In their paper on drinking and driving, Pechansky & Chandran [Pechansky F., Chandran A. Why don't Northern American solutions to drinking and driving work in Southern America? http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2011.03731.x] argue that limited knowledge of the extent of this risky behaviour and its consequences might help to explain the lack or inadequacy of policies and strategies to ad dress the problem in southern America compared to North American countries. In order to ad dress this gap they propose improvements in data collection, passage of drinking and driving laws, where such laws do not exist, and better enforcement of the laws. These are essential strategies in a broad and systematic policy response aimed at reducing the health burden attributable to road traffic accidents. However, it seems that in the case of Brazil, the problem is not so much the lack of data or laws but lapses in the enforcement of existing laws. Even with an unsatisfactory situation (as illustrated in the vignette), Brazil is already ahead of many developing countries, especially most countries in the African region, where alcohol policies have not been developed and implemented (although discussions are currently taking place in a few of these countries). It is noteworthy, too, that even where, as in Kenya, a national Alcoholic Drinks Control Act has been passed recently, no provision was made for the control of drunk driving, including specifying the limit of blood alcohol concentration for drivers. (Author/publisher)
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