Alcohol involved - serious traffic accidents
Every tenth serious traffic accident is still caused by alcohol consumption. A campaign by the police and the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention (bfu) is raising public awareness of the issue.
When the legal limit for drinking and driving was lowered from 0.8 to 0.5 per mille in 2005, resistance was strong in some quarters. Ten years later, the change in the law and the possibility introduced at the same time to carry out police alcohol checks even without concrete suspicion have proven their worth, as the bfu writes. Over the past ten years, the number of fatalities and serious injuries in alcohol-related accidents has been reduced more significantly than in the rest of the accident statistics. This has also been accompanied by a change in social attitudes. People no longer regard drunk driving as a trivial offense, but recognize it for what it is: one of the greatest dangers to road safety. Alcohol is involved in around ten percent of serious traffic accidents, and in as many as one in two at night on weekends. Every 40th alcohol-related accident with injuries is fatal, emphasizes the bfu.
An important role in the social ostracism of drunk driving is played by the expectation of drivers that they can be checked by the police at any time. Here, too, much has changed in recent years: according to a bfu survey, in 2013 as many as 34% of those surveyed "sometimes", "often" or even "very often/always" expected to be stopped. This is a significant increase compared to only 15 percent in 2003. A survey by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO) shows that the percentage of drivers who were tested for alcohol at least once in a year rose from 2 percent in 2003 to 6 percent in 2011.
On the other hand, according to the bfu survey, the number of car drivers who can name the currently applicable alcohol limit is falling continuously. Whereas in 2005, the year the 0.5 per mille limit was introduced, 92 percent of those surveyed were still able to do so, in 2013 the figure was just 70 percent. This shows how important information and awareness-raising still are. In partnership with the police, the bfu is therefore reminding drivers of the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol with its prevention campaign "Zero per mille. Zero problems" prevention campaign, the bfu reminds drivers of the dangers of drinking and driving.
As part of the road safety program "Via sicura" further measures to combat alcohol-related accidents were adopted. Some of these have already been in force for a year (e.g. alcohol ban for new drivers), others will come into force this year or next. For example, since the beginning of 2015, motor vehicle liability insurers are now obliged to take recourse against the person who caused the accident in the event of damage caused while drunk or unfit to drive, among other things.
