12% of West Australian drivers admit to drink-driving

According to data from the latest annual review of government services, released by Australia’s Productivity Commission, drivers in West Australia (WA) are the country’s worst drink-drivers. About 12% of WA drivers admitted to driving with blood-alcohol levels exceeding the legal limit during the past six months, an increase from 10.5% in 2015-2016.

Only motorists in the Northern Territory (NT) were close to the drink-driving level in WA, with 11.4% admitting to driving while over the legal limit for alcohol. The countrywide reported average incidence was 7.5%.

Responding to the statistics, WA Police Minister, Michelle Roberts, said that the results were “very disappointing.” She said drink-driving was a major factor in road accidents in WA and that she was committed to increasing her department’s efforts to lower the incidence of it. She added that the Road Safety Commission and the Police were jointly examining best practices currently used in other Australian states to help develop more effective enforcement measures.

The percentage of motorists driving with alcohol blood-levels exceeding the legal limit is one of the measures the commission uses to judge how well the government is promoting road safety. The other two measures are the use of seatbelts and the percentage of drivers who speed.

The commission’s data showed that 96.5% of WA drivers wore their seatbelts. But, 63.7% of WA drivers admitted to driving 10km/h or more above the speed limit, compared to 57.8% of drivers countrywide.

WA had the second-worst record for motor vehicle fatalities in 2016-17, with 8.2 fatalities reported per 100,000 registered vehicles, an increase from 7.7 reported the year before. NT had the worst record, at 28.3, while the national number was 6.6.