Drinking and Driving in Western Australia: Perceptions of Practices,Priorities and Preventives

If politics is the art of the possible, then determining what the public will tolerate is an important step in the design of prevention strategies. In this random survey of 1205 residents of country and urban areas in Western Australia, attitudes towards drinking and driving, drink-driving behaviour, and opinions of countermeasures were examined. Drink-driving was seen as an important issue for the community and there was a perception that something needed to be done. Drinking and driving was a well-established behaviour, but there was evidence that for many people ‘other’ people constitute the drink-driving problem. There were popular and unpopular preventives, but, interestingly, those that were deemed popular were often believed to be less effective than those that were less popular. The policy implications of these findings are considered, particularly in the light of the current implementation of random breath testing in Western Australia.     

Evaluating a Social Learning Approach to Teaching Adolescents About Alcohol and Driving:

The variables influencing adolcscent drinking and its consequences are reviewed. A unique educational technique, "Teams-Games-Tournaments," is described in relation to its utility for teaching adolescents about alcohol use and misuse. The implementation and components of the evaluation of the comprehensive program are detailed.     

交通事故中"无名氏" 死亡赔偿金问题反思

社会各界对无法查明身份的"无名氏"赔偿纠纷案件的处理结果存在较大分歧。在"无名氏"死亡赔偿金案件中,存在司法解释"立法化"、死亡赔偿金性质不清、诉讼制度不健全等问题,对"无名氏"死亡赔偿金制度涉及的车辆保险功能与价值的实现、认罪认罚从宽制度的发挥、生命权的平等保护等形成现实阻碍。基于司法实践及法理分析,重新建构交通事故中"无名氏"死亡赔偿金制度,切实保护案件各方的合法权益。     

Risk Perceptions and Value of a Statistical Life for Air Pollution and Traffic Accidents: Evidence from Bangkok,Thailand

This paper presents results of two contingent valuation surveys conducted in Bangkok measuring individuals’ willingness to pay (WTP) to reduce mortality risk arising from two risk contexts: air pollution traffic accidents Results from the risk perception survey disclose that respondents view the two risks differently. WTP to reduce air pollution risk is influenced by degrees of dread, severity, controllability and personal exposure, while WTP to reduce traffic accident risk is influenced by perceived immediate occurrence. Nevertheless, the value of a statistical life (VSL) for both air pollution and traffic accidents are comparable (US$0.74 to $1.32 million and US$0.87 to $1.48 million, respectively). This indicates that the risk perception factor alone has little impact on the VSL, a finding similar to previous studies using program choice indifferences.JEL Classification: I18, D61, J17, J28     

Alcohol and the Elderly:

This paper provides an overview of what is currently known about elderly alcohol use and abuse. It identifies areas of social work practice that need to be improved to meet the needs of elderly problem drinkers, and makes recommendations regarding identification, treatment, and coordination of services for this population.     

刘伶《酒德颂》及其与道教服饵、饮酒之关系

刘伶《酒德颂》是一篇描写得道的大人先生揭露贵介公子、缙绅处士伪道学面目的文章。刘伶好酒,并非托己保身或不遵礼法,而是对魏晋时期道教服食、养生文化的反映。刘伶好酒、服药,皆与其修炼隐沦之术有关。《酒德颂》除了具有深刻的道教神仙思想,还有儒家思想的渊源。     

Aboriginal Drinking: A Case Study in Inequality and Disadvantage

This paper examines an aspect of social inequality experienced by Aboriginal people living in a remote Queensland mining town. We contend that non-Aboriginal perceptions and attitudes of Aboriginal drinking behaviour contribute directly to structural inequalities within the Mount Isa community. Social drinking in the township is, for reserve-dwelling Aborigines, restricted mainly to one bar in one hotel and adjoining park and river bank area. The restrictions are preserved through both overt and covert discrimination. Aboriginal inebriation and excessive drinking are therefore more visible to the wider community and more accessible to police prosecution than that of any other ethnic group in the town. Although White folk tales concerning Aboriginal drinking often contain fear about acts of violence and crime directed towards the White community, soundly documented incidents are rare. This paper argues that the persistence of such attitudes is at the heart of a symbolic differential between the White and Black community in Queensland. Moreover, problems within the Aboriginal community that can be directly related to the excessive consumption of alcohol must also be seen as a product of these White reactions and perceptions.     

Alcohol Policy and Health Promotion: Rhetoric and Reality

This paper examines the economic and political constraints on the development of Australian policy directed at the prevention of alcohol-related health problems. An analysis is made of recent official statements and enquiries and it is argued that heightened concern about prevention arose in the context of budgetary problems and the need for governments to find ways of containing expenditure in the welfare area. The effectiveness of current efforts is called into question by the real nature of the constraints on health, and of the disparity between prevention rhetoric and policy implementation. It is suggested that government statements of intent to reduce the overall level of alcohol comsumption in the community entail no clear-cut commitment to a particular strategy or set of strategies, and that recent government actions indicate the limited possibilities for the implementation of such a policy. Any policies governments are likely to pursue are unlikely to disrupt major sources of government revenue. Because of the high profile that governments have created for the problem, there is the possibility that the policies that are adopted will be politically expedient in the short-term rather than providing real solutions.     

