30/07/2010
My name is David. I am not an alcoholic. But in common with most middle-aged men, I do enjoy a pint.
A report made to HM Government recently suggests the drinkdriving limit being cut from 80mg to 50mg in an attempt to save lives. Very laudable but flawed in the extreme because no-one actually knows how to measure their intake. Now I have read and totally disregarded the clap-trap about 'units' because basically I will drink as much or as little as I choose and live - or die - with the consequences.
In common with most people I refuse to be told by the Government how much I should drink for the good of my health. And ‘drink responsibly’ in small print on the bottle doesn’t really cut any ice.
But I do take drink-driving very seriously. We enjoy going out on Sunday lunchtimes and visit pubs all over the place; we’ve found some excellent meals and beautiful surroundings in the strangest places. Whoever is going to drive limits their intake; I to ONE PINT of the weakest lager (I ask for it) or Tina to a small glass of white wine.
Yet now this is going to turn me into an anti-social criminal, have me looking over my shoulder for police cars rather than concentrating on my driving, or alternatively not going out for lunch at all. It’s going to have a drastic effect on country pubs, their profits and local people they employ, and will eventually result in even more pubs closing than the 52 per week that are closing due to the recession and the ridiculous taxation which makes a pint of coloured water now cost over £3.00. In the light of the price of alcohol, even petrol looks reasonable.
If 2500 people died on our roads last year and 35% of the drivers were over the limit, that begs the question - how far over the limit? Were these people fractionally over or - as I suspect - totally stinko paralytico?
It also begs the question - what about the 65% of stone-cold-sober drivers who died? How many were driving at 15% over the speed limit whilst smoking a cigarette? How many were National Trust members aged over 75 and driving rather slowly and not looking where they were going? How many needed their eyes tested? How many - well, statistics prove anything, don’t they?
So once again we have the do-gooders and the despised Elf-n-Safety mafia with their primary-coloured anoraks, open-toed sandals and beards deciding that we, the normal motorists, need to be brought to book yet again. Are they really Green or just jealous because they can’t afford a Porsche or a BMW? Are these are the same people who won’t be satisfied until every road in the UK has a 20 mph limit and speed bumps, and indeed a man with a red flag walking in front of every traffic queue? Who probably believe in man-made Global Warming? OK chum, try hitting a speed-bump in the back of an ambulance.
How is prosecuting Joe Average after a single pint on Sunday lunchtime going to cut ‘road deaths’ and at what point does the operation become a success but the patient - in this case FREEDOM - dies? If they decide to proceed with this ridiculous legislation, then let’s require the Government to supply every licensed premises with an ACCURATE breath-testing device so that driving home after a pint - or two - becomes a conscious decision rather than a lottery.
Your MP is either Richard Drax or Annette Brooke (dependent on your location). I expect their addresses are somewhere online. Write to them - please - and stand up for your freedom.
David Hollister