Volvo asks gov't if it could drive drunk

In article >,
Dave Head > wrote:

>living in the midwest. People on the coasts refer to the midwest in disdain by
>referring to it as "flyover territory" but they don't have a clue about the
>best places to live in this country.

I've seen people put in jail for minor traffic offenses in Sangomon
County, IL. Doesn't seem like the Midwest is such a bastion of
liberty.

On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 14:48:47 -0500, (Matthew
Russotto) wrote:

>In article >,
>Dave Head > wrote:
>
>>living in the midwest. People on the coasts refer to the midwest in disdain by
>>referring to it as "flyover territory" but they don't have a clue about the
>>best places to live in this country.
>
>I've seen people put in jail for minor traffic offenses in Sangomon
>County, IL. Doesn't seem like the Midwest is such a bastion of
>liberty.

Yeah, well, I can't say it doesn't ever happen, but still - the Midwest isn't
known for one damn legalistic idiocy after another like the coasts are.

Dave Head

On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 08:58:25 -0700, Ed White wrote:

> Do you think having one glass of wine is enough to impair your driving?

Unless you are an alcoholic it does, even though the impairment may be
small. And if you are an alcoholic your driving is already impaired when
you are sober.

> And do you think that any driver that has had three beers, is a worse
> driver that every other driver on the road?

No, a driver, who has had 5 beers is definitely worse.

> It is not just drivers that have had three beers that have poor reflexes.

Their reflexes are significantly worse than if they were sober, which is
the only thing that counts. You are required by law to minimize the risk
for others on the road and driving drunk is the exact opposite of this,
which is why it is illegal.

> And it is not just drivers that have had three beers that make bad
> decisions.

No, the drunks just make much more bad decisions.

> However, drivers that have had three beers that can be pulled out of a
> car at a random road block and thrown in jail, even if they were driving
> in a safe manner.

There is no such thing as driving 'in a safe manner' when drunk. Your
reflexes are slowed, your ego is boosted (which is why most drunks think
they are driving in a safe manner) and your situational awareness goes
down the drain.

> I am not advocating drunk driving. However, I do think the anti-drinking
> lobby has pushed the rules further than reasonable if the goal is
> traffic safety.

..08% is a very generous number in my opinion. Most European countries are
down to .05% and alcohol related deaths went down with it. If you don't
want to be jailed, don't drink and drive, it's that simple.

> No politician that wants to get re-elected is going to come out for
> relaxing drinking while driving rules no matter what the facts.

The facts say that stricter rules would save more lives than all speed
enforcements together. Unfortunately the alcohol lobby is going to stop
that from happening, which is why drunk assholes continue killing people
and thinking 'it can't happen to me'.

Chris