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Over the holiday, we had a drunk driver hit a group of 20 cyclists(!) from behind (!!!) sending several of them to the hospital. He was literally vomiting in his car on the way and on the side of the street while waiting for the police.
You have to question whether somebody with the irresponsibility to get this drunk in the first place would even think about taking a bus back home, or even getting a free taxi with the existing "emergency ride home" program we have. IMO, the only way to prevent these folks from getting on the road is to actually prevent them from getting on the road, not have it so that the police might catch them, or might not. How? Perhaps we need breathalyzers in every car or something. Maybe start with insurance discounts or rebates from alcohol tax revenue for those who voluntarily install them.
One solution to that problem is for the couple not to get wasted. You have to drink several drinks to reach 0.8 BAC.
How would you implement that solution? Would you suggest the bar or restaurant has a 1 drink per hour maximum? Would you implement a 'don't get wasted' campaign and sit back and hope that people take home the message?
I believe (but I could be wrong) that people are more likely to make better decisions when they have more options available to them. For example, why do you think Texas has a DWI fatality rate three times higher than New York's?
Quote:
New York
Total Alcohol-Impaired Driving Fatalities 315
Alcohol-Impaired Driving Fatalities per 100K population 1.6
Texas
Total Alcohol-Impaired Driving Fatalities 1213
Alcohol-Impaired Driving Fatalities per 100K population 4.7
How would you implement that solution? Would you suggest the bar or restaurant has a 1 drink per hour maximum? Would you implement a 'don't get wasted' campaign and sit back and hope that people take home the message?
I believe (but I could be wrong) that people are more likely to make better decisions when they have more options available to them. For example, why do you think Texas has a DWI fatality rate three times higher than New York's?
How would you implement that solution? Would you suggest the bar or restaurant has a 1 drink per hour maximum? Would you implement a 'don't get wasted' campaign and sit back and hope that people take home the message?
I don't know about you that live south of the border, but here in Canada we saw a massive reduction in drunk driving offences by instituting strict penalties for doing it. On first offence, you receive a one-year license suspension, a stiff fine and a criminal conviction. Second offence is minimum 30 days in jail, license suspension and escalating fines. IIRC, you require to have a breathalyser be installed in your car's ignition system, and your insurance rates will likely be unaffordable.
Quote:
I believe (but I could be wrong) that people are more likely to make better decisions when they have more options available to them. For example, why do you think Texas has a DWI fatality rate three times higher than New York's?
Irresponsible people will always make irresponsible decisions despite how many options you provide them with. Simply put, you can't fix stupid.
One can do it, two is easily sufficient; the "standard drink" they trot out when they're trying to lower BAC levels even further is considerably smaller than many real drinks.
I thought it was three? I thought the standard drink was one normal drink, that's actually stupid to make it smaller as it would mislead people into thinking they can drink more without reaching the BAC thershold.
I thought it was three? I thought the standard drink was one normal drink, that's actually stupid to make it smaller as it would mislead people into thinking they can drink more without reaching the BAC thershold.
I thought it was three? I thought the standard drink was one normal drink, that's actually stupid to make it smaller as it would mislead people into thinking they can drink more without reaching the BAC thershold.
NHTSA defines a standard drink as 0.6 oz alcohol. I've seen charts with standard drinks as small as 0.4 oz alcohol (usually phrased as a 1 oz shot, possibly derived from a European "standard drink" of 10g (0.43 oz), which is what is used in Widmark's formula for estimating BAC). A standard 5oz pour of a typical glass of red wine is 0.7 oz alcohol. A pint of beer ranges from a little over half an ounce for light beer to 0.8 oz for a typical microbrew ale (or lowly Bud Ice, 0.88), and can be much higher.
Here in Australia the number of standard drinks have to be printed on the side of the bottle. For instance, the 700 ml bottle of vodka I have says 21 standard drinks. I've never had a beer here that's been less than 1.2 standard drinks and that's only because the bottle was the equivalent of 10 oz.
Most 12 oz bottles of beer are in the 1.4 to 1.6 standard drink range and I'm talking about ales and lagers in the 4.8-6% abv range.
I'm actually against the idea of alcohol taxes going much higher. A little is fine depending the taxes that already exist in your location. Philly already has a restaurant and bar drink tax. It's ridiculous here in Australia. A bottle of liquor or case of beer is typically 80% more here than in the US and most of it is because the government recently instituted a 'sin tax' on beer and liquor (but not wine) to discourage 20 somethings from drinking too heavily. It's had the opposite effect. Because it's so expensive to drink, especially for a night out, kids save their money during the week and go crazy on the weekends.
When i was in my 20s (and early 30s) going down to the pub for a burger and a few beers happened a few nights a week. Maybe on a Friday night I'd have 4 beers instead of 3. Getting wasted on the weekends was for amateurs even though over the course of a week I probably drank more than they did.
I think the tax should depend on the culture of drinking. Binge drinking 20-somethings going to party districts on the weekend are going to be sloppy and prone to violence and should probably be getting in a cab. People drinking at a neighborhood bar a few nights a week are probably walking home anyway and won't be causing much trouble to begin with. I'd rather see those kinds of drink taxes go more towards increased police presence in those areas than increased public transit.
One solution to that problem is for the couple not to get wasted. You have to drink several drinks to reach 0.8 BAC.
Yes that would take a few drinks - and you won't find anyone that level driving, walking, or breathing. 0.3 is blackout territory and 0.45 is considered fatal.
Maybe you meant 0.08.
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Or that the options New Yorkers have make a difference?
