This brings me, once again, to a theory I have long believed, and not had disproved to me or been talked out of believing.
It's simple, really. We all need to learn how to drink, before we learn how to drive.
There are all sorts of opinion available on the internet, but here is a frank one, from the University of Potsdam.
Instead of stigmatizing alcohol and trying to scare people into abstinence, we need to recognize that it is not alcohol itself but rather the abuse of alcohol that is the problem.
Teaching about responsible use does not require student consumption of alcohol any more than teaching them world geography requires them to visit Nepal, or teaching them civics requires that they run for office or vote in presidential elections. We teach students civics to prepare them for the day when they can vote and assume other civic responsibilities if they choose to do so. Because either drinking in moderation or abstaining should both be equally acceptable options for adults, we must prepare students for either choice. To do otherwise is both irresponsible and ineffective, if not counterproductive.
A recent study of the effectiveness of alcohol education programs compared those that present an abstinence-only message with those that present drinking in moderation as an option. It is clear that programs accepting responsible use are demonstrably more successful than are no-use-only programs. In spite of noble intentions and the expenditure of massive amounts of time, energy, and money the best evidence shows that our current abstinence-oriented alcohol education is ineffective.
Simply doing more of what is not working will not lead to success; it is essential that we re-think our approach to the problem. Our youth are too important and the stakes are too high to so otherwise.
I found that here: http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/UnderageDrinking.html
My opinions come from personal experience. I grew up in a home that did not hide booze from the kids, but did not include small amounts in our diet either. I snuck around like all the other kids, and I survived. Mostly because I was so afraid of being caught in a vehicle with the people I knew driving, not necessarily drunk, but just driving the way they did in St. Margarets Bay in the 70's. Adherence to the road right of way seemed optional.
It was normal to drink and drive back then. People bragged about not being able to walk, but being "just fine" once they got into the drivers seat. Of course we all knew that was wrong. But eventually enough people we knew died, or came close to being killed, that it became somewhat uncool to drive after more than a few drinks.
But one thing for sure - we all went out and got drivers' licenses as soon as we could. At 16.5 years old we were good to go.
Of course it would take another two and a half years before I could get into a bar. And by that time, I can tell you I was a pretty good driver. I knew I was OK at it. I had driven a VW Bug, a 5 ton truck, a Dodge Duster, and a VW Camper by that time.
But, you see, I wasn't really that good at drinking. I'd get some from friends old enough to maybe pass at the liquor store, or stolen from their parents, or courtesy of an older brother or sister, and it was always not nice stuff.
Lemon gin, light rum, and Keith's. Not the tastiest things to put into your mouth. Sometimes your body rejected them.
Then I went to Europe and learned about how hard it was to get a drivers' license there. In Germany, usually not until you were 21, and so tough that many didn't bother. By that time, people had been legally drinking for 5 years. They were much better drinkers than me. They actually tasted their booze They enjoyed the taste, not just the effects, of the alcohol. They also thought of driving on their government funded roads as a privilege, not a right.
And they knew one thing for certain by the time they got their license - someone who is impaired by alcohol can't do a lot of basic simple things well, and to even consider the complex task of driving was insanity.
I took two alcohol related lessons home with me. One, beer and wine could taste amazing, so why waste your liver's processing ability on crap, drinking just for the effect and not the experience? And two, how could you ever think about driving drunk when you know you can't do a lot of much simpler things well?
I then asked myself the one question I am still asking people today. Why do we let our kids learn to drive before they learn to drink?
Shouldn't the ages be reversed? 16 to drink, 21 to drive? How many people would be alive today if that were the case. Granted, I'd extend the under 19 to just wine and beer, no 40% and up booze that you can kill yourself with. But still, anyone who is knowledgeable about drinking, and knows how to drive, especially in todays social and legal environment, knows the answer to my question above is "a lot more than there are now." Booze (at least wine and beer) on its own doesn't kill you. You usually are not going fast enough. It takes a vehicle to do that.
I still remember the thrill and near panic at how fast it felt to get my VW Bug up to 60 mph for the first time. Had I already known how poorly I would be at anything involving hand/eye and timed decision making after 4 beers, I would have told you you were insane to think you could drive that fast while impaired even a little bit. But I, like almost everyone my age, was already confident in my driving by the time I was allowed in a bar. And like most people my age, at the time, I drove when I shouldn't have.
Anyone who knows me, knows I am an advocate for fine wine, beer, and spirits. I seek quality. "You put it in your mouth, don't you?" I live where I can get a cab home that costs about the same as a drink plus tip. The decision to call a cab involves the same cost as another drink. For me, the decision to have a third beer is the same decision as leaving the car where it is, if, by rare chance, I happen to have my car out.
We need to start bringing the great aspects of Italian and Greek culture into our own Canadian one. A culture where wine is a part of a meal, from an early age. Where it's not necessary to sneak around behind someone's back to have a sip. Where wine and beer are simply a part of one's life and diet. Where abusive drinkers are socially ostracized.
Driving after drinking is abuse of alcohol. And worse, it extends your disrespect for yourself, and for what you consume, to other people you may not even know, via the hurtling speed of a 2 ton pile of metal, plastic, and rubber.
Learn to drink. Learn to appreciate the tastes of fine spirits, wines and beer. Learn to include them with your meal. And learn when to stop. Learn what a klutz you are when you're drunk. And don't let that klutz behind a wheel.
And wear your seatbelt. I am still here because I do.
