NIGHTLIFE
DUI PSA
May 11, 2005

The law has made it next to impossible to go out and have a few drinks with your friends without having to get a hotel room or find a cab, which is impossible in the suburbs. When the people that have had too much to drink and should not be driving do get into an accident, they always put the blame on the bar for over-serving them. I don't believe it is the bar owners responsibility for what a person does upon leaving their establishment. Now I am not saying that there shouldn't be limits. When a person is drunk, cut them off right away! They do not need to be drinking anymore because that is when people get hurt. But when a person goes to a bar and has a few cocktails and then feels the need to drive home, why is this the bars fault? The bar did not over-serve this person. They gave him the drinks that he ordered without him ever appearing to be loud or obnoxious or intoxicated at all. A bar cannot possibly set the same limits for the patrons as the law does for drivers. If this were the case, the entire industry would fall into extinction. With the extremely low limit on blood alcohol content being 0.08, a customer would only be allowed one or two beers an hour. If you want to have a mixed drink or do a shot, you had better stay home because that would no longer be allowed. Does the law think that this is fair to us?

Personally, I do not drink and drive, ever! Whether I have had one drink and could easily say that I could drive, or if I have had ten drinks and am having more trouble keeping myself on my barstool than even thinking about driving. But if I was to drive home and for some reason get into an accident, I am not going to blame the bar I just left for my stupid-ass getting into an accident! They had nothing to do with it. It would be me who made the decision to drive, me who made the mistake of getting into an accident, and me who ordered all of my drinks. If you are caught drunk driving, it is you who needs to take the responsibility for your actions. How many of your friends leave the bar saying, “You need a ride home?” Why not take it?

It is the bars responsibility to make sure that you are safe while in their establishment. Being a bartender myself, I know it is my job not to let anyone leave the bar intoxicated. I take every precaution possible to make sure that our patrons are safe. I cannot tell the customers that they are only allowed one beer. Different people have different limits. Once I see a patron drinking more than a reasonable amount of drinks, I always try and ask how they plan on getting home. If they say that they are going to drive themselves, then they are usually served water with their next few beers. If they are there with a designated driver, let them drink all they want. I'll even buy the D.D. all of the soda and coffee that they can drink for the night. These people should be rewarded for keeping the roads safe for the rest of us. It takes a lot to be able to sit in the bar all night with one of your buddies without drinking, especially when your friend gets a few cocktails in him and starts to tell you his theory on why nuclear fusion is going to be the end to the high cost of oranges in Alaska!

Here is an idea that might just work. Why don't we take our driving tests while were drinking? We go there sober and take the test and get scored, they we drink a beer and do the driving test over. We proceed to do this over and over until we fail; at this point we get the amount of drinks put on our Drivers License. For example, if it took me 8 beers before I failed the test then it should say on my drivers license “7 beer limit.” It's not fair for the law to be the same for a six foot tall guy weighing in at 250lbs. and some 21 year old girl who weighs 90lbs. soaking wet. I personally have been driving for some time and have gone through a few advanced drivers training courses; I think I could drive after a few beers just as well as sober.

Another thing that bugs me is why do the cops pull you over, ask if you've been drinking and give you these road sobriety tests. You might take four or five tests and pass them all and then they'll ask you to blow in a breathalyzer. If you pass all the hand-eye coordination tests then you should be allowed to go on your way. If they want you to blow in the breathalyzer then you should have the option of doing one or the other, not both.

Basically what it all boils down too is why does the bar have to be the one held reliable? If a gun store sells a gun to some guy and he goes out and kills someone with it, is the store held responsible? If I buy a Ford vehicle and get into an accident because I drove too fast, do I sue Ford for not putting a speed limiter on the vehicle? All of these are my own responsibilities, so why is the bar held responsible if some patron has one too many drinks and gets pulled over. This should be his/her fault for ordering another drink or the local Governments fault for not allowing him/her the ability to be able to call a cab. As a bartender I feel as though I should be able to call the police and say I have a patron here who is intoxicated, can you come pick him up and drive him home. This should be done without prejudice being put on neither the bar nor the patron. Without a local cab service or local hotel what are our options?

What ever happen to the motto “To Protect And Serve”?

Joseph Bonish