Maritime Morning - Andrew Krystal

A judge just ruled this week on a man who was over the legal limit for alcohol consumption where a young boy was killed on a bicycle. An accident reconstruction indicated that alcohol was not a factor in the fatality due to the nature of the accident. Another 26-year-old woman was convicted and sentenced following a fatality of her a friend, a passenger where she was drunk and took the car off the road into the ditch.

It doesn’t matter about the names, or the specifics.

There will be more of these — many more. Simply incarcerating for life or giving the death penalty to drunk drivers won’t make a difference either. Despite what some say, it is not a question of deterrence. People will drink and drive — less, mind you, than in times past due to education and acquired societal censure, but drink and drive they will.

In the Maritimes, the problem is particularly acute for a variety of reasons: Celtic culture and reduced public transit, a relatively low population density with large rural areas; not enough cabs; most importantly, when it comes to cabs, income. Reduced income also means less disposable income for cabs themselves at longer distances.

Let’s talk about these economic metrics. The average Maritime resident has a combined household income of 53K, with two kids. Recreational drinking costs, over the course of a year, mandate that many people will play the angles and push the legal envelope of restraint. It is a fact that no one talks about.

The highest consumers of alcohol are also those who can least afford to recreationally drink safely, 18- to 34-year-olds. Now, many of these are also students who can stumble home, but many drive too.

The NSLC recently recorded record booze sales; the bar industry in Halifax alone employs hundreds and generates huge profits. Not to mention the liquor industry that promotes itself and, by extension, government profits.

There is an entire advertising/marketing culture and culture of reward/entitlement at work, as well as the usual human inclination to self-medicate. Even apes in the wild consume fermented fruit. It is also human nature. Fortunately apes don’t drive cars, but if they could, they would. And if the government could find some way to tax apes they would as well.

What we are left with is the lie of individual human responsibility where the collective society gets the real “get out of jail free” card.

Yes, people are responsible for their own actions. But a society that benefits so handsomely should stop winking at us and waiting for those who will inevitably fail - or kill.

The next time you hear a beer commercial, or see one on TV, or watch the Molson Indy, think about that ‘get out of jail free card’ that the system and the culture holds.

This Bud’s for you.

Cheers.