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Common sense

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.      
 http://kathmandupost.com/2013/02/03/oped/common-sense/366519.html

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