How come I can't drink a beer or two on the ride home?? *Please read entire OP before posting*

*Please before you comment read the entire OP*

Just to clear the air:
I am what some people would call an alcoholic. I can count on both hands with fingers to spare how many days in the last 18 years I have gone completely without, and most of those were days in the hospital for my neck surgery. I am not bragging, I am not proud of it,I am telling you a fact, in order for you to understand how I have developed my point of view on this matter.

Ok,

I have always worked manual labor jobs, honest work that makes you sweat. While I worked at the moving company my boss ( an old friend) would pick me up in the morning and drop me home after work. Moving furniture is a long days work, especially a load and deliver, and even though I am an alcoholic, I Have never drank before or on the job. I would Never risk my safety or the safety of others holding the other end of a peice of furniture headed up a flight of stairs.I would wait until the ride home, often times we would not get back to the shop until 730 or 8 o'clock at night. We would park the straight-truck in the yard and get into his personal vehicle.On the way home we normally stopped at the convenience store down the street from the shop and I would pick up a 12 pack and would slug back a bottle of beer or two, And he would slug back a bottle of gatorade before We would get too my house ... He Always drove, and Never drinks.

The point is if we would have gotten pulled over this friend of mine would have gotten a citation for open alcohol container, One stipulation he made was if that ever happened i would pay the fine.I agreed, I think thats fair. Well we never did get pulled over ( he drives for a living and was very cautious). Am I the only one who finds fault with this law? surely an adult who worked 10-12 hours that day, who is not driving should have the right to pound a beer or two on the ride home?

Why is it illegal to have an open alcohol container in an automobile? Well just in phrasing it that way it implies the driver is drinking and/or intoxicated. Which is not always the case. so lets refine that question a bit...

So I ask you all, If they are not impairing or interfering with the drivers ability to control the vehicle and the operater is completely sober, do you think it should be illegal for a passenger in an automobile to consume an alcoholic beverage?

I understand that some people will say why not just wait until you get home. That however is not the debate here, in my opinion it is about having the option to do so.


I look forward to hearing your opinions.

*DISCLAIMER*

*I am not advocating drunk driving. Driving while intoxicated is not only careless, I myself consider it malicious. That is not what this is about. Many years ago I lost One of my best friends and three close friends to one dreadfull accident involving a DWI*

-Please do not Drink and Drive-

~meathead

Mods if this is not the correct forum please move, thanks in advance.

I have always found the law in that respect a little odd, if the driver is not Under the Influence it should not matter if the passenger is drinking or not, as long as it poses no threat to other motorists and the driver.

That said, I don't drink much (once a year maybe) so I'm not sure of why you'd want to other than to quench thirst which many other non alcoholic beverages could do.

No. A passenger should not have the right to drink in the vehicle even if it is being operated by someone else.

Some people get testy or violent when drinking and could become argumentative. This in turn could cause distraction of the driver.

Some people puke when drinking. This also could cause a distraction to driver.

Should driver get pulled over for any reason, it could be questionable as to whether he is guilty by association. A "friend" would not put a "friend" in this kind of jeopardy.

A drinking passenger could become unruly and exhibit behavior that could cause harm to others or to self.

Wait till you get home to drink.

No, because there is no way to verify whether it's only the passenger drinking it.

Open container = anyone can drink.

I dunno. I can't see why it's illegal for a passenger to get totally wasted drinking alcohol if he/she chooses to do so.

I find it interesting that if I chose to do so, I could hire a limo to drive me around town and they sometimes come supplied with alcoholic beverages that the custumers/riders can consume.

I lived in Texas in the mid-1980's and it was legal for drivers to drink and drive, just not drive drunk. I don't know if it's still that way now.

I used to take my kids to play on the sand dunes at Whitesands National Monument. On the way back to El Paso, TX I would drink a couple of beers. Yes, Whitesands is in New Mexico, but what the hell. I drank them anyways. As I recall, there was only one bend in the very long road from there to El Paso. Even a drunken driver could have negotiated that one bend.

Disclaimer: I do not drink and drive and do not condone it for anyone.

However, I see no harm to anyone, but the driver due to a fine, for passengers of legal age to consume alcohol while being escorted about.

reply to post by Mike Stivic


I agree with you that it's a weird law.

Within a moving vehicle, the only real consideration as far as the law goes should be whether or not the driver/operator of the vehicle is drunk (or drinking alcohol) or not.

Put it this way, if your boss picked you up from a bar you'd been at, and you were nine sheets to the wind (English expression, meaning drunk as a skunk), he could quite legally take you home in his car yeah?

So what difference does it make if you are drunk as a skunk AS you get into the car, or get that way AFTER you get in? Drunk is drunk.

If you chugged down a bevvy or two, so what? As long as the driver is stone cold sober and in control and command of his or her vehicle, that is all that should matter.

Weird laws you have matey.

ETA: Kyred make a really good point with this..

