Hit-and-run accident ambulence_311.
(photo credit: Uzi Barak )
One in five people has driven after drinking alcohol at least once in the past
year, according to a survey released by the Or Yarok (Green Light) traffic
safety organization ahead of Purim.
Jerusalemites were the least likely
to drive after drinking alcohol, with only 8 percent reporting that they had
driven after imbibing in the past year.
Approximately 23% of residents in
the southern and northern regions said that they had driven after drinking
alcohol, similar to 20% of residents in Tel Aviv and the center of the country
who said they drank and drove at least once.
Or Yarok released the
results of a 500-person phone poll ahead of Purim due to the drinking associated
with the holiday, which begins on Wednesday night across the country and on
Thursday night in Jerusalem.
“Alcohol affects you from the first drop,
and anyone who thinks differently is wrong,” said the director of Or Yarok,
Shmuel Abuav, in a statement released with the survey.
“Alcohol affects
your attention, memory and coordination. Alcohol causes poor judgment and an
increase in driving errors and impaired vision, and decreases the ability to
control and respond to the vehicle.”
For young drivers, alcohol is an
even larger issue.
Alcohol is a factor in approximately 75% of accidents
involving teenage drivers, according to Or Yarok. In 2010, 14 teenagers were
killed and 587 were injured in alcohol- related traffic accidents.
In
2010, the “zero percent alcohol” law went into effect, meaning drivers under the
age of 24 cannot drive after drinking alcohol, no matter what amount.