Editorial: Raising a glass to Mr Joyce

OPINION: So the Government wants a zero alcohol limit for drink drivers under the age of 20. One question: Why stop there?

Transport Minister Steven Joyce's announcement that his Government is to make it illegal for a teenage driver to have even one drink would have barely raised an eyebrow for most around the country, unless you are a teenager who likes the odd tipple.

The law change smacks of the common sense for which Mr Joyce is becoming well known.

Firstly it makes good politics, because the vast numbers who would agree and see the move as a positive step would easily outstrip the many young voters possibly angry at being asked to pay the penalty for the few among their number who might transgress the drink-drive rules.

And secondly, most people would accept the simple logic that a young person in charge of a car and its precious occupants has got enough to worry about in operating the vehicle without undermining their judgment with alcohol.

Of course, that's an argument used by many in the call for lowering alcohol levels across the board and across all ages, and it is not impossible to see that happening should zero alcohol limits for teens be introduced and then deemed a success.

Zero drink-drive limits for all ages is something we need to get a handle on as part of a logical extension of the major shift in societal attitudes towards alcohol.

Drink-driving is frowned upon now in a way that would not have been the case a few short decades ago. Those caught and dealt with in court today are seen as losers, whereas 20 years ago they would have been portrayed as larrikins.

A point backed up by a shift in the language of those shock telly ads. It used to be that if you drank and drove you were a bloody idiot; now those who put the two together are deemed bloody criminals.

So why pick on the youngsters? Why not point the finger at older drivers as well? Are Mr Joyce and his experts saying that older drivers are any better with a couple of beers under the belt?

It's doubtful, but targeting teens is simply an easier sell that resonates a little better with an electorate fed up with binge-drinking teens, boy racers and the perceived surge in alcohol-fuelled violence.

But you have been warned. Our teens are unlikely to be the only group of drivers forced to face zero-alcohol limits.

Our prediction is that before long, anybody who touches alcohol and then gets behind the wheel will be classed as a bloody criminal.

- © Fairfax NZ News