I find it interesting that if I chose to do so, I could hire a limo to drive me around town and they sometimes come supplied with alcoholic beverages that the custumers/riders can consume.

Limos (etc) come with a bar don't they..so it's OK to drink your face off in a limo??

[edit on 20/8/2010 by spikey]

reply to post by AR154


Sure there is a way to verify. There's the smell test. That's used at road blocks here. And there's the balloon breathalyzers that the local police keep handy, too. if a driver fails the smell test.

reply to post by kyred


Yeah, the police have a 'smell test' in the UK too.

Basically, if you smell of mints, you're nicked!

reply to post by Mike Stivic



Simple...

If the sober driver becomes incapacitated for whatever reason, who's next in line..?


The person drinking is...and no, having a cell phone to call someone else doesn't cut it.


I love beer dude - but leave to alcohol out of the equation until everyone is off the streets.

Hey Mike! I have not ever considered the situation, but upon doing so I believe the law was made to prevent any potential alcohol related actions from occurring. Like maybe a person riding passenger with a buzz could potentially create a distraction in the vehicle or somehow affect the drivers attention to the road.(as Alethea mentioned) I do think that the person drinking should be the one fined and not the driver, but I can also see the logic behind just keeping any alcohol out of a vehicle as preventative measures. The fact that when one is on the road, there are always other citizens around, and the law is an effort to keep the roads safe.

Don't get me wrong, I love cracking open a cold brew, especially here in the Northwest where the renaissance of micro brewing has deliciously taken off.

So I think the law is not so much set for a driver and passenger, but for everyone's welfare on the road.

spec

Edit To Add:
Although a couple of beers may not do anything but relax and unwind some, there are always those that get a little squirrly or beer bravery and may do something dumb. Examples I have witnessed include throwing bottles at road signs, flipping off people and puking violently in the windshield, all of which could be distractions for the driver. Even if those are exceptions, the law has to include that potential.


[edit on 20-8-2010 by speculativeoptimist]

reply to post by Mike Stivic


Just get a half pint of vodka and slug it down before the drive home. Pitch the bottle in the trash. I used to do this. By the time you get home you are all fixed up. Don't drive and do this though. A couple of peppermints or lemon drops in your mouth will prevent you from gagging when you chug the vodka.

By the time you get home it's time for a sandwich, then nitey nite.

reply to post by spikey


Ha ha! Some people I know believe that if you eat peanuts the smell of the nuts overcomes the smell of a dozen or so beers.

The peanuts DO NOT work. I had a colleague who found that out. Company vehicle, on company time, drunk as a loon, and he choked on a handful of peanuts and hit a tree. He didn't pass the smell test.

reply to post by facelift


What if the driver who get's incapacitated (for whatever reason) is carrying an ALREADY drunk person? Like, a cab picking up a fare from a bar or club?

What if the same driver picks up a fare from the hospital, in a body cast?

What if the driver's on his/her own? Who takes the wheel then?

No offense mate, but that's a weak argument.

The open container laws within vehicles is part of TEA-21 initiative for federal grants for highway money. Not all states have this law, but most do.

It promotes safety.

I had some beer back in 1983, but sober from beer, since 3 Jul 1978. I did a lot of drinking back in the day. Long before MADD and all the anti-drinking laws came into being.

You know what?
Just wait till you get home man.
Sorry, but if you or your buddies can't wait a short while to drink, you DO have a problem even if you don't admit it.
Obviously you are young and think nothing will ever happen to you.
Dream on.
Sorry, I know nobody will like this post, but really nobody needs to be drinking in a car.

reply to post by kyred


Chugged a handfull of peanuts and hit a tree eh?

They should ban eating peanuts in cars, they're a menace!

reply to post by OldDragger


But....he DOES admit he has a problem!

How can he make it any clearer other than saying (twice) that he IS an alcoholic?

reply to post by spikey


What if the driver who get's incapacitated (for whatever reason) is carrying an ALREADY drunk person? Like, a cab picking up a fare from a bar or club?

What if the same driver picks up a fare from the hospital, in a body cast?

What if the driver's on his/her own? Who takes the wheel then?



These are hypotheticals and do not apply to the OP...and why didn't you include an example with an alien craft hitting the driver and the passenger with a drunk beam if you're gonna go off in that direction..?





No offense mate, but that's a weak argument.


None taken as you seem harmless...

Originally posted by OldDragger


You know what?
Just wait till you get home man.
Sorry, but if you or your buddies can't wait a short while to drink, you DO have a problem even if you don't admit it.
Obviously you are young and think nothing will ever happen to you.
Dream on.
Sorry, I know nobody will like this post, but really nobody needs to be drinking in a car.

This is the best idea. Turn on the tube, have some drinks and get a meal going. No muss no fuss.

Thinking about your problem of the law..there MUST be a loophole in the wording of the law, surely!

An 'open' container...hmmm.