Teh One Who Knocks
10-16-2011, 04:48 PM
By The Wall Street Journal
http://i.imgur.com/pjlW0.jpg
YATALA, Australia -- Australia's hard-partying pub culture is beginning to show its softer side.
Spurred by the unwanted and rowdy side effects that sometimes accompany a night on the town, drinking establishments have turned to a novel approach to save overindulging revelers from broken bones and bruised egos: rubber sidewalks.
The installation of the matting made from recycled rubber tires started as an effort to cut down on clanking keg noise but has experienced a major bounce recently as scores of bars have replaced their concrete walkways with the spongy surface.
"They're even putting it inside clubs now, especially around dance floors," said Steve Thomas, head of sales and marketing for A1 Rubber, one of the Australia's largest developers of the sidewalks.
In a country desperate for solutions to curb rising alcohol-related crimes and injuries, the matting has come to be seen as a legitimate attempt to soften impacts from scuffles and stumbles.
Sydney's bar bouncers are among the surface's fans.
"Anything to do with safety, and this certainly qualifies, should seriously be looked at across the board," said Peter Mercouris, a principal at Australian Investigation & Security Management, which provides security at several Sydney pubs. "But we need to remember the person that is consuming the alcohol must be responsible for themselves."
Australian authorities and medical experts say alcohol has fueled a startling increase in assaults and related injuries in recent years, even as other crimes have dropped. Since 1996, the rate of assault per 100,000 Australians has risen on average by two percent each year. In 2009, in the latest government statistics available, violent assaults in Australia were at a record high of 175,277 incidents, up 30 percent over the past decade.
"The violence these days is quite significant," said Peter Remfrey, secretary of the police association of New South Wales, Australia's most populous state. "The victims of these alcohol-related crimes have a right to come home healthy."
Barry O'Farrell, the newly-elected premier of New South Wales, put it more succinctly, "People are sick of having drunks ruin their nights out."
Nobody sees the rubber sidewalks as a cure-all for Australia's drinking woes, but it has still become something of a booming niche industry surrounding the pubs.
A1 Rubber, located in the small industrial town of Yatala in Queensland state, has seen 35 percent annual sales growth since 2005 and is opening new warehouses in Sydney and South Australia in the coming year to meet demand, said Thomas, the marketing and sales chief. The 50 companies in Australia that make or install the matting generate about $100 million in revenue a year, up from about $70 million in 2005.
http://i.imgur.com/pjlW0.jpg
YATALA, Australia -- Australia's hard-partying pub culture is beginning to show its softer side.
Spurred by the unwanted and rowdy side effects that sometimes accompany a night on the town, drinking establishments have turned to a novel approach to save overindulging revelers from broken bones and bruised egos: rubber sidewalks.
The installation of the matting made from recycled rubber tires started as an effort to cut down on clanking keg noise but has experienced a major bounce recently as scores of bars have replaced their concrete walkways with the spongy surface.
"They're even putting it inside clubs now, especially around dance floors," said Steve Thomas, head of sales and marketing for A1 Rubber, one of the Australia's largest developers of the sidewalks.
In a country desperate for solutions to curb rising alcohol-related crimes and injuries, the matting has come to be seen as a legitimate attempt to soften impacts from scuffles and stumbles.
Sydney's bar bouncers are among the surface's fans.
"Anything to do with safety, and this certainly qualifies, should seriously be looked at across the board," said Peter Mercouris, a principal at Australian Investigation & Security Management, which provides security at several Sydney pubs. "But we need to remember the person that is consuming the alcohol must be responsible for themselves."
Australian authorities and medical experts say alcohol has fueled a startling increase in assaults and related injuries in recent years, even as other crimes have dropped. Since 1996, the rate of assault per 100,000 Australians has risen on average by two percent each year. In 2009, in the latest government statistics available, violent assaults in Australia were at a record high of 175,277 incidents, up 30 percent over the past decade.
"The violence these days is quite significant," said Peter Remfrey, secretary of the police association of New South Wales, Australia's most populous state. "The victims of these alcohol-related crimes have a right to come home healthy."
Barry O'Farrell, the newly-elected premier of New South Wales, put it more succinctly, "People are sick of having drunks ruin their nights out."
Nobody sees the rubber sidewalks as a cure-all for Australia's drinking woes, but it has still become something of a booming niche industry surrounding the pubs.
A1 Rubber, located in the small industrial town of Yatala in Queensland state, has seen 35 percent annual sales growth since 2005 and is opening new warehouses in Sydney and South Australia in the coming year to meet demand, said Thomas, the marketing and sales chief. The 50 companies in Australia that make or install the matting generate about $100 million in revenue a year, up from about $70 million in 2005.