Drink Driving

Old Mar 26th 2015, 12:52 pm
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Default Drink Driving

Last night while I sat outside a local bar in Fort Lauderdale there was a terrible car crash where a guy lost control of his Mercedes at high speed, screeched on the brakes (way too late) and smashed into a fire hydrant which was propelled into a wall (never seen a huge chunk of metal "bounce" like that) while he smashed into the wall, bringing it down. The car was an absolute wreck and one of the medics said he should be dead but miraculously he was conscious and able to talk. Luckily nobody else was hurt but 50 feet further and he would have wiped out everyone sat outside the bar.

A friend and I were "first on the scene" and spoke to the guy while the ambulance etc were on the way and you could tell instantly that he was extremely drunk (you could smell it) on top of whatever concussion he now may have had and it just got me thinking a little about the attitude towards drink driving where I live now compared to England.

Obviously this is an extreme - I don't think many people would consider driving at high speeds while blackout drunk but I do find people are way more relaxed about it here. In England, if I was going out for a couple of beers then I'd find a designated driver or get a taxi and there was always a huge stigma and shame attached to driving after drinking. I don't know if it's just this area or the US in general but I find people are relaxed about driving to the bar, having 5 beers and driving home. It was surprising at first but now I'm used to it and I don't think twice about driving when going out unless I know it's going to be a long session.

Has anyone else noticed this since moving here or is it different where you are?
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Old Mar 26th 2015, 1:14 pm
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Default Re: Drink Driving

Originally Posted by English88
.... Has anyone else noticed this since moving here or is it different where you are?
Sadly, as far as I know, it is the same across the whole of the US.

A key part of the problem is that if you are "banned from driving", you are still allowed to drive to work, to college, to take your children to school, to church on Sundays, etc. so not much of a deterrent. Even with all those exceptions it is fairly common to hear of people just ignoring the ban and driving anyway, an offence for which they only seem to get a slap on the wrist. ..... The result of a drunk-driving convicting can be a massive increase in the cost of insurance, which leads to people having woefully inadequate insurance, or driving without insurance.
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Old Mar 26th 2015, 1:25 pm
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Default Re: Drink Driving

It is scarily prevalent here - basically "don't mess with my constitutional right to exercise the freedom to drive my own automobile whenever I damn well like" - I'm not sure the constitution said a whole lot about cars, but that's by the by....

We have a monthly "dads night out" with a bunch of mainly oil industry types that live around us (kinda sad that a night out has to be planned on a monthly basis - again, by the by). There are a mix of nationalities, mainly Brits, Scandinavians and Americans. Invariably the Brits/Scandis carpool or taxi, and the driver never drinks. Invariably the Americans arrive in their own cars, match us pint for pint, then after 4/5/6 pints, get in the car and drive home. When it started, we used to try to persuade them to carpool with us, but it simply did not compute - despite the "drink..drive...go to jail..." ads, nobody really gives a toss about it.
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Old Mar 26th 2015, 1:29 pm
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Default Re: Drink Driving

Originally Posted by Pulaski
A key part of the problem is that if you are "banned from driving", you are still allowed to drive to work, to college, to take your children to school, to church on Sundays, etc. so not much of a deterrent.
Is that right? I never knew that - like you say, kind of reduces it to a slap on the wrist, really.
The result of a drunk-driving convicting can be a massive increase in the cost of insurance, which leads to people having woefully inadequate insurance, or driving without insurance.
If you cause an accident, and are found to be drunk, is your insurance still valid? Or do the insurance companies have getout clauses?
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Old Mar 26th 2015, 1:43 pm
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Default Re: Drink Driving

Originally Posted by Yorkieabroad
It is scarily prevalent here - basically "don't mess with my constitutional right to exercise the freedom to drive my own automobile whenever I damn well like" - I'm not sure the constitution said a whole lot about cars, but that's by the by....

We have a monthly "dads night out" with a bunch of mainly oil industry types that live around us (kinda sad that a night out has to be planned on a monthly basis - again, by the by). There are a mix of nationalities, mainly Brits, Scandinavians and Americans. Invariably the Brits/Scandis carpool or taxi, and the driver never drinks. Invariably the Americans arrive in their own cars, match us pint for pint, then after 4/5/6 pints, get in the car and drive home. When it started, we used to try to persuade them to carpool with us, but it simply did not compute - despite the "drink..drive...go to jail..." ads, nobody really gives a toss about it.
Same with moms night out. Many drink a horrendous amount and then drive home. I am looked on as the oddity for not doing it.
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Old Mar 26th 2015, 1:43 pm
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Default Re: Drink Driving

I think a lot depends on the odds of getting caught! Anyone can drive your car, so in the larger towns, there is little chance of being arrested unless, of corse, you are involved in an accident or are pulled over for speeding. Back home, more and more police cars are equipped with ANPR cameras and if a driver is banned, the license plate will trigger the system and then they'll get stopped and charged with driving while banned (and probably another DUI too!).

