by Peter Children –
A proposed new drinking law would drop the legal threshold for drinking while driving from .08% blood alcohol content to .05.
Will this law have an effect on bar sales; hell yes but only for a few hours after it becomes law. I don’t think it has to be a deal breaker for bars but it will be a “bump in the road.” The bar owner will just have to be a bit more creative, like having nude waitresses.
Some drinkers will pay attention to this new law as they should, others will care less and continue drinking with abandonment . I have been in that business…..you don’t make money from heavy drinkers, you lose money. Heavy drinkers get drunk and cause trouble, they run your good customers out and label your bar as a place to avoid if you want to just have a drink and not have to defend yourself while doing it.
When I was in the business we purposely raised our price by five cents per glass with the intention of discouraging hardcore drinkers who would avoid us simply because they wanted to “get as much beer as possible” for the money they had. If it’s your intention you get whacked when you set out for an evening of merriment, then I would if I could….give you the money to get drunk somewhere else.
These are different times, when I was in the business there was an altogether different police force working the streets. Most of the officers would rather see that you got home safely than arrest you. Most of the beat cops would stop in for a couple minutes to chat with the bartender or owner. It was always near the front door, they never walked around inside, just made their presence known. It was a reminder that there were consequences to drinking too much. Although I don’t know but one or two of today’s police force, I have to believe they are not that much different then those who called in when the red light was turned on the telephone pole that served as a signal to call the station. No radios.
In the end it really isn’t the new law that you should worry about…that law will only effect you if you allow it. If getting drunk is your goal, you’re going to the store and buy the cheapest 12 pack you can find, take it home and drink until you pass out. No one running a bar wants you to come in…..if they are smart.
Peter Children
MADD Mothers against drunk drivers even thought this was a stupid idea.
Drunk driving is bad anyway you look at it. Bewildering to me is the big furor over changing the limit. It is thought that in some circles that the drivers between the .08 and .05 are causing more fatalities and OUI arrests…I would like to see those numbers.
The real rub here is that there actually is an acceptable level of impairment for motorists…to me this just seem bizarre. ?Driving is challening enough, let alone doing it with any level of impairment.
This is the USA, It’s IOWA. Of course you can drink and drive. Zero tolerance policy is for sick people using cannabis in the privacy of their own homes!
This here’s redneck country son…
@Tonya-It is also illegal to drive stoned as you well know, but it doesn’t stop you stoners does it?
LBS you are dumb as a box of rocks. For you it is not about sick people at all, but to use your illegal drugs when ever you want.
My reasoning is simple, Marinol! It is legal, and can be procured with a prescription from a doctor. So sick people have no excuse to get the extracts of pot to treat their illness in any state of the Union, including Iowa.
The Federal law is still quite clear, pot is illegal! You don’t like that, move to some backwater country where they allow drugheads to exist.
Quit obfuscating the issue, or at least wait til you come off of your high long enough to think like a normal human being.
Why does the federal government give out marijuana to it’s patients and not Marinol, do you know why?
DO YOU HAVE ANT FREAKING CLUE!!!
Then shut up!
Your government gives pot to it’s federally approved patients you freakin’ moron!
Yes, why doesn’t Fed hand out Marinol to these Federal patients Observer?
Looks like you’ve been observing with your eyes closed yet again. Because Marinol is NOT marijuana.
At least take the time to study an issue before making a damn fool of yourself for crying out loud.
I forgot. It doesn’t matter to me as I no longer drink alcohol.
Then why bother commenting?
Because I know it irritates you.
If LVS was only allowed to comment on things that he does, he would only be allowed to comment on eating, going to the bathroom and complaining.
@Anonymous-you are so CUTE!
Well, if it doesn’t matter to YOU then that’s all that matters, because it’s all about you and no one else matters.
Well Tonya-I can tell you for sure that you certainly do not matter to me and neither does your drug induced opinions.
Peter-I disagee with you comments somewhat. I think it will affect the bar business and will definitely affect the resturant business. People who care just will not drink at all and these businesses will lose that income. People who go to bars either will not go, or they will just go have one beer and go home. They also will lose income and some bars will go out of business.