Alexandra Kerry, Senator John Kerry’s daughter, was arrested for driving under the influence earlier this week and later released after posting a $5000.00 bail. Pulled over in Hollywood after midnight, she appeared to be intoxicated and refused a field sobriety test so was taken into custody. After an unspecified amount of time, she eventually blew a .06 which is actually slightly below California’s .08 legal limit even though officers can and apparently did use their discretion to pronounce her impaired.

Everything is OK now though, John Kerry has released a statement saying that his daughter was not legally drunk.

I’ve been down this road before, so in this case I just have to wonder if the not legally drunk Alexandra Kerry would have killed someone… would her “legal” status provided any solace to the victims loved ones? Or perhaps they would not be pronounced legally dead instead upgraded to a persistent vegetative state or the almost/somewhat dead of a Monty Python script (had to figure a way to play the clip).

There are political sycophants that would excuse Ms Kerry’s behavior and in the LA Times story the ABI (American Beverage Institute) left a link in the comments section to their We Support Moderately Drunk Driving site, but not me. I support low BAC interlocks and even electronic monitoring (with treatment) for repeat offenders. Driving is a privilige not a right. Personally, I don’t want anyone on the road drinking period. One beer or six, if you’re drinking you shouldn’t be driving.

Well it didn’t take long to find fodder for the blog, right out of the Narita airport gate and into the downtown shuttle I ran into a topic of interest. An article in the “Quarterly Onboard Magazine of the Airport Limousine”, watch out NYT they’re after you, had one English article out of about twenty pages and as you may have already guessed- it was on alcohol in the workplace.

From the pages of the quarterly:

Just after giving the “good morning” greeting at the start of the workday, limousine bus crew members perform a breath test. They blow into a shorth straw connected to an alcoholic detecting device. They perform this test both at the start and conclusion of the workday. Upon calculation, a slip of paper on which the alcohol level is printed to 0.000mg degree

Obviously this is something that has been in place for a good while here because later in the article it mentions another safety measure taken that seems to have been added for those that had figured out how to game the system.

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At the time the crew performs a breath test, a digital photograph of the face is taken with the alcohol level data.

Sounds like you had the sober buddy system going with the clean guy blowing for those less than sober- I have no doubt that would happen in the States. So now when the machine takes the reading it also snaps a picture.

It certainly seems like a good system, but I doubt before and after work drug tests along with visual verification would be a big hit elsewhere. Just out of curiosity I did look up the BAC limit in Japan… it’s at .02, lowered from .03 and they have results to prove that lower is better. Now that’s a figure that would give Sara Longwell of the ABI nightmares!

Sara Longwell of the American Beverage Institute (ABI) is at it again defending the people’s “right” to drive intoxicated as long they are not caught or just sloppy drunk. In this latest interview, she is demonizing the use of ignition interlocks as punishment for those convicted of DUI. Protecting the ABI’s cash cow, imbibing bar patrons and diners, is her real objective- but as usual she acts as if she were defending a constitutional right.

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She wants judges and law enforcement to “distinguish between someone who has one sip over the legal limit and someone who has had ten drinks prior to driving”, arguing that someone with a .08 BAC should be punished less than someone with a high BAC. Attention Mrs. Longwell, you are thinking like an alcoholic; only concerned about punishment if caught instead of the repercussions and lives lost caused by driving under the influence.

I’ll make a deal with you Ms Longwell; I’ll push for reduced punishment of those convicted of DUI for just barely being drunk when you convince the coroner’s office to start classifying those DUI victims as just barely dead. Get a grip ABI- and just push for designated drivers that abstain from alcohol totally.

Befehl ist befehl in German literally translates to “order is order”, it means the same as “I may not like it, but it’s my job.” It is better known as the Nuremburg Defense because of the Nazi war criminals who tried to escape justice during the famous war trials by claiming they were “just following orders.”

Every time I run across a new statement made by American Beverage Institute (ABI) Director Sarah Longwell trying to minimize the dangers of driving under the influence- I find it hard to believe that she is comfortable taking this position. In the past I have compared her job to that of a fictional cheerleader for Hitler or Satan- sure she’s waving the pompoms and cheering to the crowd, but I hope that in her heart she’s rooting for the other team.

