Ireland Takes Step To OK Drunk-Driving?
Authorities in Kerry county, Ireland, have voted in favor of giving moderately drunk-driving a legal pass. Ireland's Department of Justice has yet to weigh in on the issue.
Okay to be a little drunk
Drivers in rural Kerry region who are found to have more than the legal amount of alcohol in their system will be given a pass, according to motion author Councilor Danny Healy-Rae. Healy-Rae supposedly drafted the legislation with older rural citizens in mind who will become remote at home and suffer depression if they have to fear losing their license over "two or three drinks."
"I see the merit in having a stricter rule of law for when there's a massive volume of traffic and where there's busy roads with massive speed," Healy-Rae told Irish newspaper The Journal. "But on the roads I'm talking about, you couldn't do any more than 20 or 30 miles per hour and it's not a big deal. I don't see any big issue with it."
Whiskey keeps people alive
Isolation in rural Kerry region villages is evidently a significant issue. Healy-Rae point to the tragedy of losing members of the older generation to suicide, as the lack of freedom from not being able to drive due to downing a couple of pints are supposedly crushing.
"All the wisdom and all the wit and all the culture that they had is being lost as a result," he said.
Experts decry drunk-driving legislation
Kerry Mayor Terry O'Brien holds a very different view of the county's drunk-driving regulation, saying it "doesn't make any sense" and is "incredibly dangerous." O'Brien also claims it places too much interpretive burden on barkeeps to determine whether a patron is only moderately drunk, versus severely impaired.
"I don't know what expertise one would have to look at someone in a bar to give them a permit to drive a car after any alcohol," O'Brien added.
There has been a 42 percent decrease in Ireland's road fatalities in the last four years due to drunk-driving laws. All that would be undone with a brand new law allowing it, according to Alcohol Action Ireland rep Conor Cullen.
"Almost one in three crash deaths in Ireland are alcohol-related," Cullen said. "Even in small amounts, alcohol impairs driving ability - any amount of alcohol increases the risk of involvement in a fatal crash."
Okay to be a little drunk
Drivers in rural Kerry region who are found to have more than the legal amount of alcohol in their system will be given a pass, according to motion author Councilor Danny Healy-Rae. Healy-Rae supposedly drafted the legislation with older rural citizens in mind who will become remote at home and suffer depression if they have to fear losing their license over "two or three drinks."
"I see the merit in having a stricter rule of law for when there's a massive volume of traffic and where there's busy roads with massive speed," Healy-Rae told Irish newspaper The Journal. "But on the roads I'm talking about, you couldn't do any more than 20 or 30 miles per hour and it's not a big deal. I don't see any big issue with it."
Whiskey keeps people alive
Isolation in rural Kerry region villages is evidently a significant issue. Healy-Rae point to the tragedy of losing members of the older generation to suicide, as the lack of freedom from not being able to drive due to downing a couple of pints are supposedly crushing.
"All the wisdom and all the wit and all the culture that they had is being lost as a result," he said.
Experts decry drunk-driving legislation
Kerry Mayor Terry O'Brien holds a very different view of the county's drunk-driving regulation, saying it "doesn't make any sense" and is "incredibly dangerous." O'Brien also claims it places too much interpretive burden on barkeeps to determine whether a patron is only moderately drunk, versus severely impaired.
"I don't know what expertise one would have to look at someone in a bar to give them a permit to drive a car after any alcohol," O'Brien added.
There has been a 42 percent decrease in Ireland's road fatalities in the last four years due to drunk-driving laws. All that would be undone with a brand new law allowing it, according to Alcohol Action Ireland rep Conor Cullen.
"Almost one in three crash deaths in Ireland are alcohol-related," Cullen said. "Even in small amounts, alcohol impairs driving ability - any amount of alcohol increases the risk of involvement in a fatal crash."
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