An Australian mayor’s alleged exploits belong in the latter category.
Redland City Mayor Karen Williams admitted to drinking “several glasses of wine” before crashing her car into a tree last week, according to reports.
What made it worse was the crash happened just an hour after Williams had met with the families of drunk driving victims.
The country has one of the world’s highest rates of car accidents caused by drunk driving, behind only the United States, Canada and South Africa, according to the Global Status Report on Road Safety by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2015. Alcohol consumption is the key factor in 30% of road accident deaths in Australia.
Williams said she made “a serious error of judgment” and was “deeply regretful” after her drunk driving crash. She stepped down from the Brisbane Olympics 2032 board, but resisted calls for her resignation and was not charged.
Shortly before the accident, Williams had declared, “We need to clean up the drunk driving,” according to Seven News.
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Redland City Mayor Karen Williams admitted to drinking “several glasses of wine” before crashing her car into a tree last week, according to reports.
What made it worse was the crash happened just an hour after Williams had met with the families of drunk driving victims.
The country has one of the world’s highest rates of car accidents caused by drunk driving, behind only the United States, Canada and South Africa, according to the Global Status Report on Road Safety by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2015. Alcohol consumption is the key factor in 30% of road accident deaths in Australia.
Williams said she made “a serious error of judgment” and was “deeply regretful” after her drunk driving crash. She stepped down from the Brisbane Olympics 2032 board, but resisted calls for her resignation and was not charged.
Shortly before the accident, Williams had declared, “We need to clean up the drunk driving,” according to Seven News.

Queensland mayor spoke to families of drink driving victims hours before car crash
Karen Williams had been advocating for the families of Kate Leadbetter and Matthew Field, who were killed by a drunk and drug-affected teen driving a stolen car.


Drunk Mayor Crashes Car After Meeting Families of Drunk Driving Victims
Redland City mayor Karen Williams admitted to drinking "several glasses of wine" before crashing her car into a tree.


Infographic: The Worst Countries In The World For Drunk Driving
This chart shows the percentage of road accident deaths involving alcohol in 2015 (selected countries).