NOT ROCKET SCIENCE, IDIOT

AN ill-fated trip to Macca’s is the sort of quirky story that will grab plenty of public attention, particularly online.

But we fear many will find it amusing instead of reading the court report today with a growing sense of outrage.

The motorist had just three blocks to travel to grab a takeaway meal to soak up the excesses of a New Year’s Eve party. Instead, full of grog and the hubris that goes with it, he slid behind the wheel and a short time later, managed to slide his car around a corner and into a power pole. Thankfully he was not injured.

Of even greater relief is the fact he did not kill anyone along the way.

Yesterday Joshua Vincent Murphy was given a verbal tirade by Magistrate Pamela Dowse – and thoroughly deserved the dressing down.

What is it with drink drivers?

For decades the public has been subjected to a barrage of campaigns, strict policing and ever more savage penalties. Drink drivers have been declared “bloody idiots’’, yet a proportion of drunks still think they can chance their arm. A senior cop once told the Bulletin that it wasn’t rocket science to know that driving after drinking would end in tears, one way or the other.

Even someone of average intelligence can work out that walking three blocks, paying a few bucks for a cab, or even crawling – as the magistrate suggested – beats a $1200 fine and 10 months off the road.

If the alternative is killing yourself or some innocent party, then there is no contest, surely. It’s not rocket science, but here is some science for the ignorant.

A Transport and Main Roads report released under then-transport minister Rachel Nolan, when she held the portfolio in 2009-2011, revealed a driver’s skills performance began to deteriorate at levels below 0.05 per cent – the legal limit.

At a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.10, the risks were five times greater than for a driver with no alcohol in their system.

At 0.15 per cent, the risk was

22 times greater. When a driver was at 0.25, the relative risk had rocketed to 155 times greater.

Mr Murphy drove at 0.23 per cent. This was no laughing matter. This was a deadly serious mistake. He has a sadly depleted bank account today and 10 months of walking, paying for cabs, buses and trams, or bludging lifts from his mates, to remind him of how stupid it was to get in the car after a night on the turps.

That will hurt, but at least he is alive. And luckily for him and everyone else, there were no innocent victims.