Are they daft?

Oh, I get it... it's social Darwinism at its finest.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1318496--irish-county-passes-motion-to-let-certain-rural-drivers-drive-while-legally-drunk

Problem for these pub owners who also voted on the motion - if the drivers take each other out by playing Car vs. Cow on their way home, there will be fewer customers to return to their pubs, and *that* will hurt their bottom line more.

• RE: Only in Ireland.... Bill passes to allow certain drivers drive drunk,Estee, 06:13 PM, 01-22-13
• RE: Only in Ireland.... Bill passes to allow certain drivers drive drunk,dabo, 06:19 PM, 01-22-13
  • RE: Only in Ireland.... Bill passes to allow certain drivers drive drunk,kingfish, 07:59 PM, 01-22-13
    • RE: Only in Ireland.... Bill passes to allow certain drivers drive drunk,dabo, 09:18 PM, 01-22-13
  • RE: Only in Ireland.... Bill passes to allow certain drivers drive drunk,PepeLePew13, 09:14 PM, 01-22-13
    • RE: Only in Ireland.... Bill passes to allow certain drivers drive drunk,dabo, 09:25 PM, 01-22-13
• RE: Only in Ireland.... Bill passes to allow certain drivers drive drunk,cahaya, 09:19 PM, 01-22-13
  • RE: Only in Ireland.... Bill passes to allow certain drivers drive drunk,kingfish, 11:24 PM, 01-22-13
    • RE: Only in Ireland.... Bill passes to allow certain drivers drive drunk,Estee, 11:38 PM, 01-23-13
      • RE: Only in Ireland.... Bill passes to allow certain drivers drive drunk,dabo, 11:59 PM, 01-23-13
• RE: Only in Ireland.... Bill passes to allow certain drivers drive drunk,newsomewayne, 10:19 PM, 01-23-13
• RE: Only in Ireland.... Bill passes to allow certain drivers drive drunk,kidflash212, 12:52 PM, 01-25-13
  • RE: Only in Ireland.... Bill passes to allow certain drivers drive drunk,Estee, 12:56 PM, 01-25-13

i am so bloody mortified right now.

i think i'll bring further shame by very carefully not drinking until i forget this.

always remember, there's no need to ever try and kill the irish. just turn your back on a public gathering for five minutes and wait.

Depressed lonely people who live in the remote countryside can't be hurting the pub business that much by drinking at home. Kind of a shame they don't have a crowd to drink with, of course. How about they move all the pubs out to remote lonely spots so everyone has to drive home drunk?

Actually, having someone on hand in each pub deciding who is permitted to drive home isn't a bad idea. As long as they aren't the pub owners, of course.

They would have to exempt the decider, because, well, an Irishman in a pub all day, not drinking?

<pub logic voice well-oiled> Well now, laddie, the solution is to have the priest decide. No matter how much he's had to drink they all have to abide by what the priest decides. In fact the pub owners should be lettin' the priests drink gratis as it is, sort of a public service keeping them off the streets you might say. Yes sir! <slam palm on bar for emphasis> Get drunk, give a confession to the drunk priest, say your Hail Marys, go home. And anyone who dies on the way home, well it was in the Lord's hands after all, can't anyone argue with that. And they dies with a clean slate, yes indeed, now that's the way to go.

LAST EDITED ON 01-22-13 AT 09:17 PM (EST)

Let's say O'Malley gets hired to be the decider for a pub. Seamus comes along and has his three drinks, then is about to leave.

O'Malley says "uh huh, you seem like you might be a little drunker than I'd like you to be in order to get behind the wheel."

Seamus says, "buy you a pint?"

O'Malley says, "shure!"

Paddy gets pissed off watching this, knowing that O'Malley wouldn't let him go earlier that night, so he and O'Malley gets into a fight. Meanwhile, Seamus sneaks off into his car and attempts to drive home.

Alternatively, O'Malley as the decider ends up drinking everyone else's pints to stop them from drinking a fourth pint so they wouldn't be stuck in the pub overnight -- and he ends up fighting everyone else in the pub after he's had a few too many.

Either way, we'd still have the Irish killing each other like Estee mentioned.

Oh, the deciders shouldn't be in the employ of the pubs. It should be a service the pub owners have to pay for, all of them, and they could make it with higher charges. This is a business opportunity!

Or they could just put a constable in every pub on duty, a billie club in every pub! And you get better pub security that way as well, a win/win.

The controversial motion suggested that the police would have the discretion to issue these permits to allow certain people to drink up to three pints and drive home along a rural road at no more than 30 km/h.

Irish brew isn't Bud Light, and km/h isn't mph! A good horse could gallop the route home faster than 30 km/h.

Ragtop Ride by foonermints

LAST EDITED ON 01-22-13 AT 11:26 PM (EST)

Three pints wouldn't leave most grown men stumbling drunk, unless it's a really potent potable. Tipsy? Yes. Happy? Yes or no depending on the Irish mood. But still with most motor function. There are exceptions.

But supposing it would, then there's the matter of a shitfaced Irishman holding on to a horse at a fast canter (18mph) for several (or ever how many) miles.

Well, I guess if he drank a lot he might get pretty good at riding drunk.

BTW, In Texas, if a cow escapes and is hit by a car, the farmer is liable.

Additionally, have three thousand pounds of metal hit you at 30 kph. Let me know how you do.

Good place to sell Segways.

AS those fame philosophizers of the '80s once opined, "The reason people have drunk driving accidents is because people don't learn how to drive drunk."

Maybe not only in Ireland. From what I've read, in Mississippi it is perfectly legal to drink while driving as long as your blood alcohol level doesn't go above .08.

How does someone figure out when they've hit .079?

Capn2patch put me in motion!