The Beverage Institute argues checkpoints are highly publicized, and easily avoided by the worst abusers of alcohol while inconveniencing moderate drinkers who drive legally. ~ MSNBC

She does work for the ABI, an association of restaurants that just happen to make the majority of their profits not from food, but alcohol sales. So this puts her in the unenviable position of having to defend those that drink and drive to and from these particular profit centers. While I am sure that they haven’t threatened to shoot her if she refuses to support the cause… one has to wonder if she is under duress, just greedy, or truly believes the party line.

I guess the answer really doesn’t matter because befehl ist befehl was a hollow defense then (the Nazi war criminals still hanged) and it still is now. Driving under the influence regardless of BAC is impaired driving, and using the excuse that one was not legally drunk rings just as hollow as befehl ist befehl when someone is dead because of an alcohol related accident.

Yesterday I did a piece on the latest drunk driving support memo from Sarah Longwell of the American Beverage Institute. In this article she basically tries to minimize the damage caused by intoxicated drivers by saying that alcohol-related statistics are grossly exaggerated by activist groups.

The number of deaths that activist groups attribute to drunk driving is grossly exaggerated. Last year, federal statisticians classified almost 18,000 deaths as “alcohol-related.” However, alcohol-related does not mean alcohol-caused. In fact, that figure includes anyone killed in a crash in which at least one person (driver, pedestrian, cyclist, etc.) was estimated to have had any trace of alcohol. ~ Tampa Tribune

Jennifer A. Gehringer told South Whitehall Township police she didn’t see the man walking on the road in time to avoid hitting him. It was dark, after 2 a.m., and he was wearing a black T-shirt, jeans and dark shoes. She was driving drunk, and Parkland High School gym teacher John S. Toggas was also drunk as he started to cross the Lincoln Avenue jug handle off Hamilton Boulevard near Dorney Park, according to Lehigh County District Attorney James Martin.~ MorningCall

That’s right; a drunk driver with a .15 BAC ran over and killed another drunk driver .14 BAC that had refused a ride home after his wife bailed him out of jail. Unfortunately these kinds of stories are a daily occurrence in the news. For more, all you have to do is scroll down the page of my site to see the story of the lady (BAC .243) who ran over and killed her own mother.

Grossly exaggerated my foot!

Hat Tip and thanks to TDA reader AnnaZ for the heads up on this one!
Sarah Longwell is the managing director of the American Beverage Institute (ABI) in Washington, D.C. The ABI is an association of restaurants that just happen to make the majority of their profits not from food, but alcohol sales. So this puts her in the unenviable position of having to defend those that drink and drive to and from these particular profit centers.

I had dubbed her with the admittedly hyperbolic tag of Hitler’s cheerleader in past posts, but after reading her last rant about how the dangers of intoxicated driving are overblown I decided to promote her to one of Satan’s cheerleaders.

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Mrs. Long seems to think that the statistics for drinking and driving have been “grossly exaggerated” by activist groups. She states that just because alcohol was involved in an accident, this does not mean it was the cause. She also says that lowering BAC limits have done little to improve the situation and that sobriety checks are unconstitutional.

I know that she has to try, but there is overwhelming evidence that she is just plain wrong. Also stating that these activists groups should go after “chronic drunk drivers” instead of just your casual inebriated driver, apparently she has conveniently forgot that her group ran an idiotic campaign against ignition interlocks that have been proposed to combat this very issue.

The ABI is not interested in facts or the rights of citizens, they are interested only in making sure that the bar remains open and the money continues to pour in. Yeah, calling the group Satan’s cheerleaders may be a little over the top, but it’s difficult to be civil about a group that actually promotes driving under the influence!

In 2006, an estimated 17,602 people died in alcohol-related traffic crashes—an average of one every 30 minutes. These deaths constitute 41 percent of the 42,642 total traffic fatalities. Of these, an estimated 13,470 involved a driver with an illegal BAC (.08 or greater). On average someone is killed by a drunk driver every 39 minutes.~ MADD

The American Beverage Institute (ABI) seems to be dead set on making itself look like a horse’s rear over ignition interlocks being used to combat driving under the influence (DUI). First it was in nationwide news print with this infamous ad that used Lindsay Lohan’s mugshot, now they are on the TV news networks once again promoting the right to drive impaired.

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What a job this Sarah Longwell has with the ABI, she must feel a little bit like a cheerleader for Hitler. Over the top maybe, but it’s difficult for me to feel any sympathy for a group that is advocating drinking and driving regardless of the amount of alcohol involved.