[MS313]

The state senate has passed a bill for bars to stay open until 4am in Michigan, two extra hours from it's current closing time, 2am. Now it is going to go to the house.
This is from the Crains Detroit website.

The bill let bars and restaurants that pay a $10,000 annual fee to sell alcoholic drinks until 4 a.m. Eighty-five percent of the money would go to local police, 10 percent to the state Liquor Control Commission and 5 percent to the communities where the permit is issued.
Detroit Democratic Sen. Virgil Smith is the bill's sponsor. The measure would give downtown businesses the same status as those in other major cities, he told Mlive.
"Business owners down there (in downtown Detroit) were asking for it so that they could compete with Chicago, Atlanta, D.C., New York, Miami ... at least when we get these conventions here and things of that nature, folks are clamoring to hang out," Smith said.

Here is the MLive article: Michigan bars could stay open until 4 a.m. under Senate-passed bill | MLive.com

Some people fear that this may cause more drunk driving incidents but I seriously doubt it will make much of a difference if at all. In cities where the last call is later than 2am, do they really have a much higher DUI rate than Detroit or Michigan? I hear it's about the same, you can't even tell the difference. In fact, many people say that most people clear out of the bars and clubs before 4am in other cities.

What do you think about this?

[leroythelion]

Originally Posted by MS313

The state senate has passed a bill for bars to stay open until 4am in Michigan, two extra hours from it's current closing time, 2am. Now it is going to go to the house.
This is from the Crains Detroit website.

Here is the MLive article: Michigan bars could stay open until 4 a.m. under Senate-passed bill | MLive.com

Some people fear that this may cause more drunk driving incidents but I seriously doubt it will make much of a difference if at all. In cities where the last call is later than 2am, do they really have a much higher DUI rate than Detroit or Michigan? I hear it's about the same, you can't even tell the difference. In fact, many people say that most people clear out of the bars and clubs before 4am in other cities.

What do you think about this?

You missed the third option:

c) Should this really be a priority for our legislature?

[rotwein]

Why not let the local communities/counties decide this issue. Why should shift workers be penalized? If it is acceptable to the community then do it.

[detwahDJ]

Originally Posted by leroythelion

You missed the third option:

c) Should this really be a priority for our legislature?

It would be good for business - and why not join the rest of the civilized world? Can the legislature not walk and chew at the same time? Also, we might get tougher on habitual DUI offenders - that is, people who are proven menaces.

Drunk driving across the globe: let's learn from one another : The Lancet

Excerpts:
A Union of Temperance Drivers was formed in Sweden in the early 1930s and later spread to Norway, Finland, and Denmark. In the USA, however, the failed attempt at Prohibition from 1919 to 1933 led to a backlash against a moralistic mindset. Legal officials viewed drunk drivers less as criminal menaces than as alcoholics in need of rehabilitation.

“One of the cornerstones of our American way of life is the element of personal freedom, the maximum liberty of the individual to do as he pleases within the restrictions of majority-approved laws.” This philosophy remained in place in the USA even after the government issued a report in 1968 estimating that 25 000 Americans died each year due to drunk driving.

[Retroit]

It will make the roads safer from 2-4 a.m.

[michigan83]

Cool. Now I can stop at the bar on my way in to work.

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by michigan83

Cool. Now I can stop at the bar on my way in to work.

+1

Anyone who's ever worked in a bar knows that hard-core alky's order a pitcher and a row of shots @1:55 & then drink until you toss them out anyways. (Pretty sure they have to actually empty the bars at like 3am?)..

I suppose it might be good for the economy though - the hard core drunks can do "last call" @ 4am, leave the bar @5 am.. take a nap in the parking lot for a couple hours & be ready to work @7 or 8am..

[DONNIEANDDONNA417]

here comes the DUI's

[detwahDJ]

Originally Posted by Zippyman

+1

Anyone who's ever worked in a bar knows that hard-core alky's order a pitcher and a row of shots @1:55 & then drink until you toss them out anyways. (Pretty sure they have to actually empty the bars at like 3am?)..

I suppose it might be good for the economy though - the hard core drunks can do "last call" @ 4am, leave the bar @5 am.. take a nap in the parking lot for a couple hours & be ready to work @7 or 8am..

I think we need to deal with the problem like other places have. In Berlin, a comparatively huge city, the bars closed at 7a.m. only to tidy up and then reopen - no big drunk problem there either. I'm not up on the laws and ordinances, but mass transit was stellar and one didn't absolutely need to drive.

[MS313]

Is there any evidence that cities that have later closing times have more DUI problems, my thing is, anyone can go get liquor before 2am and get drunk all night long. Whenever they have these last calls people are literally rushing to get their last drinks in before they go hit the road, so there is no time to space the drinks out like they should be doing.

Honestly, who is more likely to take large amounts of alcohol back to back right before driving home?
The person who knows the bar closes in 20 minutes when the night is still young, or the person who knows the bar doesn't close so he can take all the time he wants and still has time to recover before going home?

I think the "last call" thing has good intentions but how much does it really do besides make people want to take the last few shots before going home? I mean yea, it's easier for police to catch drunk drivers because all they have to do is patrol the streets at 2am, but that's because there are tons of them leaving the bars all at the same time.