Loyal readers know me as a neo-Prohibitionist (see Reintroduce Prohibition for the U.S.? (2016) and Use testing and tracing infrastructure to enforce alcohol Prohibition? (2020) and Coronaplague, experts, and Prohibition (2020)).
Courts are reluctant to take away convicted drunk drivers’ driving privileges because in many parts of the U.S. it is very difficult to function without a self-driven car (less true now than in 2005 due to Uber/Lyft).
How about an intermediate restriction on a convicted DUI American: a license limited to operating a full-self driving car? In an ideal world, of course, the supervisor of Tesla FSD wouldn’t be drunk. But if an alcoholic is going to be out on the road, and we know that alcoholics will be out on the road, wouldn’t all of us be far safer if the drunk driver’s job were limited to supervising an AI? The car itself could be tweaked to recognize that the driver was too impaired by alcohol for even the supervision function and then shut itself down.
We shouldn’t condone either drunk driving or drunk supervision of driving, of course, but on the other hand the U.S. is jammed with behavior that nobody condones. So maybe it is best to be realistic about our fellow Americans’ capabilities. Some people cannot lay off the booze (I actually don’t blame them. I was offered alcohol at 6:45 am by JetBlue a few months ago and nearly every restaurant in Florida seems to make various kinds of alcohol available with breakfast). If we accept that, maybe we can mitigate with a license restriction.
@philg yer a gurl. take your suffrage and shoves it up yer flight deck. Drinkin is a proverbial right:
>6 Gebt Bier denen, die am Umkommen sind, und Wein den betrübten Seelen, 7 dass sie trinken und ihres Elends vergessen und ihres Unglücks nicht mehr gedenken.
https://www.bibleserver.com/LUT/Spr%C3%BCche31
Good idea on lessening restrictions — no harm, no foul. harm reduction.
Probably good for pilots to be teetotalers. I’ve been hanging out with alchoholics drinking themselves to death one fifth of Voda Vodka a day. Aye’s gots a nasty compound fracture on account of a five-liter beer rager. Landing gear got crushed and needed fdny assistance to MASH unit.
philg
May 8, 2025 at 5:37 pm
I spend 90 percent of my money on light aircraft, Costco red wine, and attempting to keep our 22-year-old house from falling down.
This reminds me of an interview with a rock star who said ‘I have spent three quarters of my money on drugs and whores, the rest I’ve wasted.’
That meme rounded the internet a long time ago, along with whether self driving cars could be designated drivers. The self driving demos on gootube are still only showing level 4 autonomy after 20 years of focused effort. Waymos are already designated drivers on their designated routes.
Under the “Lifeline Assistance” program, the Obama administration provided free “Obamaphones” to those in need. We need a similar program for individuals with alcoholism. By giving them a free, self-driving car, this could be a life-saving solution. After all, if a free phone saves lives, why wouldn’t a free self-driving car do the same? While I don’t expect this to happen under a Trump administration, it’s something that could be championed by a future Democratic administration.
The Lifeline program was established by Ronald Reagan in 1985
Wouldn’t it be cheaper just to give them free alcohol?
I was saying to anyone that would listen 25 years ago that self-driving cars were on the way and would be godsends for children, the very old, and drunks. Still waiting. It will happen, I assume. It’s just taking longer than Elon and I expected.
Should a DUI conviction result in a license limited to operating a self-driving car? No.
Bring back Prohibition! And include marijuana and sports betting.
The tobacco industry was taxed and regulated into relative control as compared to the Europe. Yet I’ve never heard of a person smoking a few butts then driving the wrong way on rt128. Nor commit 90% of the violent crimes.
It baffles me why Big Alcohol has not been attacked by some class action John Edwards type. It seems like a layup.
The social and public health costs of alcohol and staggering.
Yup Phil, ban it all, bring back the Blue Laws too. Give the working class at least one day of rest.