I Wonder Why This Number Is Rising So...
Politics3 mins ago
Should we lower the DD limit?
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andrea81
Our posts crossed there, so I was agreeing with your last entry but one.
What you say about the addition of any drug (inc. alcohol) is right, but you have to balance off a lot wish list. Eg.
(1) I wish to go to a charming country pub and have one enjoyable pint, then several Cokes (oh god, I hope Ice.Maiden doesn't read this!).
(2) Our local landlord wishes to serve drinks to a safe, responsible clientele, and not go out of business.
(3) I wish my children to be safe from ratar*ed maniacs.
(4) If you had a sick child, or breast cancer, you would wish for all possible funds to be channelled into good treatment.
And so on.
The fact is, you can't have everything, and you can't achieve perfection. So target your efforts and funds where they are most needed, not towards a margin where it will make no difference.
Here's the thing. If the limit was zero, a person who drinks one pint gets prosecuted. But he was never going to kill anyone. However, Mr Five Pint Man doesn't care about the limit. He never did, and never will. So the child on the bike will still be injured by that driver. The roads are no safer. So are we all happy? Yeah sure, as long as it wasn't our child on that bike!
Reducing the limit would be tokenism, and would not make the roads any safer. In the meantime, if you were unlucky enough to be that child on that bike, there is no money available for your treatment because Parliament spent it on passing some new law - not to catch the driver who hit you, but to catch a few drivers who would not have hit you in the first place.
Our posts crossed there, so I was agreeing with your last entry but one.
What you say about the addition of any drug (inc. alcohol) is right, but you have to balance off a lot wish list. Eg.
(1) I wish to go to a charming country pub and have one enjoyable pint, then several Cokes (oh god, I hope Ice.Maiden doesn't read this!).
(2) Our local landlord wishes to serve drinks to a safe, responsible clientele, and not go out of business.
(3) I wish my children to be safe from ratar*ed maniacs.
(4) If you had a sick child, or breast cancer, you would wish for all possible funds to be channelled into good treatment.
And so on.
The fact is, you can't have everything, and you can't achieve perfection. So target your efforts and funds where they are most needed, not towards a margin where it will make no difference.
Here's the thing. If the limit was zero, a person who drinks one pint gets prosecuted. But he was never going to kill anyone. However, Mr Five Pint Man doesn't care about the limit. He never did, and never will. So the child on the bike will still be injured by that driver. The roads are no safer. So are we all happy? Yeah sure, as long as it wasn't our child on that bike!
Reducing the limit would be tokenism, and would not make the roads any safer. In the meantime, if you were unlucky enough to be that child on that bike, there is no money available for your treatment because Parliament spent it on passing some new law - not to catch the driver who hit you, but to catch a few drivers who would not have hit you in the first place.
winebuyer, someone was fined a year or two ago for eating an apple while driving. The evidence was that she slewed badly while turning a corner because she had only one hand on the wheel. That's fine by me. I wince when I see a driver approaching me while talking on the phone, because I know he's not concentrating properly while at the controls of a ton of moving metal. But that's already illegal. The problem isn't passing tougher laws, it's enforcing the ones we've got.
jno, you're so right.
A car (like a knife, or a gun) is harmless in itself, but can cause immense damage to other people if handled by a careless or inconsiderate person. Eating an apple? Fine, if you're just pootling along a straight road. But ... you can't do manoeuvres at the same time!
nedflanders (great nickname), nosepicking? I should think it's possible to have a little forage whilst keeping one's eyes firmly on the road ahead. Just don't look down to examine the ... NO STOP, this is getting a bit gross.
Actually, it's totally hypothetical, because NONE of us pick our noses in our cars, do we ?????
A car (like a knife, or a gun) is harmless in itself, but can cause immense damage to other people if handled by a careless or inconsiderate person. Eating an apple? Fine, if you're just pootling along a straight road. But ... you can't do manoeuvres at the same time!
nedflanders (great nickname), nosepicking? I should think it's possible to have a little forage whilst keeping one's eyes firmly on the road ahead. Just don't look down to examine the ... NO STOP, this is getting a bit gross.
Actually, it's totally hypothetical, because NONE of us pick our noses in our cars, do we ?????
winebuyer
I see what you mean... I really do, maybe I'm nieve to think that an outright ban would help!
It might be to do with the fact that I don't enjoy drinking and can't understand the need for 1 quiet pint when other refreshments are available!
Probably a good idea I don't get into politics eh?? ;0)
I see what you mean... I really do, maybe I'm nieve to think that an outright ban would help!
It might be to do with the fact that I don't enjoy drinking and can't understand the need for 1 quiet pint when other refreshments are available!
Probably a good idea I don't get into politics eh?? ;0)
Whereas I do like a pint, if it's a nice one.
But ... I can enjoy one, without feeling the need to have two.
And if I had to drive anywhere busy, I could happily have none.
But some people are always going to have five or six, and think that they won't harm my kids. Or yours. Well okay, they might not. But they just might, and that is not acceptable. So who do you legislate against? Me? Or the madman who is driving towards your children with five pints in his system?
But ... I can enjoy one, without feeling the need to have two.
And if I had to drive anywhere busy, I could happily have none.
But some people are always going to have five or six, and think that they won't harm my kids. Or yours. Well okay, they might not. But they just might, and that is not acceptable. So who do you legislate against? Me? Or the madman who is driving towards your children with five pints in his system?
Quinlad's Auto-Breatha-Glovewheel Safety Law
- Make all cars automatic.
- Build a breathaliser into the ignition.
- Recalibrate the steering wheel so that you never need to turn the wheel more than 360 degrees.
- Then fix gloves to the wheel and insist that drivers wear them so that they can never take their hands from the wheel.
It's flawless. Alternatively, make all cars like KITT. Knight Rider had the technology 20 years ago. Surely we can make road cars drive on their own by now?
- Make all cars automatic.
- Build a breathaliser into the ignition.
- Recalibrate the steering wheel so that you never need to turn the wheel more than 360 degrees.
- Then fix gloves to the wheel and insist that drivers wear them so that they can never take their hands from the wheel.
It's flawless. Alternatively, make all cars like KITT. Knight Rider had the technology 20 years ago. Surely we can make road cars drive on their own by now?
