4 ms·

I have to wonder how much legal alcohol limits reduce/increase death rates. Go to any sufficiently large party and there'll be some guy who's drunk after an al

by fiblye 7y ago

I have to wonder how much legal alcohol limits reduce/increase death rates. Go to any sufficiently large party and there'll be some guy who's drunk after an all nighter and ready to hop in his car, asserting that it's okay because he's not drunk anymore. The dude's still drunk, but once you get worn out and start coming down, you just kind of feel done. It seems to me (in my uninformed view) that legal limits let these guys feel like they have some leeway and they're probably legally safe to drive (which, honestly, they might even be). It plants an idea that there's a reasonable threshold of drunkenness in which driving is still okay, which I don't think is a good idea. I'm not generally a supporter of zero tolerance policies, but I think leaning that way is possibly better. As a person who almost never drinks, I feel pretty off and goofy halfway through one beer. I'd probably be under the BAC limit but there's no way I'm fit to drive. I don't have confidence in my drunk driving abilities, but plenty of people do and they think they have a legal basis for it.

harrisonjackson 7y ago
A friend once brought a breathalyzer to a party - we were all quite disturbed to find how impaired we felt while still under the legal limit.
temporaryvector 7y ago
Legal alcohol limits are a guideline and not a solid rule. Ideally, they were designed with the idea that personal responsibility would play a role in your decision to drive after having a beer. After all, you can have zero alcohol in your system and still be impaired in some way like other drugs, sickness, donating blood, lack of sleep, etc. This is why DUI arrests usually involve some judgement on the side of the police officer, and they can make the decision that you're driving impaired even if you are under the legal limit. I am ambivalent on the idea of reducing legal limits. For one, it's never been easier to avoid driving drunk, with Uber and the like, and anecdotally it seems that the propaganda against drunk driving is working, with it becoming largely unacceptable among younger people these days (although this would be purely anecdotal, I have no evidence either way). Additionally, seeing how I don't drink, any reduction to the legal limit wouldn't really affect me much. On the other hand, I don't like the idea of zero tolerance laws and I think they always do more hard than good, and additionally I don't believe that farther reducing the limit will have any effect on drunk driving. I also don't much like the idea of farther restricting the decision making power of police officers, there needs to be a balance here: enough restrictions to prevent abuse but also enough freedom to allow officers to account for circumstances and not turn them into law-enforcing robots. Increasing police budget to get better enforcement of existing laws would be another approach but doesn't seem like a good use of money. I think the most cost effective way of reducing impaired driving related fatalities has been, and will continue being, education and public transport when it comes to urban areas. Ride hailing apps and self-driving vehicles will eventually do the rest. One kind of legislative change I'd consider taking a look at is reducing or removing penalties for sleeping in your car, particularly in rural and suburban areas. Letting someone sleep it off in their car is far better than them driving drunk, and I think any fears of homeless people setting up camp in their cars, which is the origin of many such laws, is vastly exaggerated.

by fiblye 7y ago

harrisonjackson 7y ago

A friend once brought a breathalyzer to a party - we were all quite disturbed to find how impaired we felt while still under the legal limit.

temporaryvector 7y ago

Legal alcohol limits are a guideline and not a solid rule. Ideally, they were designed with the idea that personal responsibility would play a role in your decision to drive after having a beer. After all, you can have zero alcohol in your system and still be impaired in some way like other drugs, sickness, donating blood, lack of sleep, etc. This is why DUI arrests usually involve some judgement on the side of the police officer, and they can make the decision that you're driving impaired even if you are under the legal limit. I am ambivalent on the idea of reducing legal limits. For one, it's never been easier to avoid driving drunk, with Uber and the like, and anecdotally it seems that the propaganda against drunk driving is working, with it becoming largely unacceptable among younger people these days (although this would be purely anecdotal, I have no evidence either way). Additionally, seeing how I don't drink, any reduction to the legal limit wouldn't really affect me much. On the other hand, I don't like the idea of zero tolerance laws and I think they always do more hard than good, and additionally I don't believe that farther reducing the limit will have any effect on drunk driving. I also don't much like the idea of farther restricting the decision making power of police officers, there needs to be a balance here: enough restrictions to prevent abuse but also enough freedom to allow officers to account for circumstances and not turn them into law-enforcing robots. Increasing police budget to get better enforcement of existing laws would be another approach but doesn't seem like a good use of money. I think the most cost effective way of reducing impaired driving related fatalities has been, and will continue being, education and public transport when it comes to urban areas. Ride hailing apps and self-driving vehicles will eventually do the rest. One kind of legislative change I'd consider taking a look at is reducing or removing penalties for sleeping in your car, particularly in rural and suburban areas. Letting someone sleep it off in their car is far better than them driving drunk, and I think any fears of homeless people setting up camp in their cars, which is the origin of many such laws, is vastly exaggerated.