I have been asked, like many police officers, “How much can I have to drink and still be ok to drive?”
The traffic safety officer in me says, “None. As soon as you take a drink you have started to compromise several of your bodies necessary needs to operate a motor vehicle.”
The realist, everyday person, husband and father says, “Are you stupid? Why do you want to drink and then drive? There is no amount that is safe dumb a….! My kids play road hockey on the street. We are driving coming home from dinner or shopping. Don’t you dare risk our lives with your stupidity!!”
You see, it comes up around this time of year, Super Bowl Sunday, Victoria Day Weekend (Memorial Day), Labour Day, New Years, over and over…”But just one or two is ok right?
Sure it is. No one wants to ruin your good time. No one has ever said don’t have a drink. Many of us can go out and have drinks and there is absolutely no problem….as long as you aren’t driving afterwards.
Public transit, taxi’s, limo’s, car pooling with a designated driver, getting a hotel room, phone a friend/parent/child/sibling…there are many, many options.
On the flip side, having your car impounded, losing your license, getting arrested and having a criminal record, risking hurting someone else or yourself, maybe even death…is the one or tow drinks worth that? What if you got into a collision that wasn’t your fault, but the collision report says…had been drinking. Explain that to your insurance company.
What about the breath devices that you can use in a bar, or devices you can buy at the drug store. How about BAC calculators that tell you what your alcohol level is? There is even an App for that and a device you can add to your iPhone/iPod.
Do you want to trust your license, livelihood and life to a $45 dollar device that is never calibrated to scientific measurements that police use? Does it not seem suspicious that a bar that by nature sells alcohol would offer a device to tell you to stop drinking?
Here is the simple answer…NONE!!!!! IF YOU DRINK, DON’T DRIVE.
Another good answer would be to the look person straight in the eye and in a deadpan voice reply, "About the same amount you think is all right for the pilot to drink before he charters you and a bunch of strangers off to your Carribbean holiday."
ReplyDeleteThat should shut them up.