What about Paddy?
They want to reduce the drink limit for drivers again.
Of course most people will greet this announcement with cheers and say it’s a good thing.
But then most people don’t actually stop and think about the crazy logic of the whole setup.
Take an example of a hundred average drivers. Of those, ninety nine can have a few pints and quite safely drive home after. They can do that because they know their own capabilities and will adjust their driving accordingly. The other person of course will think he is capable of holding any amount of drink and will cream himself over the countryside in a spectacular manner, thereby improving the general gene pool.
The logic of this is to weed out the cretins who can’t hold their drink, and then let the rest of us carry on with our lives.
Not so with the Nanny State.
The Nanny State fails to realise that it is the one percent who causes the havoc. It is the one percent who go out speeding, driving recklessly and generally causing carnage on the roads. The Nanny State says that we all have to be treated as if we were that one percent.
You only have to look at the figures. Despite all their best efforts, there are still roughly the same number of casualties on the roads each year. They tighten up the speed limits and they reduce the drink limit, but that has a negligible effect on the statistics. Why? Because the one percent are still out there, and by their nature, they are going to ignore all the rules and regulations.
In the meantime, the rest of us have to suffer the consequences.
What about the other side of the coin?
What about the decimation of rural communities, and the isolation of the rural farmer?
Poor old Paddy has to spend his nights now stuck up on a mountainside, on his own. He daren’t go to the pub any more because of the draconian laws. Paddy had been driving the tractor for decades down to O’Tooles for his couple of Guinness and two half ones for decades. He had never had an accident, because he knew the route like the back of his hand and the tractor never did more than about ten miles an hour anyway. It was his contact with his fellow neighbours. It was his social life. It was his life.
Now Paddy has to spend his evenings in isolation. He rarely meets his neighbours. In fact, he rarely meets anyone.
I’m sure Paddy is greeting the new drink limits with open arms. I’m sure he is content to sit in his isolation in the comforting knowledge that his sacrifice, while not actually achieving anything is making the government feel good.
This is for you, Paddy.
I like the thining of the bad gene pool idea 🙂
Sounds like Paddy needs a still and a gimp.
I don’t think it’ll make a whit of difference to road safety, it’s about creating a mindset of sheep like obedience. Now there are people whose lives have been destroyed by drunk drivers who might welcome this legislation, I’m not sure. I don’t drink and drive, but lower limits are unlikely to do much other than get a baaaaaaaa from the populace who are clearly sufficiently in the thrall of the muppet brigade that they are doing nothing about the shafting they are getting these times.
Seamus – Natural Selection and all that jazz.
Thrifty – Of course it won’t make a squat of a difference to road safety. It will provide extra income from fines though. Another notch on the bedpost of the Bully State.
Rule makers tend not to live by themselves in remote cottages.
Ahh Bollocks Grandad.
I heard this on the wireless this morning and just knew you’d have someting to say about it. But lets face it, Paddy up the mountain has feck all to worry about.
Why – because the chances are there isn’t a Gard in sight anyway. Plus any older coppers are probably in O’Tooles themselves.
Older cops that live in the area will use a bit of common sense.
They’ll give hell to the younger lads – because, well that’s fair enough, they make up the 1%.
They’ll leave the older lads alone unless they are totally trashed.
It’s only some young buck just imported from the city that’ll be looking to do anyone for drink driving. And he’ll have fewer mates than Paddy up the mountain if he takes that attitude too far in a rural community.
Only 1/3 of accidents are caused by drunken drivers, the other 2/3 are caused by sober drivers. Ergo, it is safer to drive when you are drunk !
Ian – Life would be a lot better if all the rule makers were shifted off somewhere remote. Like Rockall?
Jimbo – The point is whether they will risk it. There is always some little jumped up Garda dying to impress his superiors. Unfortunately we are leaving the era of common sense and moving into the era of the rule book.
Perfidious – Impeccable logic. I’ll drink to that.
i think that this bloody stupid government must sit down and think of ways of punish the ordinary job bloggs. I have never ever seen so many rules and regulations brought to light of late thanks to this goverment. What next are they going to tax the air that we breath.
.-= Vicky Rogers´s last brainfart .. A good sense of humour is needed in this life. =-.
Suspect there’s a twofold agenda here:
– to keep us distracted so that we don’t focus on the real problems.
– to get us used to the idea that more and more rules will be introduced in a desperate attempt to keep the masses under control!
All pretty irrelevant having just watched David McWilliams ‘addicted to money’ on TV tonight. We’re likely in the proverbial whichever way we go!
Vicky – I heard a whisper somwhere that they were thinking of taxing blogs!!
Mick – The first stage of the process is the Nanny State. When they have us all used to these fucking laws, they then become the Bully State. That is the stage we are entering now.
we have been discussing this at the office over the past few days. the office hours have changed in as much as clocking off time is now 5.30 – 6.00 ish – no point in drinking after that. what’s the point in going out later. stockie has been doing great research into politicians clinics, or pubs as they are more usually known, and we have come to the conclusion that it’s time to go for another pint – the tractor doesn’t have great lights for driving in the dark. It’s your round, Noel Dempsey.
the limit isn’t the problem, it’s enforcement and that is not going to change just cause they spent a wedge bringing in a revised law, why not spend that money on more Gardai?
or better yet why not get the Traffic corps to enforce all the existing traffic laws, before bringing in new ones?
I firmly believe this has fuck all to do with road safety, the same as the row with the pharmacists had fuck all to do with saving money, nor had all the bullshit about Brendan Drumms fucking bonus, if you add up all the other bonuses paid in the HSE in 2007 it would make his € 70 -80K look paltry enough.
All these things are carefully stage managed to distract the public from the complete and total mess this govt is making of running the country.
Pharmacists are paid too much, govt win saving €100m – We are borrowing € 500m per week ?
Reduce drink driving limits from 80m to 50m = Lives saved NONE, no one has ever caused an accident because they had a blood alcohol reading of 80m, however it will cause a row and grab headlines for a few days but will ultimately be supported as no one will admit to supporting drink driving.
Rural Garda stations & Rural Post Offices are nearly all closed, looks Like the Rural Pub is next.
If Paddy the old rural farmer is stopped after a few pints, he will be prosecuted and will lose his licence. If some scumbags break into his house and beat him to death while robbing him, they will get away with it as there are no local guards nearby.
The fact that Paddy can’t go to the pub will make it easier for the scumbags as he will be at home when they call.
Well done again FF you shower of Fucking Cunts..