Alcohol Use and Abuse in Old Age:

Alcohol use and abuse among the elderly is a serious problem surrounded by confusion. Traditionally older problem drinkers have been divided into two categories: Type I, individuals who have drunk excessively throughout life yet survived to old age and Type II, individuals whose problem drinking began late in life. An extensive renew of the research produced some paths to late-onset problem drinking but only a weak profile of the Type II alocholic. Popular situational factors purported to be the triggers for late-onsest abuse have mixed support and no clear causal theory has yet been delineated. A number of alternative theories deserve further attention. Current information does not support the usefulness of the Type II classification or traditional definitions of alcoholism for the late-onset abuser. Research and treatment efforts may need to be redirected to include male-female differences, and family conflicts with less emphasis on the disease model of alcoholism.     

Alcohol Promotional Clothing Items and Alcohol Use by University Students

The purpose of this study was to examine ownership, visibility, and association with alcohol use of alcohol promotional clothing items (APCIs). Participants were 180 male and 140 female university students; 96.3% had tried drinking alcohol. Almost 45% of participants owned an APCI with t-shirts and hats being the most commonly owned items. Participants who owned APCIs differed in alcohol use from non-owners. Participants who had received an APCI from their parents were likely to perceive that their parents approved of them drinking. The presence of alcohol promotional clothing items contributes to the already saturated pro-drinking social context prevalent on college campuses. Empirical studies establishing a link between alcohol use and APCIs can support proposals to restrict production and distribution of APCIs.     

Modifying Drink Driving Behaviour: An Overview

To reduce the personal, social and economic costs of road accidents caused by drink driving, a wide variety of countermeasures have been tried. However, the problem facing policy makers has been to find measures that are effective deterrents to drink driving, yet cause minimal inconvenience to the driver population as a whole. This paper presents an overview and discussion of those counter measures which are aimed at modifying driver behaviour.     

The Right to Take Risks: Alcohol and Older People

This paper examines policy and practice regarding the purchase of alcohol for older clients of home carers in three local authorities in the Greater London area. Data were gathered from interviews with home carers and their managers, focus group discussions, and a postal survey. None of the local authorities had a written policy or written guidance on alcohol purchase or on appropriate responses to the identification of problematic drinking in older clients. The findings illustrate the problem of balancing "rights" and "risks" within a philosophy of community care which emphasizes client choice and autonomy, and show how policy and practice are "tailored" by local contexts. It is suggested that both home carers and other domiciliary workers, as well as their older clients, could benefit from a clear code of practice regarding responses to alcohol consumption and problematic drinking by older people.     

Lesbians and Alcohol Abuse: Identifying Factors for Future Research

ABSTRACT

This article explores the reasons why lesbians become substance abusers more frequently than individuals in the heterosexual population. A variety of reasons for this phenomenon are explored using 18 studies to assist in helping to identify reasons for the higher rate of substance abuse among the lesbian population. Factors identified as crucial for further research include: self-esteem, social identity and the influence of bars on substance abuse, the prevalence of suicide, disclosure identification, coming out, religious influence, sexual abuse, and gender self-presentation (butch-appearing masculine/femme-appearing effeminate).     

Alcohol and Road Safety: Some Criticisms of Research and Policy

This paper exposes and criticises some basic assumptions that inform research and policy on alcohol and road safety. Numerous official enquiries on road safety have identified alcohol as the greatest single contributing factor to accidents involving death and injury. Policy-makers have, furthermore, given priority to removing the drink-driver from the road through a combination of enhanced detection and law enforcement procedures. Few researchers or policy-makers, however, have questioned the effectiveness of focussing on the individual driver while the structure of the transport system remains essentially unchanged. They have, in the main, adopted a managerial approach to the problem of road death and injury, and failed to examine the theories on accident causation that underpin current road safety strategy. The paper outlines a road safety strategy which aims to reduce the probability of collisions by redressing the chronic imbalance in the uses of the motor car and other (particularly public) means of transport.     

Daily Association and Non-daily Association

Inrecentyears,thequestionofassociationbetweensubjectshasbecomeapopularthemeinphiIosophyinChina,andrepresentsadeepeningofresearchintothetheoryofsocialhistory.Fromatheoreticalpointofview,apracticalphilosophybasedontheunitybetweenmanandnature,andbetweenmanandmancannotbedevelopeduntilareasonablemodelofassociationisestablished.Intermsofpractice,nowthattherehasbeensomemitigationofthematerialshortagestroublingmankind,"intersubjectivity"(zhutijianxing)formedthroughmediasuchaslanguagewilloccupyamoreand…     

酒象与诗魂--酒文化探微

酒,作为诗的一个意象,不但具有跨越时空、贯穿古今的活力,而且具有变幻无穷、不断出新的魔力.酒文化在诗中的意蕴千变万化,诗的意境和主题就千差万别.在诗中,饮量的大小、饮速的快慢、饮者的多少等因素直接决定着诗境的美学效果,诗人的情感起伏,诗情的格调定位.至于酒象在表达相思、送别、田园等主题时所产生的效力则更是气象万千,令人回味.多变的酒象铸造了不朽的诗魂.