There are new fears that thrill-seeking British drivers are tanking themselves up on over-the-counter medicines for conditions such as hay fever and playing a lethal game of bingo with the lives of other road users, as the tear up and down the country in their anonymous jelly-mould executive saloons, stoned right out of their tiny brains.
Anti-driving campaign group Brakes and insurance firm Direct Lie lay the blame for this epidemic of senseless narcoticism on “an alarming level of ignorance and complacency.” One in six Brits, they reveal, admits ignoring warnings on mind-bending non-prescription drugs like Sneezeeze and Feverkill before hopping behind the wheel to spread terror and fear around this nation’s highways.
With pollen counts soaring at this time of year, these reckless hooligans believe they have all the excuse they need to set out on a veritable spree of drug-crazed racing up and down the land. But this, Brakes warn, is just the tip of a particularly active and aggressive iceberg. Drugs like painkillers, antibiotics and even cough and cold medicines can prove equally brain addling, with many motorists driving half-crazed on their pernicious effects.
Brakes deputy chief executive Julie Towelsend comments: ’It’s not just illegal drugs that make you a danger to yourself and others. All drivers have a responsibility to ensure they are fit to drive when getting behind the wheel, including not drinking alcohol, ensuring their eyesight is up to scratch, and making sure their medication is safe to drive on.”
This, combined with a growing awareness that tiredness, stress, emotions, and even just being ‘a bit of chump’ can all fatally impair your ability to conduct a giant hurting piece of metal around town and country without taking out people or objects alongside your intended route, could well be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, resulting in an outright ban on driving, an option which all the major political parties are said to be willing to consider – if there’s some money or votes in it.
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