Phata Poster Nikla Hero at real locations around the city to keep the real flavour on reel. Just last week, Shahid had to shoot an intense scene in a crowded market area. And insiders reveal that shooting in the crowded bylanes of the place put forth several challenges.
“Even though the film makers managed to get permission from the authorities, the crowd was extremely difficult to handle and execution was becoming a hassle. Apart from keeping the crowds at bay, we realised that the lanes were too narrow to park Shahid’s vanity van,” reveals a member from the production unit of the Rajkumar Santoshi film.
“We were sceptical about it, but when we told Shahid about it, he was very sporting and simply asked us to make whatever temporary arrangements we could on the location. So, a local Udipi restaurant was finalised to double up as Shahid’s changing room and he offered to travel to the location nearby on a bike. Instead of throwing tantrums on the non-availability of a van, Shahid simply had the eating joint’s shutters pulled down while he changed,” says the source. Meanwhile, the crowds, who knew that some shooting was to commence, had no idea who was at the location.
“But the moment the restaurant’s shutters opened, and they saw Shahid step out, the crowds simply multiplied and soon the entire area was buzzing with excitement. We were worried because Shahid’s scene was an intense,emotionally charged one and with the distractions around, we were prepared to shoot for at least eight to ten hours,” adds the insider.
But Shahid surprised them when despite the commotion around, he managed to deliver all his scenes in a single take. “Santoshi is a stickler for perfection, and Shahid himself is very critical about his work. The shot was a long one and needed a degree of expertise to deliver the perfect emotion. But he gave a perfect shot in one take. And he kept doing that with every shot, so what was actually to take eight hours, was wrapped up in two hours’ time. The crew was amazed at his focus and preparation and unanimously stood up to give him a standing ovation. In fact, he even got an ovation from the crowds, who had actually quitened down as they were engrossed in watching Shahid perform,” says the crew member.
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