Tag Archives: abcriverland

A Big Night Out, may just be tomorrow’s mistake.

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There is a quiet confidence people have when it comes to alcohol, and it usually sounds something like this. “I’ll be right.”

Two drinks, maybe three. A bit of food. A good sleep. A coffee in the morning. A shower to freshen up. A quick self-assessment based on how you feel, and off you go, convinced that you have successfully navigated what you believe is a fairly simple equation.

The problem is, it is not an equation at all. It is a guess, dressed up as logic.
(Note bottom right corner of the image below?!)

My offence involved residual alcohol from the night before, and while that does not excuse anything, it does highlight something that I think is worth saying clearly. Alcohol does not leave your system according to your opinion of how it should behave.

It is affected by your body, your metabolism, what you drank, how much you drank, what you ate, how you slept, your health, your age, and probably a few other factors that most of us never consider when we are confidently deciding that we are “fine.”

That feeling of I’m okay saw me blow 0.67 at 6:45 am in the morning after 8 hours sleep, a shower, a coffee and good feeling about the day I was setting out to conquor.

The Reality Most People Ignore… including the ‘past me.’

Government advice gives general guidance, and it has its place, but it is not a personalised calculation. It cannot be. It is broad by necessity, and people tend to take that broad advice and narrow it down to suit themselves. It’s like sending a text advising someone that something is VERY IMPORTANT! You send the text, and upon pressing send in your mind you have discharged all your responsibility.

That is where the problem starts.

The only truly safe position is simple, and I say this now with the benefit of experience I would have preferred not to have had. If there is any doubt, do not drive. That is not dramatic. It is not over the top. It is just practical. With all the education we are provided through fear campaigns, with all the guidelines, such as the old slogan ‘four men and women two’ it comes down to our choice.

I learned that lesson the hard way, and I would much rather someone else learn it the easy way by reading this and thinking twice the next time they find themselves doing the same mental arithmetic I did.

There is a a lesson here of great humility in what happened to me. It is not a pleasant realisation, or one without public embarrassment, personal shame or moments of profound regret.

What’s more I am not a ‘selfish prick’…. notwithstanding the sexist implications of this government led ‘band-aid’ campaign. I am sure everyone has a story where they ask the Police to ‘breatho’ them and have been refused.

My Experiment: When I was doing drug and alcohol testing in the workplace (Yes, I know the irony…) and after I got pinched the first time for drink driving. I sat around the table with a group of mates for a ‘test.’ I had very expensive accurate alco-testing equipment. We all had one full strength beer over 30 minutes, waited 10, and tested. I was approaching 0.04. Two mates were still zero. One was 0.01 and another 0.02. This turned out not to be a test, but a realisation that the ‘BIG MISTAKE’ of driving over the limit was different for all of us.

Advertising campaigns by the Government, the Police etc. etc, are not education campaigns, they are scare tactics based on sound science BUT that is grossly different science for each of us.

I have now learned that my body dissipates alcohol at a rate far, far slower than others. I learned the hard way and never tested for it when I had all the equipment. Why would I?

I fell for this fallacy…..

I had a few drinks the night before, in the morning I was feeling great, I had a good nights sleep, a shower and a coffee. I was ready to take on the day.

In the end, it was me that was just taken down.

I don’t know what the solution is. I know it’s not calling people pricks.

(Not written by AI – © Ian Schlein)

Drink Driving, Shame, or a True Realisation?

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It became obvious to me when the ABC decided to report on my recent conviction for drink driving that I will be subjected to some changes in my life.

The obvious one of not being able to drive is initially the penalty that I will bear in addition to the $1100.00 fine.  These are practical and financial matters that all of us must deal with in a myriad of areas and ways in navigating a more and more complex world.

The ‘splashing’ of my name, my crime, my personal life and health challenges was a little more than I expected.  Especially considering the ABC saw fit to include it on the national reporting site.  It was a surprise when a friend called me from Queensland to say they saw it on the ABC.

Well, here is the thing for all to see. (click here)

I made a serious mistake, and there is no clever sentence structure, legal nuance, or carefully chosen word that makes that any less true.

There is no “yes, but…” sentence here. There is no “but.” There is only the bad decision and the consequences that follow it.

The reading was low range. That is largely irrelevant in the bigger picture, because low range still means over the limit, and over the limit still means I made the wrong call. I have spent a lifetime telling people that the small decisions are often the dangerous ones, because they are the easiest to justify to yourself in the moment.

What has surprised me is not the penalty, and not even the inconvenience of losing my licence, although I will admit that will test my patience and my planning and lead to many, many frustrations.  Frustrations which I hope will become indelible in my future thinking and decision making. What has surprised me is how quickly my mistake of some three years ago, became newsworthy today.

The uncomfortable truth sitting at the centre of all of this, is not if I acknowledge my mistake, my crime, ignorance, any remorse, shame or guilt I may feel, but, how can this be weaponised for greater entertainment and outrage.

I have seen the consequences of poor decisions on the road, and perhaps I will now further bear the poor decisions of those who subscribe to this entertainment and outrage.

I do not expect a free pass. If anything, it makes the mistake harder to accept, because I cannot pretend I did not understand the risk and the greater consequences coming my way.

Australia loves a ‘hero’ whether in combat, on the sporting field or the neighbour pulling a cat from a burning building.  But Australia, particularly our paid Merchants of Misery, the Media, love nothing more than tearing someone down, particularly when they are vulnerable, when they are down, when they really need a mate more than an attack.  But, the world has, and is changing, Australia has, and is changing.  

When the Queensberry Rules are thrown out the window in the Mixed Martial Arts ring, and when it becomes okay when someone is down, to give them a kicking and a few late punches, to finish them off, it time to review the rules.  Perhaps it is time to walk that mile in another’s shoes, to look in the mirror and be grateful, be thankful that by luck and perhaps the grace of a higher power, there go I. 

This is not written for sympathy. I am not interested in that. This is simply me putting my hand up and saying that I got this wrong, and that matters.

There is one thing that I have always managed through great adversity; it is much like what training does for the pugilist, it gets me down to my fighting weight.

(NOT written by AI – © Ian Schlein)