[Culturechat] Dry days are coming

[Vance Roy]

As of 1 January, 2005, a new law takes effect in CH. The allowable 
alcohol limit in the blood of a driver goes down to 0.5%. Now, it is 
0.8%. The new level is equivalent to one glass of beer (a bit over 8 
ounces), one glass of wine (about 3 ounces), or a shot of spirits 
(about 2/3 of an ounce). There is an allowable limit of zero regarding 
other drugs.

The police may stop you for no reason for a random check. If you fail 
that, you are taken in for a blood test. If it shows you to be in 
violation, then you will get a warning the first time for levels 
between 0.5 and 0.79%. Above this and you get a maximum fine of 5000 
CHF and/or a 90 day stint in the slammer. If you have over 0.8%, you 
lose your driver's license, and you may get up to 40,000 CHF fine 
and/or up to 3 years in jail. Get caught with a level over 0.8% three 
times in a ten year span, and the license is gone for a length to be 
determined but at least three years. After that, get caught again and 
the license is gone for good.

This law change will be a boon for less accidents, injuries, and 
fatalities. It won't help the restaurants, but it will help the public 
transport and taxi business. There will be a lot of folks buying wine 
in restaurants and doggie bagging the bottle home too.

Wonder how this stacks up against USA laws?


Vance Roy
gigli.saw@dplanet.ch
http://homepage.mac.com/fredch

The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.