Tag: alcohol

NTSB Calls for All New Vehicles to Be Fitted With ‘Alcohol Impairment Detection Systems’

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recommended that “alcohol impairment detection systems” be fitted into all new vehicles in the United States to prevent an intoxicated person from getting behind the wheel.

The recommendation comes following an investigation into a crash near Avenal, California on Jan. 1, 2021, that killed nine people, including seven children.

Investigators found that the driver of the vehicle lost control because of a “high level of alcohol impairment,” with NTSB noting that his blood alcohol concentration was more than double California’s limit of 0.08 grams per deciliter.

In a press release on Sept. 20, NTSB said that as a result of the investigation into that crash, the agency is recommending a string of new in-vehicle technologies that “can limit or prohibit impaired drivers from operating their vehicles” as well as technologies aimed at preventing drivers from speeding.

“Technology could’ve prevented this heartbreaking crash — just as it can prevent the tens of thousands of fatalities from impaired-driving and speeding-related crashes we see in the U.S. annually,” said NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. “We need to implement the technologies we have right here, right now to save lives.”

Such technologies include “passive vehicle-integrated alcohol impairment detection systems,” as well as “advanced driver monitoring systems” or a combination of both that would prevent or limit vehicle operation if a driver is over the legal alcohol limit.

The NTSB, which has no regulatory authority and can only ask other agencies to act, is recommending that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) require all new vehicles to be equipped with such systems.

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First year of pandemic saw more deaths from alcohol than COVID in people under 65

A recent study done by federal researchers found there were more alcohol-related deaths than COVID deaths in the U.S. during 2020 in people under 65.

The study discovered that, in 2020, there were 74,408 alcohol-related deaths among Americans ages 16 to 64 while, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were only 67,991 deaths among Americans under 65 that included COVID-19 as an underlying cause.

The researchers collected their data from death certificates, recording deaths in which alcohol was listed as an underlying cause.

The study, performed by doctoral researchers from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, an arm of the National Institutes of Health, also shows alcohol-related deaths in 2020 – the first year of the pandemic – increased over 25% from the previous year.

Critics have argued COVID-19 lockdown measures are to blame for increasing rates of drug abuse and overdose.

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Illinois Bill Would Make Drunk Sex Illegal

A proposed bill in Illinois would make it illegal to have sex while intoxicated, classifying such an act as a person being “unable to give knowing consent.”

The ill-conceived bill was introduced in the Illinois House of Representatives at the end of January by state Rep. Mark Walker, a Democrat, and has since gained nine co-sponsors, including Republican Rep. Chris Bos. The text of the bill would amend the Criminal Code of 2012 to update the Sex Offenses Article of the Code to include a new definition for “unable to give knowing consent” that “includes when the victim is intoxicated, but the accused did not provide or administer the intoxicating substance.”

This means that someone who willingly drinks alcohol but then has sex with someone, possibly due to lowered inhibitions, can automatically claim to be a rape victim.

Defense attorney Scott Greenfield lamented the bill on Twitter, calling it “a nightmare.”

“Intoxication, rather than incapacitation, would make sex a crime for lack of consent, even if both are drunk. Whoever goes to the police first wins,” Greenfield tweeted. “This will be a nightmare.”

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Russian vodka: Gov. DeWine orders stop to sales in Ohio

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has issued an order for the state to stop buying and selling vodka made by a Russian-owned distillery after the country invaded Ukraine earlier this week.

DeWine announced on Twitter that he directed the Ohio Department of Commerce to stop both the buying and selling of vodka made by Russian Standard, the only overseas, Russian-owned vodka distillery selling the spirit in Ohio.

Russian Standard vodka is sold under the brand names Green Mark Vodka and Russian Standard Vodka.

In a statement from DeWine’s office, the Ohio Division of Liquor Control estimates there are approximately 6,400 bottles of vodka made by Russian Standard currently on sale in the state’s 487 liquor stores.

The state said other brands of vodka, even those with Russian names, are bought by the state from distilleries outside of Russia.

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The Official 2020 Democratic National Convention Drinking Game

Imagine a four-day Zoom meeting in which the likes of John Kasich, Michael Bloomberg, and Nancy Pelosi warn you for the fifty through sixty millionth times about the “existential threat” of Donald Trump, and you come close to envisioning both hell on earth and what we’re all in for this week with the Democratic Party’s Biden/Harris virtual coronation.

The alternative is to start drinking early.

The 2020 DNC represents the culmination of one of the most exhausting, repetitive, and depressing primary races America has seen. It was extreme both by number of candidates – the official count seems to be 29 – and by sheer quantity of identical-sounding rhetoric. The race from the start was itself like a giant drinking game, in which candidates were rewarded in polls for delivering the most pleasing versions of oft-repeated terms like “kids in cages,” “fascist,” “white supremacy,” and “this is not who we are.”

The stretch run of the primary, a clash between centrist Joe Biden and reform-minded Bernie Sanders that ostensibly represented a serious ideological split within the party, essentially came down to a battle of talking points, i.e. “this president” versus “corporations.”

“This president” ended up winning, and the upcoming DNC will reflect the relentless Trump-centric strategy of the victors (the same strategy the party deployed four years ago). It will be light on policy and heavy on market-tested barbs about Trumpian perfidy. A year ago, we’d have been drinking most to terms like “Ukraine” or “rule of law”; this year, it’ll be “post office” and “birtherism” (take two shots for creative variations like “neo-birtherism” or “birtherism redux”).

One point makes me nervous. This convention could obliterate the boozing public with a single word, previewed in about a thousand headlines when Kamala Harris was named Biden’s running mate last week:

Trump re-election complicated by historic VP pick

MSNBC

Why Kamala Harris is a historic VP pick for Joe Biden

BBC News

My favorite:

Reese Witherspoon shares heartfelt story in wake of Kamala Harris’ historic VP selection

ABC News

Turn on your TV to CNN or MSNBC right now. The odds aren’t bad – I’d put them at 7-2 – that the word “historic” is in the chyron. You will hear this word five thousand times, at minimum, per day of convention coverage. Out of respect for human life, you’ll therefore be asked to drink to “history” or “historic” only when uttered by actual convention speakers. I hope readers understand, without it being included on the list, that any mention of “Malarkey” is an automatic drink.

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