The Debate on Drunk Driving

Have you read the recent Delhi HC directive to station cops outside bars and pubs to check the drivers for drunken driving? Delhi has gone up in arms over this. Words like moral policing, lack of trust on citizens etc. are being thrown around carelessly by everyone who has a voice.

And I look around completely aghast. What is wrong with the people of my city? The police’s job is to ensure that if you are driving, you have not consumed more than the permissible level of alcohol. And whom are you kidding? A 650ml bottle of beer or 2 small pegs of whiskey (which is the permissible limit) is not too less. If you want to have 4 pegs and prove your skills on the road, go get a race track! I want to reach home safe! The police is merely doing its job. A radio show yesterday had callers being very vocal in their protest. They insisted that they had the intelligence to know whether to drive drunk or not, and after all, they insisted, it IS their life! Ummm excuse me? If you are ramming into my car because you THOUGHT that you are sane, it suddenly affects my life too! And as a matter of fact, I am yet to meet a person who is high on alcohol and doesn’t insist that he/she is perfectly fine and capable of driving. It is some sort of a point to be proven, an ego issue about how can someone say that I am not capable of driving! I’ll show them!!

Like a doctor finally stated on the radio show, when she is sober she is the most careful driver on the road. And the second she has some alcohol inside, she is certain that the bus driving next to her has lesser right on the road than she does!! It is not merely an issue of how well or badly you drive. It is also a medically proven fact that alcohol slows down your reflexes. So you may have been driving perfectly well but if a sudden movement happens or you are faced with an accidental situation, you will not be able to respond as fast as you would have. And these micro-seconds could cost you very dearly!

So, here is my 2 bits. Go out, party, enjoy. But if you can not keep one person in your group sober as a designated driver, then call a radio cab! It’ll also save you the hassle of driving. I hate to sound like a bore….but someone’s waiting for you at home….

PS – on a completely different note, there was an article in Times of India today on how Manmohan Singh’s posture is better than Sonia and Rahul’s. I mean it. They were literally referring to the degree of the straightness of their back!!! Well why not, if Bo Barack can be such a news item then why not this (save me lord)!!!