Update to “Drink-driving should be legalised”

In my earlier post I stated why I believe that drink-driving should be legalised.

I mentioned this in a comment on Not PC and commenter Kurt said

Kiwipole : …I believe that drink-driving should be legalised.

I usually consumed about a 6 pack heineken, before driving up from Whangaporoa to Auckland at some weekends to watch a game of rugby either super-14 or NPC during the season. I always stayed on & party in the city before heading home at 1 am or later, really wasted, but hey I am a good driver when I am drunk especially when I have consumed about 20 bottles by the time I am making my way home.

Hey Kiwipole, if you want to prove your point about legalizing drink driving, then perhaps you can come for a ride to Whangaporoa with me when I come up to the city for a super-14 game, next month (Feb). We can party after the game till dawn and you can witness how responsible my driving is, when I take you for a ride on the northern motorway into whangaporoa.

What do you think?

I think that this comment is perilously close to trolling. But it does typify the hop head mentality so I will make six brief responses:

1) I think that drink-driving is stupid, dangerous, and inconsiderate of others, as I said in the earlier post.

2) I think that being a passenger in a car driven by a drunk falls into the stupid and dangerous category. It is also inconsiderate of others if you have dependents, therefore I will decline Kurt’s kind invitation.

3) I think that going on a trip with someone who is as pissed as a parrot would certainly prove my point that drink-driving is stupid, dangerous, and inconsiderate of others, but in this case I am willing to forgo the experiential evidence.

4) I think that deeming something to be legal is not the same as deeming it to be sensible. How many millions do people waste on Lotto (a.k.a. Voluntary Stupidity Tax) each week?

5) I think that I can advocate for the legalisation of something without advocating for the doing of the same thing. Only in a country where people are used to the state telling them what they can and cannot do do people consider legalisation and condonation to be the same thing.

6) I think that if Kurt’s behaviour is as he describes then he is without excuse.

What do you think about Kurt’s comment?