The popular comedy star Niu Zhenhua was killed in a traffic accident not long ago, after slamming his limousine into the back of a truck under the influence of alcohol. It seemed to be a straightforward case, sending a clear message: Niu had only himself to blame for his death from drunk driving. Those who own a car should draw a lesson from Niu’s violation of the road safety law, and refrain from drinking before sitting behind the wheel. Isn’t the lesson clear enough? But strangely enough, things are not quite that simple.

The CCTV talk show, People in the News (xinwen huiketing), invited one of Niu’s friends onto the programme a couple of weeks ago to engage in a discussion about Niu’s accident. To my great surprise, what the guest said seemed to suggest that it was not fair to lay all the blame on Niu, since it was hard for him to decline drinking during a banquet, even before driving.

He rattled on about how disrespectful it would have been to turn down invitations for drinks from those inside the entertainment circle ?for whom feasting and boozing is a routine. Apparently there was no way to resist the urge to “bottoms up?on such occasions. Since you were invited by so-and-so for drinks last time at their place, he argued, how could you be so ungrateful as to not toast your buddies when it comes to your turn to play host?

So, instead of talking about what a bitter lesson we must all learn from Niu’s tragedy, this friend was trying to explain away his wrongdoing. And he never said a word about observance of the road safety law or the sense of obligation every driver must keep in mind when driving. If he ?as an acting celebrity ?holds such views about drinking, it sends a very dangerous signal.

With people getting more prosperous each day, drinking has become an essential, if not inseparable, part of daily life. Per-capita consumption of alcohol is going up fast. While most ordinary folk remain light drinkers, drinking only during family events or on special occasions, we must admit that frequent, heavy-drinking has rapidly found its way into nearly every sphere of social life. The danger of alcohol abuse is there. If society isn’t ready to institute more forceful measures to address the issue, we are likely to experience more cases of fatal traffic accidents in the future.

But first of all, we, especially government authorities, must keep a clear head as to the potential hazards excessive drinking poses to society. If it goes on unchecked, there’s going to be a big problem. Unfortunately, not all who are in leading positions or of high standing understand this, as was manifested by the talk show. That may explain why the relevant government agencies so far have not done much to address the country’s growing alcohol consumption problem.

Ironically, to deal with problem drinkers, two new items have recently leaped into the spotlight. One is an insurance company selling a special policy for people who often drive while drunk and the other is the fledgling business of providing licensed drivers to drive cars in the place of owners who have fallen under the influence of alcohol. Apparently these new ideas are meant to ensure road safety in cases when the car-owners get “tanked up? along with compensation for those who get injured or killed in traffic accidents caused by drunk driving. In my opinion, however, they alone may not work, if they are not preceded by education and proper guidance.

Contrary to what was originally intended, they may turn out to simply encourage more unbridled drinking or even drunk driving. Frankly speaking, I wonder whether these novel ideas are more motivated by business interests than a bid to reduce the incidence of road accidents. I believe the right approach would be to first focus on launching a preemptive campaign nationwide to nip the potentially major alcohol problem in the bud by giving wide publicity to the newly-released Road Traffic Safety Law, or more broadly, the advantages of drinking in moderation, in a cultured way.

The solution to boozing lies mainly in raising public awareness about the serious consequences it can lead to, rather than coming up with poorly-devised remedial measures.

Without a doubt, wine occupies an important place in our culture and life. Yet it is important to learn to exercise self-restraint. For now, it seems still some way off before drinking becomes a burning problem. However it is already high time to battle with the bottle. If we take action now, we’re not going to repeat the alcohol related social evils that have been plaguing the Western world for so long. And we can’t afford to.

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