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James Debono
A remarkable majority of respondents to the MaltaToday survey believe open bars should be made illegal, just a month and a half since the tragic New Year’s Eve party in which a young woman lost her life, falling to her death from the Valletta bastions.
Coinciding with moves to increase the drinking age to 18 from the current 16, and Minister Dolores Cristina’s personal belief that open bars should be banned, the survey shows that despite calls for more stringent controls, the most elementary regulations aimed at deterring drunks from driving are absent – with only 0.7 per cent being stopped by the police for a breathalyser test.
While 77.5 per cent agree that the legal drinking age should be more than 18, 58.2 per cent would like to see open bars illegal. Another 66 per cent are against allowing clubs for adults open all night long as happens in many tourist resorts around the world.
 But the survey reveals a gap between the actual behaviour of respondents and their support for stringent controls.
While 87.5 per cent believe that the drinking age should be 18 or more, 53 per cent of respondents have had their first alcoholic drink before they were 18 years of age. A third of respondents have had their first drink before they were even 16.
More alarmingly, 53 per cent of those aged between 18 to 24 have had their first drink before 16, and 30 per cent of them have done had their first drink at home.
Although underage drinking prevails in the younger generations, the age group with the largest number of respondents who have had their first drink before adolescence is the oldest one. Among those aged over 65, 10 per cent have had their first drink before 12 years.
It is also interesting that the greatest number of respondents have had their first encounter with alcohol during a family dinner at home.
Despite the huge number of people who have had their first encounter of alcohol at home, an overwhelming majority of 70 per cent of respondents agree that parents should be held legally responsible for underage drinking.
Apart from their own home, respondents mentioned entertainment establishments, village bars, village feasts and weddings as the place where they have consumed their first alcoholic drink.
While younger respondents are more likely to have consumed their first drink in a club or disco, older respondents are more likely to have consumed their first drink at a wedding.
A considerable seven per cent of respondents have had their first drink during the village feast.
Drinking and driving
The survey also reveals that as regards drinking and driving, current law enforcement is scarce and ineffective. The breathalyser test was introduced in 1997 by the short-lived Labour government but the law makes it very difficult for the police to clamp down on drunk drinkers because they can only perform the test on consenting drivers.
In fact only 0.7 per cent of respondents have ever been stopped by the police to have their alcohol levels measured with a breathalyser test. This is an indication that the test has failed to make a difference in the lives of most people.
In the absence of a deterrent, 14 per cent of respondents admit to drink some alcohol before driving, albeit if most respondents claimed that they only consume moderate amounts of alcohol.
Males are less considerate than females when it comes to drinking and driving than females. Only 0.5 per cent of females, compared to 7 per cent of males, admit to drinking and driving. And while only 3.6 of females admit drinking a few drinks before driving, 20 per cent of males do likewise.
Methodological Note
Respondents were asked to state their opinion on various issues related to alcohol consumption as well as on their actual behaviour. A total of 456 respondents were randomly selected from the telephone directory. 300 of these respondents accepted to participate in the survey. This survey has a margin of error of +/- 5.7 per cent. The survey was conducted between Monday 23 January and Thursday 26 January.
jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt
Links:
www.maltatoday.com.mt /2006/02/05/t10.html
www.sedqa.gov.mt/information_reportsmalta.asp |
