Irish County Legalizes Drunk Driving

[rockin'robin]

The County Kerry Council in southwest Ireland passed a measure on Monday that allows rural drivers to legally drive while under the influence of alcohol.

The council voted 5-3 - with 12 absent and 7 abstaining - to issue special permits to individuals who live in rural areas and wish to drive home on remote countryside roads after consuming two to three alcoholic beverages. The council will have to rely on Justice Minister Alan Shatter to implement the changes to current drinking and driving laws by issuing special permits.

Councilor and County Kerry pub owner Danny Healy-Rae introduced the bill, arguing that citizens driving while intoxicated in rural areas have never killed anyone. He defended the measure by asserting that it would prevent loneliness and reduce the risk of suicides among those who live in Ireland's backcountry.

"A lot of these people are living in isolated rural areas where there's no public transport of any kind, and they end up at home looking at the four walls, night in and night out, because they don't want to take the risk of losing their license," Healy-Rae told TheJournal.ie.

Tougher drunk driving laws have been credited with reducing the number of people killed on Irish roads. The overall number of road deaths has fallen by 56 percent in the last five years and in 2012, 161 people were killed, the lowest since records began being kept, according to the Road Safety Authority. In addition to lowering the legal limit from 80 mg per 100 ml of blood (.08% in U.S. terms) to 50 mg, Irish authorities have also increased the volume of mandatory alcohol checkpoints.

The Irish Department of Transport, Alcohol Action Ireland and the Road Safety Authority have all voiced opposition to the proposal, citing the overwhelming evidence linking alcohol consumption with impaired driving.

"Unfortunately, rural areas are among the most dangerous roads in Ireland. We need to be looking at how to make our roads safer, particularly in rural areas, instead of trying to reverse existing measures, which are clearly working," an Irish Department of Transport spokesman told Sky News.

Irish County Legalizes Drunk Driving - Yahoo! News

 

[deafdrummer]

Let the funerals commence!

We had one last year for a friend who was killed by a drunk driver, a drunk BARTENDER, of all F* people! She was hit at 4 AM going to work when it happened. The bartender had come off her closing shift drunk. I hope the bar got sued out of existence. I'm thinking of my friend, as her birthday is the 30th this month. She's supposed to be 40...

 

[caz12]

Kerry why i not surprised

 

[Babyblue]

Wirelessly posted

Reduces this risk of suicides?? Why does russian roulette comes to mind?

 

[caz12]

Wirelessly posted

Reduces this risk of suicides?? Why does russian roulette comes to mind?

total stupidity...the drunk driver gets what he deserves. terrible take some poor innocent kid down..i know kerry it is very rural so with luck the idiot end up in ditch on his own

 

[Grummer]

nah nah , thats bullshit, farmers are tough fellas, they work hard, they deserve to be together in the community, its not that they wanna get shitfaced, read it again (article) its about allowing them to go out to local pub, there's NO TAXI!!!, and farmers aren't that stupid either, they knows every bumps , lumps and dips on the road for that they only road they know!, its about being sensible, the no-drink law is just an overkill, it's not saving lives, its killing people's lives by denying Any venue to relaxation and social life. Dammit, get real people. I know farmers they are hard men and can handle piss way more than city folks who are wimps and posers. they walk and carry heavy stuff for fuckn miles, you see city guy carry brief case with papers or laptops for not even a 1/8th of a mile to hop on buses or jump in their flash BMWs and walk in buildings, use lifts insteads of stairs or hills... think about it!! its about being practical.
I AGREE with that news.

 

[Journey]

So in order to avoid lonliness, one's only option is to go out and drink alcohol or more than one or two alcoholic drinks over the course of an evening? The reasoning behind this proposal makes no sense to me.

 

[Babyblue]

Wirelessly posted

nah nah , thats bullshit, farmers are tough fellas, they work hard, they deserve to be together in the community, its not that they wanna get shitfaced, read it again (article) its about allowing them to go out to local pub, there's NO TAXI!!!, and farmers aren't that stupid either, they knows every bumps , lumps and dips on the road for that they only road they know!, its about being sensible, the no-drink law is just an overkill, it's not saving lives, its killing people's lives by denying Any venue to relaxation and social life. Dammit, get real people. I know farmers they are hard men and can handle piss way more than city folks who are wimps and posers. they walk and carry heavy stuff for fuckn miles, you see city guy carry brief case with papers or laptops for not even a 1/8th of a mile to hop on buses or jump in their flash BMWs and walk in buildings, use lifts insteads of stairs or hills... think about it!! its about being practical.
I AGREE with that news.

Are you drunk?

Farmers or not. Drinking impairs you ability to drive among other thing. You think we are all city slickers? Funny thing is I had a girl slammed into a brick mailbox in front of my very rural, farmland house. She grew up in this town and knew the road and all the backroads but yet her truck kissed the brick mailbox banging her up pretty good. Another one flipped his vehicle going around the curve in front of my house into the hay field. He was a tough dude that is a cattle man "cowboy" drinking and driving played a role in their accident and a one way ticket to jail.

