Based on the data gathered by the Australian Institute of Criminology from the period of year 2000 to 2011, “hot pursuit” for traffic violations is the leading cause of fatal deaths in Australia.

Now, questions are raised whether it would be safer not to engage in hot pursuit operations with speeding and reckless drivers. Most of the time, fatal speed runs at 129 km/h up to 210km/h that happened as an offshoot to an earlier crime committed such as traffic related violations and car theft. Most of the time, the fatalities resulting from hot pursuit operations include the drivers, passengers in offending vehicles, passengers of innocent vehicles, bystanders and sometimes include the pursuing police officers.

Based on autopsies conducted, it was revealed that 88% of the victims are under the influence of intoxicating liquor with blood alcohol concentration (BAC) over the prescribed limit of 0.05; or under the influence of drugs either taken with prescription or without prescription; or both drugs and liquor combined. In the state of Victoria, fifty per cent of deaths involving police operations were due to hot pursuit operations. Study shows that alcohol in the blood beyond the prescribed legal limit increases the risk of car crash injury by 5 times.

Due to the unique system of government in Australia, each state and territory are governed by their own set of traffic laws with penalty provisions for drunk driving, which include suspension or cancellation of driving license and jail term for more serious drink driving offences. In Queensland, a new legislation was adopted in 2010 preventing police officers from pursuing drivers wanted for drink driving violations or vehicle theft.

In 2011, South Australia adopted the same legislation while the states of New South Wales and Western Australia are still considering similar legislation. However, this is not new to Tasmania that banned hot pursuits in cases of traffic offences and stolen cars since 1999.

Drink driving is highly regulated in Australia. Alcohol slows down your thinking faculties which is very crucial during emergencies for sound decisions. Drink driving mostly causes the following:

• blurred vision and reduced hearing , thus, reducing the driver’s ability to drive safely and identify driving hazards;
• memory lapses and poor judgment; and
• poor body reactions.

The Traffic Accident Commission finds that in 2009, there are about 42 drivers and motorcyclists killed with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.05 g/100ml, a little less in 2008 with 50 fatalities. Among the 42 victims, 72% were males. In addition, a study conducted in Victoria in about 1.24 million drivers and riders from Booze Bus operations, it shows that there are 4000 drivers caught with an illegal blood alcohol concentration. 

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