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New Research Pushes Roadblocks, License Restrictions
(11/1/2002)

San Diego: Ban On The Beach? "A lot of people don't go to Mission Beach in the summer because it's scuzzy and rowdy," writes The San Diego Union-Tribune, endorsing a referendum banning alcohol on two city beaches. "Why is it scuzzy and rowdy? Because of alcohol."

The paper presents no evidence to back this up. And, calling for a "summer of sobriety," the Union-Tribune says if the ban passes, "we're convinced beach-goers will love it and want to make the ban permanent."

Maybe they forgot that the reason the referendum is taking place at all is that 52,000 angry San Diegans signed a petition to get it on the ballot after the City Council imposed the ban without voter consent!

Taking Beer To Court Mothers Against Drunk Driving has become Mothers Against Deli Dining in Boise, Idaho, where the group is trying to keep a deli that serves beer and wine along with its sandwiches and chips from moving into a new courthouse complex. "There are places for alcohol, but a courthouse is not one of them," says MADD's Molly Cox.

Cox may think laws and lager don't mix, but she's forgetting that Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence while downing pints in the Indian Queen Tavern -- or that the founding document was adopted by a Continental Congress that allowed alcoholic beverages to delegates while in session.

Says one member of the prosecutor's office: "When it comes down to it, having a restaurant where you can have a beer with your pastrami sandwich didn't seem like that big of a thing."

A Flawed Flight Of Fear Exploiting the tragic events of September 11, an "aviation psychologist" says it is time for "a ban on serving alcohol in flight."

Worried that "potentially aggressive demanding passengers" could still drink before boarding a plane, Graham Lucas of the Royal Society of Medicine suggests air marshals should be posted on flights to "enforce limits on drinking" -- whether in flight or on the ground.

That's probably not the best strategy considering that an analysis of 1997 data from British Airways suggests that fewer than one in a million airline passengers are ever involved in alcohol-related incidents.

Your Papers, Please The Chicago Tribune's Steve Chapman wonders why restrictive "zero-tolerance" laws are failing to reduce traffic fatalities -- and offers some advice:

"One of the most effective solutions is old-fashioned sobriety checkpoints. Though they may not yield many arrests, they can discourage a lot of people from taking any chance on drinking and driving."

The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation wants roadblocks deployed to ensnare at least half the U.S. driving population each year. According to the Transportation Department, that's over 93.6 million drivers -- nearly two million a week pulled over without cause.