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Grex > Agora46 > #171: Drinking and Driving: When to begin? | |
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gelinas
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Drinking and Driving: When to begin?
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Aug 22 13:24 UTC 2003 |
To continue the discussion that started in the 'General Announcements' item:
What are the appropriate ages to legally drink and to legally drive?
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| 42 responses total. |
jep
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response 1 of 42:
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Aug 22 13:31 UTC 2003 |
I think 16 for driving is fine, but I also approve of the restrictions
many states have implemented, such as "only one other person in the
car" and "no driving after 11:00 p.m.".
I think the drinking age should be 18.
I would be surprised to hear there's been any reduction in
alcohol/drug impaired driving accidents by teenagers because of
raising the drinking age above 18. It's only slightly more difficult
for 18-to-21 year olds to get alcohol because of these laws.
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cross
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response 2 of 42:
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Aug 22 15:31 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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tod
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response 3 of 42:
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Aug 22 16:02 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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glenda
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response 4 of 42:
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Aug 22 17:25 UTC 2003 |
I agree, teach responsible drinking at home. My parents weren't big drinkers,
but we got sips when they did have something. When we got old enough to ask
for a drink at a family function, we were allowed to have it. I have done
the same with my two kids. Staci doesn't like the taste or smell at all and
refuses to even try. Damon got scared by how much it took to make him feel
the effects. He does have to occasional glass of pear or apple ale when I
buy it, or a beer with STeve or a margarita if we make them. We aren't big
drinkers either, but they have seen us have a drink how and then, usually when
we go out for a nice dinner (and then only one of us drinks and we made a big
deal of deciding who was drinking and who was driving when the kids where
young).
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slynne
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response 5 of 42:
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Aug 22 19:34 UTC 2003 |
When I was a kid, my dad announced that the drinking age in our house
was 11. After I was 11, I was allowed to have wine with dinner and
stuff. I tend to agree that helped me learn how to drink responsibly. I
also went through a big binge drinking phase when I was 15. It was
luckily over by the time I was 16 and driving.
Here is a thought though. Alcohol is a drug. Some people would consider
it child abuse for a person to give their kids drugs. Is it legal to
give a child under 18 alcohol?
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tod
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response 6 of 42:
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Aug 22 19:45 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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slynne
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response 7 of 42:
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Aug 22 19:49 UTC 2003 |
I bet it would look bad in a child custody case though. So if you give
your kids alcohol, dont plan on getting divorced.
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tod
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response 8 of 42:
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Aug 22 19:56 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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rcurl
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response 9 of 42:
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Aug 22 20:21 UTC 2003 |
My three children, all "of age", either do not drink or drink very little,
usually as wine with a meal. We never denied them "sampling" alcoholic
drinks at any age, but then we were never bad examples of overindulgence
either. I'm inclined to think it is bad parental examples that lead most
people to excessive drinking (and raging teetotalers are also bad
examples).
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jep
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response 10 of 42:
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Aug 22 20:40 UTC 2003 |
It's done a lot; if it's illegal, there's a lot of scofflaws out
there. I'm one. I let my son have a sip of my beer occasionally, if
I'm having a beer when he's around. He loves beer.
A year or so ago, I bought him some O'Douls, figuring it's got
practically no alcohol and wouldn't hurt him. It turned into a social
problem; he started naming his toy animals "O'Douls Beer Drinker", and
telling everyone about how his dad lets him drink O'Doul's. His mother
raised a fuss about it, and so I had to cut him off.
Since then, I don't drink beer much when he's around, and so there's
not much occasion to let him have any sips.
It'll be interesting to see how I handle his desire to drink when he's
15. My feeling now is that, as long as he does it when he's home, it's
fine with me. Better he does it at home with me around, than somewhere
else.
We talk about drinking and driving occasionally now, and will discuss
it more when he gets close to driving age, so he'll know that I am very
strongly against him doing that. I've got to get another copy of Mike
Fedel's "I Miss Your Smile", which is about Mike's daughter who was
killed by a drunk driver.
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tod
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response 11 of 42:
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Aug 22 22:25 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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cross
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response 12 of 42:
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Aug 23 00:36 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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happyboy
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response 13 of 42:
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Aug 23 01:15 UTC 2003 |
re11
/passes tod an ice cold can of BAPst
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jaklumen
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response 14 of 42:
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Aug 23 01:50 UTC 2003 |
I hope that responsibility and clear-headedness is implied: there are
cases of teenage binge drinking where the parents bought the alcohol.
I think most here are suggesting that moderation be taught by example,
but I wasn't perfectly sure because it wasn't said so explicitly.
Of course, consistency would be a stabilizing influence, as I'm sure
many kids get mixed messages from many sources in their lives.
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twenex
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response 15 of 42:
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Aug 23 14:41 UTC 2003 |
Over here, (that is, in the UK), the legal drinking age is 18, but the legal
age for smoking cigarettes is 16. The legal age for voting is 18, but the
legal age for being an MP is 21 (afaik, the legal age for being a Member of
the House of Lords is 18, but you also must be one of the few Lords that still
are entitled to sit in the House, or appointed by a government commission).
The legal age for driving is 17, or 18 for a truck ("medium-sized goods
vehicle"). So you can smoke and drink before you can drive.
Also, the legal age at which you are deemed to be a "consenting adult" for
the purposes of sexual intercourse is 16, but 18 (recently reduced from 21)
for gays. Go figure.
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twenex
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response 16 of 42:
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Aug 23 14:44 UTC 2003 |
Erratum - you can smoke before you can drive, but you have to wait a year to
drink legally.
In private houses, "with adult supervision", the legal drinking age is 5. This
hasn't stopped the kind of binge drinking British football (soccer) hooligans
and holiday makers get up to - to the point that in Peninsular Castilian (or
Spanish as spoken in Spain), the word for "British football fan" is now
"hooligan".
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jep
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response 17 of 42:
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Aug 24 03:37 UTC 2003 |
The legal age for smoking tobacco should be raised. It's 18 all over
America (I think). I wouldn't mind if it were 25. Maybe 35 would be
better.
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tod
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response 18 of 42:
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Aug 24 13:48 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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gelinas
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response 19 of 42:
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Aug 24 15:09 UTC 2003 |
The only excuse for a 'legal smoking age' is that we don't teach our children
to be responsible for themselves.
Come to think of it, that's the only excuse for a legal drinking age, too.
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russ
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response 20 of 42:
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Aug 24 20:24 UTC 2003 |
Parents leading by example. Hey, that would work great as
long as pickup-driving, beer-swilling, "good ol' boys"
weren't allowed to be parents.
Hmmm.....
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klg
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response 21 of 42:
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Aug 25 00:53 UTC 2003 |
Where is there established a legal age for smoking tobacco? (We know of
a legal age for the purchase of tobacco products.)
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jaklumen
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response 22 of 42:
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Aug 25 03:35 UTC 2003 |
resp:18 yes, not all parents are willing to lead by example,
unfortunately...
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goose
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response 23 of 42:
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Aug 25 18:18 UTC 2003 |
RE #21 In Michigan we're covered by Public Act 31 of 1915, the Youth Tobacco
Act. 722.642 Possessing or using tobacco products in public by person under
18; violation as misdemeanor; penalty; participation in health promotion and
risk reduction assessment program; costs; community service.
So it looks like a minor can smoke in the privacy of their home.
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tod
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response 24 of 42:
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Aug 25 18:28 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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