THE SOCIAL DRINKERS AND THE ANTI-SOCIAL DRIVER

foreign [Music] see how she hugs the road [Music] car because I value it and because I certainly value my life I'm a documentary filmmaker in my work and for recreation I do quite a bit of driving and I also enjoy a few drinks occasionally there have been times when I've driven after drinking not often but enough to give me a personal interest in the subject of this film foreign [Music] my first stop is the University of Southern California where experts are working on a research project concerning drinking and driving uh Mr Bishop can you tell me uh why this project began there's a a grave concern on everybody's part across the U.S about the second largest killer of people which is automobile accidents and the fact that half of those people involved in fatal automobile accidents had been drinking we found out somewhere like two years into the project when we had sampled some 1200 deceased drivers in L.A county that among that 1200 only about 10 percent had ever had any prior conviction for drunk driving so very clearly if you want to get to the majority of the people who are involved in fatal accidents whether drinking or not drunk drivers is not the place to go that is convicted drunk drivers let's keep that clear then the the people that are responsible for most of the deaths are not alcoholics but social drinkers yes I think so for that question our next stop is the University of California at Los Angeles where researchers have conducted many tests to determine how alcohol affects driving ability okay Dr Halbert can you tell me what's uh going on here today it's colorful uh colorful group of people what are you going to do with them the girls throwing the balls represent the various hazards that are happening out in the traffic scene so then uh the man here with the ping pong paddle is is the driver yes he represents the driver now he stands in this Central position and the girls are arranged uh in a semicircle so that some of them are in his side vision and if he looks over to the one on this side then the ones on his left are in the side view and now we do this first when the subject is is sober and is normal alert condition and then we give him the certain amount of alcohol how much alcohol do you get well we'll give him uh approximate amount to get him up to the um the legal limit what is that well in the state of California it's it's 0.10 percent blood alcohol at this level of blood alcohol your reflexes are very good and yet statistics clearly show that at this blood level alcohol you are six times more likely to have a traffic accident why what happens well the research uh that we've been doing Dr Moskowitz and and I uh indicate that it's the effect on the central nervous system it's as though your visual field had had collapsed and narrowed my tunnel vision except your vision is all right it's the field of attention that narrows yeah so I'll just set this down you can go over there he is given one ounce of alcohol for each 25 pounds of body weight for this man that's almost seven ounces okay you ready to go I think I can make it okay I'll walk over with you you're just about legally drunk so uh let's see how you do okay doctor okay okay one two four three five one four two three four one three five two five four three two four one five three four two now let's transfer the results of this experiment to a driving situation this is what most sober drivers see and what they're aware of a driver under the influence of alcohol has reduced his field of attention to the clear area the results can be disastrous what other factors might be involved in fatal accidents aside from alcohol there have been a number of studies done around the U.S in which researchers using unfortunately small numbers have found that the people involved in fatal accidents have in the main had some traumatic or stressful situation within a week or so prior to their fatal accident Paul faces tension of a common type he's worried about his business hello oh hi Ben I can't man it's I got all this work to do it's all confused [Music] sit around the inside right hanging on the ropes again and then punching away right and all of a sudden it starts to rain yeah so Rocky steps back he looks up in the air and he sticks out his glove unbelievable [Laughter] a few drinks in the atmosphere of the bar have helped take Paul's mind off his problems but the problems haven't gone away and back in the car they begin to bother him again [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] not all stress is unpleasant in the excitement of festive occasions normally moderate drinkers often lose track of the amount they drink [Music] foreign two hours after their wedding following an automobile accident on the east side I find pictures like that revolting and very unnecessary any sensible person knows when he's had too much to drink I would never risk his life by driving under such circumstances Martin is a sensible person and a moderate social Drinker all his friends will agree on that when his fiance asked him to meet her at a bar that evening Martin as usual was on time she as usual was late now do you realize what time it is you're one hour late look don't start with me because I don't care I don't care what time it is you know I'm tired of you telling me that I'm lame and I'm this and I'm back and I've had it and that's kind of what I came to tell you is I don't want to see you anymore I don't want to see you I don't want you to come over and I don't want you to call me okay I'm sorry foreign yes Martin is a sensible person and maybe he hasn't had too much to drink but he's also driving with anger resentment they all add up I don't want to see you I don't want you to come over I don't want you to call me but what about the guy who doesn't have any big problems a guy who just stops off for a few beers on the way home [Music] foreign [Music] do you have your driver's license with you sir yeah may I see it please here there it is Mr Stone where are you coming from sir I live in Anaheim I didn't ask you where you lived I asked you where you're coming from you know I didn't do anything you know can't you kind of I was at some friend's house down the street kind of and over a couple blocks it was just you know a little party do you have anything to drink at that party I'm not drunk okay well sir your driving was such that I'm gonna have to call another officer to give you a field coordination test now we're seeing only part of the full process which usually takes about five minutes the second opposite will determine whether or not Mr Stone will be placed under arrest fingered right hand touch your nose all right put it back okay relax okay Mr Stone you're under arrest for driving under the influence of intoxicating beverage they'll turn to take position this is one of three tests used to measure blood alcohol level check breast sample taken no bubbling observed and test natural okay Mr Stalin I want you to place this plastic mouthpiece in your mouth and blow into the tube and when you blow the red light will go out the green light will come on keep blowing until the red light comes back on okay blow into the tube please keep blowing keep blowing that's good thank you check valve turned to analyze position check wait 90 seconds after empty signal red light meter re-zeroed by using light switch and balance knob check test result recorded check how'd they do well the law considers you to be under the influence if your reading is 0.10 yours is 0.11 so we'd have to consider you under the influence he's already been advised of his civil rights and he's beginning to realize that being arrested can cost him quite a bit his car has been impounded his insurance rates were probably Skyrocket his wife will not be pleased this is your true name yeah it is how do I make a phone call to get out of here okay you can make two phone calls you can make one call to anybody you want and one phone call to a bail bond when that's the only two calls you'll make these are a list of local bail bondsmen or you can use the Yellow Pages for others yeah I'm in jail I'd like to get out um Pasadena I think those few beers will also cost several hundred dollars and many hours in the drunk tank before he can be bailed out foreign step inside here you go [Music] [Music] does this man belong in jail Well Jack Bishop's statistics seem to indicate that he's the kind of Drinker most likely to get involved in a fatal accident we learned that a man who is legally drunk has a limited field of attention [Music] does he belong in jail well if he hadn't been placed in custody he might never have made it home wow there's nothing like a couple of drinks after a long day of filming and now that we've wrapped up the picture and I've had my couple of drinks I'm ready for the long drive huh [Music] [Music]