Alcohol and advertising

Dec 5 2007 by Val Javin, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

IN THE run up to Christmas and the New Year, police across the country will be working hard to catch those who drink and drive.

And there will doubtless be the usual tv advertising campaign to remind those who continue to get behind the wheel when they are over the alcohol limit that they risk not just their lives but those of others.

Mrs Carole Whittingham is one local mother who knows only too well the utter devastation that irresponsible drivers can cause. Her son Steven was the victim of a car thief driving on the wrong side of the road at high speed. Steven was just 27. Since his death, his mother has campaigned tirelessly to make all roads safer.

She works with the Brighouse-based Campaign against Drinking and Driving which is warning that people nationwide will inevitably face the trauma of a Christmas without part of their family because of the actions of people who drink and drive.

The group is calling for a ban on the advertising which promotes certain brands of alcoholic drink and wants the same restrictions applied to drink as are already applied to tobacco and junk food.

It certainly makes sense. Alcohol kills many people each year and there is an alarming rise in the incidence of cirrhosis over the last 20 years.

The cost of treating people with alcohol related illnesses is now £1.3bn a year according to the Department of Health. And who counts the hidden cost of the trauma caused, often to innocent families, when drink related driving incidents injury and kill people.

Excess alcohol doesn’t just cause social problems - we hear of the consequences of binge drinking in cities and towns across the country on a regular basis - it can kill.

What more incentive is there to take a fresh look at the whole issue of how we approach drinking and driving and those who persist in doing it?