March 11, 2013Dear Sir,With regard to recent announcements concerning measures to combat drunk driving, notably the proposed reduction in the limit to 40ml, I do not follow Minister Crockwell’s argument at all. He seems to be going after the wrong end of the scale, but then again, perhaps they’re easier to catch.It is not the person who’s had one or two glasses of wine with dinner who is the menace on the road, or quite frankly one who’s had three or four glasses. It’s the one who’s had 15 vodka tonics, and comes off East Broadway doing 60mph at 2am on a Sunday morning. He is going to blow 240ml. Not 40.I don’t actually believe that the proposed reduction in the DUI limit to 40ml will save a single life. What it will do is to close almost every remaining bar and restaurant in the Island, and all of the social clubs, thereby driving the last nail into the coffin of our hospitality industry, and throwing several hundred people out of employment. These places need regular custom to survive. They won’t get it. We’ll all be drinking at home surfing the net.I do think that at the very least, Minister Crockwell owes an explanation to the workers of the Industry he is about to shut down as to why they should lose their livelihoods in order that he and his new law be able to make a criminal out of anyone who has been so reckless as to have an Irish Coffee for dessert and how this is a ‘Good Thing’.If this measure were truly being implemented to save lives I think we’d have to concede the point, but it’s not. Not at these levels. It’s a knee-jerk reaction, an appeasement, and once in place it cannot be undone.Perhaps they should actually increase the limit to 120, and throw the book at anyone who was over it. I don’t know if that is the right answer, but quite certainly, reducing the limit to 0.4 is the wrong one.I do think that speed cameras would be a great help. Not every traffic accident related injury or death involves a DUI. In fact, far from it, but they nearly all involve speed.Thankfully my employer is not a bar or restaurant so I may yet have a job for a while. But since these are my personal views and do not necessarily reflect the public opinion of my employer I must sign myself.Solitary Drinker at Home