drink and drive

skye wrote:

Have done so knowingly - much to my shame - not being pissed out of my head but after a few pints... that's all it takes at the end of the day isn't it? Live in a small town where garda prescence is low and pretty much know I will be ok to drive the few hundered metres to my house - if there were a more recognisable garda prescence I would not even think about it... Policing issues need to be addressed in this country...Being from the north originally I would never dream of doing this up home.. police presence is too high to "get away with it". Where are they down here??

problem with that is its hard to justify more police in a very small town with little or no crime when large cities are crying out for more police, so you'll probably be stick with ols seamus for a few more years to come. Incidentally is he also the postman and milkman?


Much as I dont like to admit it, I have done it once or twice (literallyonce or twice)

have done it, to my shame, actually more than once,

I guess the problem is that in this country drinking is an "essential" and accepted aspect of society. For example spainish drunks on a street in spain are hard to see and frowned upon. Whereas here the town is awash with people staggering left and right. The dangers of alcohol are not recognised and therefore people are less inclined to see the effects it has on their driving. However! People will not change and drink driving will never be eradicated . The effects of alcohol result people who would never condone it actually doing it! Therefore the only way to cure drink driving is to remove alcohol.

County this is a woeful nation in that regard. Since 1900-1990 the only activity in both rural and urban ireland was the local. This mentality has not evolved with an evolving society.Therefore we have people with large amounts of disposable income hitting the pubs as our primary form of socialising and entertainment because ( lets face it ) thats all there ever really is!

Ireland needs late night activities that dont revolve around alcolhol.

i did it once, was out in the country with a friend, went to the pub for one pint which turned into a lot. at the end of the night he was completely f*cked but was institing on driving but he was barely able to walk. i wasn't half as bad though still drunk so in my infinite wisdom, i decided that i would drive. so i did and nothing bad happened. i know it was stupid...

Bambi wrote:

Actually an easier way would be to remove cars, how do ye like those turnips?

cue rantyrantidyrant on right thinking people:

Thanks all the same but we dont need a mammy state telling us what we can and can't do in our own time. If entrepeneurs want to set up said late night activities and see who shows up fine but I dont want some fecking latter day pioneers dictating my lifestyle. "too much bleddy drinking going on, tewwibly backwards dont you know? wouldnt see it on the continent of course, measure need to be taken..etc etc"

Last thing i want is the editorial board of the irish times settling into the role of moral gaurdian of the nation that the catholic church once held :mad:

I know this is slightly o/t from 'have you drank and driven' but I think, Bambi, you're overreacting. I think the point trying to be made was that in certain parts of the country there is little else to do bar going to the pub. Don't get me wrong. I love the pub. I love drinking. I love getting drunk, being drunk and having a kebab on the way home. I, for one, am not some latter day pioneer/McDowell-type that thinks we're all going to hell in a handcart if we continue to drink as we do (And if we are going to hell, I'll be the one sitting down the back with the slab of Dutch Gold trying to start another rousing chorus of Four And Twenty Virgins Went Down To Inverness...)

On the other hand, I would like an alternative to the pub...a choice, if you will. I'm 35 miles from the nearest cinema, and any other sort of recreational activities in smalltown ireland don't exist. I think that Grimes may have been saying that this is a shame, and that as long as the pub is the ONLY outlet in a lot of places, then a lot of people will end up driving home with a few too many inside 'em...