This week’s blog is written by Senior Lecturer Micah Hassell, part of the UWE Bristol Policing Team. Micah has written a snapshot of his impressive career within Policing, so I won’t waste words repeating it. Part of that varied career includes time specialising on the Roads Policing Unit (RPU), where he dealt with serious and fatal road traffic collisions. Most of us have either been in an accident ourselves, or know of those that have been unfortunate enough to experience them.
2021 saw a 23% increase in deaths or serious injuries from accidents involving alcohol from the year before (ONS, 2023). In the same year, Avon and Somerset stated that alcohol was a factor in 1/3 of all their road traffic collisions (ASC, 2023). Each year local police forces run anti-drink and drug drive operations, educating and stopping drivers within their areas.
This festive period offers a poignant moment to consider the risks associated with driving under the influence, the impacts is has on loved ones and the services that attend to help. Over to Micah…
After starting a new role in May 2023 as a senior lecturer within the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship programme, I have been given a fantastic opportunity to deliver a programme of learning to newly appointed police officers to ensure their operational competence meets the highest standards expected within Policing (College of Policing, 2014). My core interests in policing extend to Police ethics and the causes of corruption after serving the latter part of my career within the Professional Standard Department, but some of the most interesting and demanding responsibilities I have experienced were related to road death and its causation whilst performing the role of senior investigating officer with the Roads Policing department. As an ex Chief Inspector with 27 years operational Policing experience, I have investigated more than 120 collisions where a death has occurred and in 80% of those incidents’ intoxication has featured as a contributing factor to the cause of death. Although this is somewhat of a grim topic of discussion, I wanted to bring into focus the impact drink driving has, to prompt a discussion about your thoughts and behaviours when it comes to making that decision about drinking and driving.
Lived experience
One of my last fatal road traffic investigations occurred during the summer months just after midnight where a single vehicle carrying four occupants collided head on with a lamppost. On my arrival I was confronted with an horrific scene. The driver had been ejected out of the vehicle and came to rest some distance in front of the vehicle and had tragically died from her injures. The front seat passenger was deceased, and two rear passengers were seriously injured. One rear passenger died at the scene and the final passenger made it to the hospital before sadly passing away hours later. Almost immediately a strong smell of alcohol emanated from within the vehicle and those involved at the scene. I vividly remember that the speedometer on the vehicle had frozen at the point of impact and rested at exactly 31 miles per hour. During my investigation it transpired from witnesses that the four friends had decided to take a risk because they wanted to travel to another local pub approximately 2 miles away. Unfortunately, they never made it, and their lives were taken forever leaving families, police officers and communities with questions to this day about the decisions they all made on that tragic night.
Why?
Did you know that in the past year one of your friends, relatives or work colleagues will drink and drive and could even be over the legal limit today? You might have even drank last night feeling worse for wear this morning, but drove into work unsure of whether you were actually over the prescribed legal limit, or you could have car shared knowing the person driving was feeling pretty poorly from the night before. The reasons why people decide to drink and drive are complex, but more often than not the decision to use your car after drinking alcohol is done so with very little thought about the potential consequences that could occur. Government Statistics provide a comprehensive picture about the numbers killed or seriously injured on our roads within the UK…
In 2021 alone, over 27,000 people were killed or seriously injured on our roads.
In 2020, Police conducted over 46,000 roadside breath tests. Over 2,500 people failed these .
Department for Transport, 2022.
Alcohol as a factor
Qualitative research undertaken by Keatley et al, (2020) examined the reasons why people decide to drink and drive. After interviewing 83 participants between 18 and 64 years of age they identified five key themes that influenced their decision to drive after consuming alcohol. Unexpected reasons to leave the pub, peer pressure, only a short drive to the next destination, having an appointment they needed to be at and finally the effects of alcohol affected their judgement where they knew they should not drive, but carried on regardless. Most, if not all of us know about the effects of alcohol, but there are concerning gaps in a person’s ability to understand how much alcohol can be consumed or what strength of alcohol is contained within their drink. In each case recognising what their chosen drink contains remains a mystery and, in many cases, presents a misunderstanding about what people can tolerate. In a study conducted by Walker et al, (2016), 209 University students were asked to rank in order of alcohol strength 10 alcoholic drinks. Their research highlighted that people could not judge the strength of alcohol within an alcoholic drink, but instead chose their selected drink preferring to use taste instead. The more appealing the taste the more likely a person would choose to drink it rather than consider the strength of alcohol. This disparity highlighted the need to ensure more people should take a greater interest in the alcohol content of their preferred drink. There are also other studies undertaken by Stephens et al, (2017) that indicate people who worked full time or worked from home between 26 and 39 years old with “High Risk consumption patterns” are more likely to drink and drive, but also have a reduced perception about the risk of having a collision after consuming drink.
There are other causation factors that will always feature within any collision, but my lived experience has shown that alcohol contributes to the death of a high proportion of people who are involved in collisions. The example I provided at the beginning detailed the death of four friends travelling at the legal speed limit within 10 minutes of leaving a local pub, attempting to travel to another local pub a short distance away. You can see from this article that high risk drinking behaviours, having limited awareness of how strong your alcoholic drink is and only driving a short distance away all feature as contributing factors to causing road death. So before you decide to drink and drive think about the consequences of your actions and what excuse you are going to make before you get into the car!
Final reflections & the PCDA
The work of the PCDA team is extremely important. Within the operational competencies modules drink driving is taught throughout all three years. Legislation and exploring key prevention and detection strategies are all included. Working alongside Avon and Somerset Police UWE’s 2030 Strategy provides an inclusive programme designed to solve the future challenges policing faces. It focusses on student development using some of the most experienced police officers and staff to support them; using some of the best facilities throughout the region and beyond. The reason I chose to apply for a job within UWE was because it not only boasted one of the best programmes in the country, it also centred their interests around my own teaching practice and development. It’s been a fantastic transition from policing into higher education. There are always opportunities for staff and students to be part of the PCDA journey where most modules run practical sessions to develop students offices as they progress through their degree if you want to get involved you can contact me or any of the PCDA team here.
Helpful Resources
Keatley, D. A. et al. (2020) Perceptions of drink driving legal limits in England: a qualitative investigation. Psychology, crime & law. [Online] 26 (8), 733–744. [Accessed 6 July 2023]
Stephens, A. N. et al. (2017) Alcohol consumption patterns and attitudes toward drink-drive behaviours and road safety enforcement strategies. Accident analysis and prevention. [Online] 98241–251. [Accessed July 2023]
Walker, S. et al. (2016) Estimates of the Absolute and Relative Strengths of Diverse Alcoholic Drinks by Young People. Substance use & misuse. [Online] 51 (13), 1781–1789. [Accessed 10 July 2020]
Editorial Team
Paul Williamson (Joint Programme Leader & Senior Lecturer); Claudia McCready (Lecturer); Eve Middleton (Tripartite Assessor – Policing); Eve Smietanko (Joint Programme Leader & Senior Lecturer); Ian Lowe (Senior Lecturer) & Micah Hassell (Senior Lecturer).
If you would like to contribute as a guest blogger, please contact Police.Blog@uwe.ac.uk