 

[Grummer]

too much 'alcohol education' has gone into your head, THAT makes no sense, 3-4 drinks is FINE, but 10-12 NO-NO, hell
let me tell you, the other day I was lifting 400kgs for 2 days, (rocks for mums garden) then wind down then joined with mum and her friends for a Pinot Noir which I aged it for 5 years (was a a top notch btw - apparently was best in the world), dam it was nice, 2 big glasses each, I felt NOTHING, the other two were drunk, or well more than tipsy...

normally id feel a weee bit more relaxed (alcohol type relax), and yet didnt feel a thing not a bit, why? i was WORKING hard, body pumped up hard, the drink didnt do SHIT, but I enyoyed that wine it was superb....

to be honest, i am so think of 'research says ..' its just making you believe science has answers for everything, come on, its never neutral, hell you WILL find 'research says alcohol is good for longitivity of life, moderation...' then you'd find another instance of research says 'one drink does affect driving..." which is true? none...
you can have someone smoke and drink all the time and live long, and others do all gym work and die of heart attack (strained) too unbalanced of relax then hard work, the wrong type - artifical work, Machines in gyms)...unnatural... blah

im just saying (although im a qualified (and past) Post-grad researcher) so im allowed so say this, I dont even Care about "research says..." thats' news stuff, for use in order to grab your gullible attention and control people with 'social education'...nuff said

 

[Grummer]

irish farmers are more mature than american hillbillies LOL
the americans have no brains...(look at their politics too)

 

[Grummer]

btw , yes 400, not 40 kgs

 

[Babyblue]

Wirelessly posted

irish farmers are more mature than american hillbillies LOL
the americans have no brains...(look at their politics too)

Hillbillies? Apparently you have little Education on geography. Where I live there are no Mountains. So now you just told us what you think of Americans. So you think you are superior to us? Now I know you've been drinking. :roll:

 

[Babyblue]

Wirelessly posted

btw , yes 400, not 40 kgs

So you are telling us you lifted 400kg all day long? For us "Hillbilly Americans with no brains" that he calls us, that would be 880 pounds he lifts.

 

[ambrosia]

Did you see how low they lowered the limit too??? That would .05%, shit if I had Nyquil I'd blow over the legal limit, that's kind of crazy.

I did get a dui, in 1996 when I was 21. I had to go to "drunk school" to get my license back. One of the things we did was figure out how much we can drink before blowing over the legal limit. They gave us a mathematical equation to use, you plugged in your weight and find out how many drinks you can have in one hour without blowing over the limit. I can have 1. That's it 1, if I had 2 I'd blow over .08%. And they have it .05% Not that I think they should do away with drunk driving laws, but .08 is pretty low, it used to be .1%, which I think is more accurate for being impaired......05% is just kind of extreme.

 

[AlleyCat]

Ironically, I was thinking the exact same thing about the Nyquil when I was taking a good bit of it over Christmas when I was horribly sick with an URI and bronchitis. Would that have been a DWS? I was actually kind of paranoid about driving to work with Nyquil breath.

 

[Babyblue]

Wirelessly posted

Ironically, I was thinking the exact same thing about the Nyquil when I was taking a good bit of it over Christmas when I was horribly sick with an URI and bronchitis. Would that have been a DWS? I was actually kind of paranoid about driving to work with Nyquil breath.

Yes, if you were pulled over or in an accident you can still be charged for a DUI. Driving Under the Influence is not limited to alcohol. It is any substance that impairs your ability to drive.

 

[Journey]

The limit here has been lowered to .05 and, so far, have not heard or read about any backlash or problems because of the change. I think what the low limits are doing is making for a much more careful generation. I see it with my own kids and all their friends. They all like to go out regularly and, each time, someone is the DD. They work it out so that they alternate turns being the DD. They know the risks of driving under the influence and take the possible consequences seriously - where there is a will, there is a way.

 

[Grummer]

Did you see how low they lowered the limit too??? That would .05%, shit if I had Nyquil I'd blow over the legal limit, that's kind of crazy.

I did get a dui, in 1996 when I was 21. I had to go to "drunk school" to get my license back. One of the things we did was figure out how much we can drink before blowing over the legal limit. They gave us a mathematical equation to use, you plugged in your weight and find out how many drinks you can have in one hour without blowing over the limit. I can have 1. That's it 1, if I had 2 I'd blow over .08%. And they have it .05% Not that I think they should do away with drunk driving laws, but .08 is pretty low, it used to be .1%, which I think is more accurate for being impaired......05% is just kind of extreme.

yep that IS extreme, .05 isnt going to do anything to your reaction, its just way stupid, come on thoses scientists are 'paid to prove' some bullshit and they want to disagree and be out of jobs? no they wouldnt ofc...

 

[goodonya]

I dunno.

 

[shel90]

nah nah , thats bullshit, farmers are tough fellas, they work hard, they deserve to be together in the community, its not that they wanna get shitfaced, read it again (article) its about allowing them to go out to local pub, there's NO TAXI!!!, and farmers aren't that stupid either, they knows every bumps , lumps and dips on the road for that they only road they know!, its about being sensible, the no-drink law is just an overkill, it's not saving lives, its killing people's lives by denying Any venue to relaxation and social life. Dammit, get real people. I know farmers they are hard men and can handle piss way more than city folks who are wimps and posers. they walk and carry heavy stuff for fuckn miles, you see city guy carry brief case with papers or laptops for not even a 1/8th of a mile to hop on buses or jump in their flash BMWs and walk in buildings, use lifts insteads of stairs or hills... think about it!! its about being practical.
I AGREE with that news.

Wow, interesting point of view. I can understand it but then again, I CANT support the idea of legalizing drunk driving. There has to be another solution.