Policymakers need to fix alcohol limit for driving; no tolerance is intolerable.
The
party scenes have exponentially died down and restaurants all over the valley
have clean tables waiting for customers who will never turn up. The look on the
waiters, barmen and security guards all have a bored aura looming over their
heads very uncommon for a happening city like ours. So what went terribly wrong?
The
‘do not drink and drive’ campaign has everyone screwed up. Every time I hang
out with my friends and family, the discussion on this certain campaign has
every one blabbering unstop because everyone is upset. The dining experience
has soured. Occasionally I started talking to the waiters and the more I talked
to them I learned it is not just the customers who are suffering the businesses
are worst off. But the truth is waiters hesitate to talk about the actual daily
business transactions, one because they do not maintain the account and secondly
they are afraid to tell the truth because they do not want to scare their
customers. Fact is restaurants have suffered the most due to the zero tolerance
campaign on ‘do not drink and drive’ that started exactly a year ago.
Last
night on our way to our friend’s wedding party, the police stopped us in
Tripureshwor to check whether we were drunk or sober. My friend in the driver
seat rolled down his window while the woman police greeted us warmly. She did
the usual round of questioning and we replied in harmony – we are not drunk
yet, but we will once you clear us. The police humored us and asked us which
way would we return? Lucky for us, by the time we reached the party the bar was
empty. We decided to finish off early; no police on sight on our way back home.
I know not everyone has a happy conclusion like ours (although we were miffed
for the party minus alcohol). Mind you, we always have happy endings because we
always designate a driver, a responsible decision we have decided to retain.
The
‘do not drink and drive’ campaign must have been effective in achieving the
outcome – decrease road accidents by 50 per cent, 20 per cent less crimes in
the valley for example but most importantly it has made us responsible citizens.
However, there is an equally damaging side to the ‘do not drink and drive
campaign.’
What
are the repercussions of the famous do not drink and drive campaign? The empty
seats in the restaurants and the reluctant waiters disclosing the day-to-day
business is a serious threat to our economy. Like the circle of life, the
economy too has a circle. But a country like ours that prioritizes corruption,
manipulating poor citizens and destructing the history over economy this kind
of senseless campaign is definitely abound to anger businesses and people in
general. My point is instead of implementing a campaign that has no vision and most
importantly hinders economic activities why cannot our government make
regulations that not only makes sense but is also holistic and normative
following the global culture of sensible societies.
Here
are the reasons why the zero tolerance campaign will not sustain. Firstly, as
soon as the new PM takes office, this campaign is sure to die. Secondly,
conducting checks for drunk drivers in this freezing cold weather is
impractical (we cannot compare an American police waiting with his laser lights
in his heated car to that of our police force that obviously lacks funds to buy
decent gadgets) and the police are tired of smelling bad breaths. Thirdly, the
sales in restaurants have dwindled sharply which means they pay less tax
(again, a country that has the highest tax brackets for businesses and salaried
workers will contribute less to the state coffers). And fourthly, the producers
of alcohol and restaurants that pay high
taxes will not be able to sustain their business which means the workers get
laid off which will ultimately affect the GDP of our nation (the unemployment
rate is growing globally and Nepal is already high in the list of countries
with the most unemployed youths).
If
a layperson like me can draw conclusions that make sense, why would our
government implement such regulations that negatively affect our economy? I
spoke to a lot of friends, co-workers and restaurant owners and everybody in
their sane mind agrees implementation of regulations on drunk driving is highly
accepted but without a fixed limit, the law is seriously flawed. Therefore if
the current government wants to see its fruits of labour even after they are
long gone it is utmost important to fix a drinking limit for legally driving.
This change in regulation will definitely balance the equilibrium of economy to
a certain extent.
I
recently read a piece reporting on the change of law in Ireland regarding drunk
driving. One of the lawmakers has proposed to allow the drivers from a certain town
drink and drive because these drivers live in a town that is isolated from heavy
traffic (although criticism is heavy from the opposition). Now this proposal does
not make sense either for a country that has regulated the drunk drivers for
decades but a healthy debate that might make some sense is the first step to a
right to govern people.
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