The Philosophy of Drunk Driving

Originally Posted by Bradylama

Because possessing a blood alcohol content above a .08 does not make one a reckless driver. I can only repeat this so many times before I wonder if any of you are listening. BAC can only ever raise the likelihood of one being a danger to others, it doesn't act as a guarantee.



Yeah, it sort of does. If there is no danger, then what harm or potential harm is there being commited?

A large body of scientific research indicates that people will act more recklessly, will react more slowly, and will be distracted more easily when they're tired or drunk (especially both). The physiological and psychological effects on people are well understood. Accidents occur when people don't react properly or quickly enough, or put themselves in a place where it's physically impossible to react quickly enough (like exceeding the tolerances of your car or your grip on the road). If you wish to deny either of those facts, you may as well say it's faeries and leprechans keeping you safe on the highway.

This is what causes the indisputable statistics that alcohol (often combined with fatigue and inexperience) is one of the most common factors in wrecks and fatalities on the road, even though most of the people on the road are sober. Alcohol reduces the very functions that are most necessary to avoid accidents, in tight situations, and often leads to putting yourself in those tight situations more than you otherwise would.

A small amount of drinking is a small amount of difference in driving habit, but the legal limit is a place where the vast majority of people will have noticeably altered driving habits. Court challenges to the law have failed (or caused it to be altered upward in some cases) because of that. It's not a totally arbitrary limit.

(It's also illegal to drive if you can't stay awake at the wheel. Are you going to claim that's not a danger to others? A lot of people doing it anyway isn't a good excuse. People are very good at rationalizing their behavior in order to get home faster, and to save their pride.)

Jam it back in, in the dark.