Local police in the US are now getting LPRs (license plate readers), but I'm not sure if they will flag this behavior or not. I'll have to ask the relevant deputies when I see them (I work with the Sheriff's Office).

It's not only a problem here, but in the UK too. I lived in a small town just outside Macclesfield for a couple of years, which had the most pubs per capita in the UK, I believe. The best way for them to stand out was to have lock-ins and the local constabulary would stop in for a drink or three. Many people drove home after a skinful and as far as I know, no-one ever got ticketed!
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Old Mar 26th 2015, 1:49 pm
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Default Re: Drink Driving

Originally Posted by Guindalf
It's not only a problem here, but in the UK too. I lived in a small town just outside Macclesfield for a couple of years, which had the most pubs per capita in the UK, I believe. The best way for them to stand out was to have lock-ins and the local constabulary would stop in for a drink or three. Many people drove home after a skinful and as far as I know, no-one ever got ticketed!
Have to admit, I'm surprised by that - is that recently? I thought that the D/D was on the decline in the UK - even back when my school group were getting our licenses (late 70's/early 80's) in small town Yorkshire there was already a distinct stigma attached to D/D, and we just grew up not doing it. The driver always stayed 100% alcohol free and the rest of the group bought their drinks all night to cover the cost of the petrol - although reimbursement was limited by how many "coke and pineapples" the driver could drink in a night.....
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Old Mar 26th 2015, 1:50 pm
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Default Re: Drink Driving

Originally Posted by Weeze
I am looked on as the oddity for not doing it.
Yes, that's the reason..
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Old Mar 26th 2015, 1:58 pm
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Default Re: Drink Driving

We aim not to be on the roads late on Saturday evenings, and to an extent, on Fridays too. My wife had to drive home from the airport after midnight on a Saturday about a month ago, and she said many of the drivers on the beltway, where normal speeds outside rush hour are 70 to 80mph, had poor lane discipline. She had to be very careful.

Equally, though, there seem to be many people who just don't drink socially in the way that most people do in the UK. It's a strange mixture.
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Old Mar 26th 2015, 2:00 pm
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Default Re: Drink Driving

It never seems to be an issue of concern in society. those found to be driving drunk dont seem to suffer much social stigma.
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Old Mar 26th 2015, 2:10 pm
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Default Re: Drink Driving

Originally Posted by Yorkieabroad
It is scarily prevalent here - basically "don't mess with my constitutional right to exercise the freedom to drive my own automobile whenever I damn well like" - I'm not sure the constitution said a whole lot about cars, but that's by the by....
Agreed, and the "screw everyone else, the constitution says I can do whatever I please" attitude extends to many things. The news yesterday mentioned that in 2011 Rick Perry used his gubernatorial veto to block a state ban on texting and driving, describing it as a "government effort to micromanage the behavior of adults." I kid you not.
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Old Mar 26th 2015, 2:25 pm
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Default Re: Drink Driving

Originally Posted by Owen778
..... Equally, though, there seem to be many people who just don't drink socially in the way that most people do in the UK. ....m.
There are plenty round here, in the Bible belt, who don't drink at all.
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Old Mar 26th 2015, 2:30 pm
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Default Re: Drink Driving

Originally Posted by Pulaski
There are plenty round here, in the Bible belt, who don't drink at all.
That was my strict Methodist grandparents back home, too - they never drank alcohol at all - or at least, not knowingly. They had been known to partake of Great Aunt's "home made grape juice" which apparently made my Gran feel young again....
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Old Mar 26th 2015, 2:36 pm
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Default Re: Drink Driving

Originally Posted by Yorkieabroad
Have to admit, I'm surprised by that - is that recently? I thought that the D/D was on the decline in the UK - even back when my school group were getting our licenses (late 70's/early 80's) in small town Yorkshire there was already a distinct stigma attached to D/D, and we just grew up not doing it. The driver always stayed 100% alcohol free and the rest of the group bought their drinks all night to cover the cost of the petrol - although reimbursement was limited by how many "coke and pineapples" the driver could drink in a night.....
I've lived here for 17 years and in Bournemouth for two and a half years before that, so it must be 20 years ago. I know the licensing laws have changed since then, so everything may well be different now.

I often used to volunteer to be the DD as drink never bothered me. One pint and then on to the orange juice and lemonade or diet coke.

I hate drink drivers and think they should all be shot (or worse!). One idea I had is this. Get caught and your family car is confiscated and sold at auction to pay for the damage caused by you or other drunk drivers. If the car is leased or under a finance agreement, you are left explaining it to the company you owe the money to! The main drawback with this is that people would drive cheap clunkers that wouldn't cost much if taken, which is why I modified it to 'family car'.
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Old Mar 26th 2015, 2:44 pm
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Default Re: Drink Driving

I've lost count of the amount of people who have told me they drive better after a couple of drinks. As someone said earlier, the big problem out here is unlike the UK, there is no social stigma attached to drink driving!
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