Editorial: Early nights good for all

OPINION: Taxi drivers are a noble breed.

They're great multi-taskers. They are able to transport you to where you want to go and simultaneously proffer an opinion on a variety of subjects, from politics to the finer points of driving techniques and the quirks of other road users.

They're also great students of human nature because they get to see people at their best, and, in the small hours of the morning, their absolute worst.

That is why when the police unveiled the results of a move to introduce earlier closing hours for inner city Timaru bars, the endorsement of the taxi community was telling.

After a string of incidents and growing concerns about alcohol-induced violence Timaru police and community leaders got together and agreed to change licensing hours to bring closing time forward from 5am to 3am.

The law changed in October 2007 and since then there has been a dramatic decrease in violent incidents.

In the year after the change, violent incidents in the early hours dropped by 8 per cent to 369 and the number of drunks taken to the cells dropped by 29 per cent. Most significantly, violent incidents in bars almost halved. The earlier closing probably prevented a few hangovers as well.

Taxi drivers – who were literally in the driving seat when it came to judging the success of the change – saw the results on the streets of Timaru immediately. At a stroke, it seemed, the inner city became a safer place to be.

The results of the Timaru experiment are relevant to the great alcohol debate now raging in New Zealand.

The Law Commission, led by Sir Geoffrey Palmer, was asked to come up with a series of recommendations to try and fix problems with our current liquor laws. The commission will deliver its verdict next year, which is likely to result in the biggest shakeup for the liquor industry since 1989.

Options the commission has mooted include raising the drinking age, banning advertising, increasing taxes, and bringing forward closing hours.

The Law Commission believed that the trend towards longer drinking hours over the past two decades has lead to increased violence and drunken incidents.

It would seem the less time people have to drink in bars, the fewer problems we have.

Sir Geoffrey says he is no wowser and is clearly trying to strike a balance between trying to fix the problems alcohol causes and stomping too hard on personal freedoms.

Being able to drink until 3am is not unreasonable. Even if revellers head out at a late hour, say 11pm, the earlier closing time still gives them plenty of time to enjoy their leisure time with their friends. After all, we are still a world away from 6 o'clock closing.

- © Fairfax NZ News