Scary
Update The BBC have sneakily amended their original story so that it's now about the couple being acquitted. Which is quite "1984" of them, I think.
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This is a fascinating and quite scary story, about a couple being sued for allowing a friend to drive drunk. The social situation is incredibly common in the France I know, where groups of friends frequently have dinner parties that go on to the early hours. We always go to two or three on each visit to my wife's home village.
Whereas I know nobody from my school days, and very few from the after years, most of my wife's school friends still live within a 10 mile radius. So you go round, have dinner, a few glasses of wine maybe, and then you drive home. I've always been careful not to drink on these occasions, not being burdened with the French laissez-faire attitude to drinking and driving like a maniac.
If this case results in a conviction, it will be interesting to see if things change. It's frightening to think you'll be faced with a choice between calling the police or facing a potential prosecution. Doubtless, the prevalent French attitude will be a shrug and a dismissal of the situation, but death on the roads is common enough in the country area I know.
A few years ago, we passed a car that was stuck on the train tracks, because the driver was so drunk he'd turned right on a level crossing (instead of just before it). We later learned that the (unconscious) female passenger was killed when a train hit the car.
The guy in this case got in his car and then drove onto the wrong side of a motorway. Now, how drunk do you have to be to do that? Especially in a country in which most motorways have turnpikes/barriers on entry and exit?
You can't reason with a person that drunk, so your only choice would be to call the police.
In the end, nobody will have any friends left, it'll be like Orwell's 1984. Once you've betrayed everyone you love, you're left with nothing.
My favourite beer in France is Buckler: a non-alcoholic brew, which is sometimes relabelled as alcohol-free Stella. It's a nice refreshing drink, something you enjoy for its taste. I also enjoy Kronenberg Pur Malt, which is alcohol-free, and Kronenberg 2.6, which is only 2.6% alcohol.
===
This is a fascinating and quite scary story, about a couple being sued for allowing a friend to drive drunk. The social situation is incredibly common in the France I know, where groups of friends frequently have dinner parties that go on to the early hours. We always go to two or three on each visit to my wife's home village.
Whereas I know nobody from my school days, and very few from the after years, most of my wife's school friends still live within a 10 mile radius. So you go round, have dinner, a few glasses of wine maybe, and then you drive home. I've always been careful not to drink on these occasions, not being burdened with the French laissez-faire attitude to drinking and driving like a maniac.
If this case results in a conviction, it will be interesting to see if things change. It's frightening to think you'll be faced with a choice between calling the police or facing a potential prosecution. Doubtless, the prevalent French attitude will be a shrug and a dismissal of the situation, but death on the roads is common enough in the country area I know.
A few years ago, we passed a car that was stuck on the train tracks, because the driver was so drunk he'd turned right on a level crossing (instead of just before it). We later learned that the (unconscious) female passenger was killed when a train hit the car.
The guy in this case got in his car and then drove onto the wrong side of a motorway. Now, how drunk do you have to be to do that? Especially in a country in which most motorways have turnpikes/barriers on entry and exit?
You can't reason with a person that drunk, so your only choice would be to call the police.
In the end, nobody will have any friends left, it'll be like Orwell's 1984. Once you've betrayed everyone you love, you're left with nothing.
My favourite beer in France is Buckler: a non-alcoholic brew, which is sometimes relabelled as alcohol-free Stella. It's a nice refreshing drink, something you enjoy for its taste. I also enjoy Kronenberg Pur Malt, which is alcohol-free, and Kronenberg 2.6, which is only 2.6% alcohol.
posted by Anonymous at
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
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