I changed that sentence because my meaning was confusing.


I don't think there is a real answer to your question but a general approach should involve a sliding scale of penalties that involve how drunk a person is and how often they repeat the behavior. The scale should be based on studies as much as possible.

 

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The problem with arbitrary limits is....they are arbitrary.

Some people shouldn't be allowed to drive with no booze in their system, they are a menace and it's just a matter of time till they kill someone.

Others can get home safely with 4 times the current legal limit of booze in their system.

The problem isn't drinking and driving....it's stupid people allowed to control multi-tons of metal traveling at high rates of speed inches from other stupid people doing the same thing.

If I've had more than 1 drink I just don't drive. Period.

 

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Exactly. After more than 1 drink every 2 hours, you immediately hand your keys over with the 2nd drink (or otherwise stash them so that you remember... it ain't time to drive).

Once you've gotten to that 2nd or 3rd drink, you're really not able to make the decision, anymore.

 

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Any drinking simply because some people get more impaired quicker than others.


I liked how my first seargent explained it, you get a DWI/DUI your done you have my number, your supervisors number, your superintendts number, your friends numbers... not to mention taxis/buses... there is no excuse to ever drink and drive. (from my military perspective)


Edit: There are so many options available even on the civy side of life that there is no excuse to ever drive after drinking... where I live Taxis give discounted rates to get people home safely, you choose to go out drinking without a plan to get home your an idiot.

Of course people can get home safely with 4 times the legal limit. That doesn't mean they will.


It is not like some video special you watched in middle school. People who kill themselves or others while driving drunk are not first time offenders and are not always completely drunk. They may have driven home many times more drunk than they were when they got in the accident.


This is why I keep bringing up risk. Driving drunk is a risk. It is not like there is some line that once crossed leads to instant death. It is in large part random.

 

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I mean when it comes to enforcing it. Its the drivers responsiblity to figure it out for themselves. If they suspect they're over the legal limit then they take the risk of getting pulled over. If they suspect they're too intoxicated to drive, they probably shouldn't.

What leads them to this conclusion? Hopefully a strong knowledge of themselves and their limitations.


Saying something like "slurring speech" is a fine measure, but I slur my speech or stutter sometimes stone sober. Sometimes I'm more eloquent having had a drink or four (more importantly, I think I am at the time.)

I've been pulled over for "not driving straight" a few times even I haven't had a drink. (at 3am in a smallish town when the cops are bored, making a left turn constitutes as not driving straight). And I've driven buzzed right by cops looking to pull someone over.

Everyone should know their limits and abide by them, but until that happens, there needs to be a standard and those tasked with enforcing those limits for us have to use their discretion to test those they think have gone beyond them.

 

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That doesn't match up. How is a strong knowledge of themselves and their limitations goign to tell them whether their BAC is a certain level of not?


I guarantee you most people have no clue what their BAC is and certainly don't make decisions about whether to drive or not based on what they think their BAC is.


Everybody uses some method that involves evaluating how drunk they actually are, not what their BAC might be. I am curious what people think that level of impairment should be. The BAC is after all just a vague proxy for whatever that value is. Saying you shouldn't be above a certain BAC is just question begging because you need to determine what that BAC should be based on something else.

1 beer is one beer too much..

 

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I'm pretty sure I don't have some special immunity to alcohol and it takes me 2-3 drinks to even feel the buzz.

If I have 2 drinks an hour I will never reach a buzz, let alone get drunk.

I don't drink anywhere where I am driving anyway, but if I was I wouldn't be concerned unless I had been drinking more than socially. All you have to do is stop drinking half an hour before you go home and your buzz will be gone unless you let yourself get drunk.

My unwillingness to drink and drive is less about a concern for my inability to drive and more for my unwillingness to get in trouble with the law.

 

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