One for the road
Grandad April 19th, 2008
They are talking about reducing the blood alcohol levels for drivers again.
They want to reduce it from 80mg to 50mg.
This is going to cause the usual confusion with recalibrating the analysers and people are going to get around the law through legal loopholes once more.
Why don’t they just reduce the limit to zero? That way, if the analyser beeps at all, then you’re caught. Simple. One sniff of a cork from a sherry bottle and you’re fucked. Make it simple.
And they should remove the licences from any pubs that have car parks. That also will discourage drink driving.
I was thinking about this the other night.
It is amazing the clarity of thought I have when driving home through the dark country roads with eight pints of stout under my belt.
- On the road
- Comments(14)
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Some countries have very low limits, but they also have a sliding scale for the penalty too. So half a glass of wine, get caught, you have to snog the mayors wife. With tongues. One glass and it’s the mayor, two and you get sent to Clonmel.
As opposed to, you’ve been in the same room as an open can of shandy, so now we will drop your car on you from a height of 20m.
A lad here (Holland) was caught one sunny Sunday evening with a few on him, the lady cop **snigger** told him to park up the car and not to drive it for 2 hours, as she’d be back later to check.
Fair play to her.
Thrifty - I like the idea of a sliding scale. Though being caught with eight pints and having to snog Harney [with tongues] would turn me teetotal for life?
Xbox4NappyRash - Welcome!! [What were your parents thinking of when they called you that??] That is what I like - a bit of discretion.
Grandad,
the zero limit would cause problems for country clergy!
The same lad asked her for her number when she passed by again, he had less success with that though.
My parents were funny ones Grandad I tell ya.
He should have offered to buy her a drink.
Aw Geez! You’re right they should fine into bankruptcy any pub or bar with a parking lot and then execute anyone buying beer, wine or liquor who owns a car or motorbike. The cars and bikes can then be given to “poor” people.
AAARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!! It the frickin’ governments that should be outlawed!!!
zero limit would cause problems with the red wine sauce not to mind anything else.
This again is a case of everyone suffers. The guys who blatantly flout the drink driving laws are making it difficult for the rest of the populace.
Although drink driving is a problem on our roads I think speed is the number one cause of danger on our roads. Add in the shit state of our roads, the doubling of vehicles in the last ten years and the large amount of untrained/unqualified drivers and you’ve got a lethal mix.
We’re on .05 limit here and provisional drivers on zero tolerance. Plus we have random breath testing which is a pain, those blue and white cars pop out of nowhere at really weird times like 11am . . . our local RSL (big club) has a courtesy bus that will pick more than 4 punters up from any one location within a 10km radius for free and bring em home again and a number of pubs and clubs will provide free soft drink to an alcohol free designated driver! I’m with Paddy . . the number 1 killer on our roads is speed . . .erm going fast, not dropping tabs!
We are supposed to have random testing here too, in the same way we have random speed tests on stretches of the road where speed doesn’t matter [they rarely test on the main roads].
I would disagree that speed is the killer. The number one killers are drivers who are incapable of handling their vehicle properly, and who think they are better drivers than they actually are.
Alcohol is only sold here to expats who have a licence, which is kindly issued by the Ministry of Wonders & Blunders (very big Ministry that). However, should one peruse the very expensive shelves of a discreetly situated bottle store, one will see the big shoppers are the ones wearing garments akin to t-cloths, fan belts & long white dresses. It’s illegal to drink & drive & there is a zero tolerance law in place. Every time we go to a hotel bar, the biggest consumers of falling down beverages are the locals, who then stagger out to their heavily tinted-windowed luxury car, drive off & proceed to create chaos. Should they be involved in an accident, the usual expression of “Do you know who I am?” excludes them from taking any responsibilty. If there is such a thing as coming back after life, then I’d like to be traffic cop here & I’d nail the fuckers to the wall!
Jayne - In all fairness, that doesn’t sound too unlike Ireland, especially the “Do you know who I am?” bit.
Just strap them to a camel, and get the camel drunk!
Reducing the limit will still not stop those habitual people who drink eight pints and drive, those are the types that pse more of a risk. The enforcement option is the only way to stop it, increased Gardai on the roads and random testing.
A friend of mine was stopped recently and breathalysed, he as the driver was sober. His passenger whom I had witnessed drinking six pints and three Jack Daniels asked to be tested, and came back negative. He explained this to the officer who merely shrugged it off.
Greetings, Your Majesty. I agree. Tightening the law isn’t going to make the slightest difference to those who ignore it anyway. It just makes the rest of us suffer.