Editorial: Boozing 'rights' still farcical

Police checkpoint and Booze Bus on SH2.

Facebook's become a valuable tool in a modern newsroom.

It's instant, ranging and interactive to the extent the entire community can have its say on topical stories.

Yesterday we posted a story about the 27 drink-driving Hawke's Bay motorists nabbed in just 24 hours.

The first ensuing Facebook comment was an indelicate mix of facetious and feral: "What's the world coming to if a man can't get trashed and drive home in a happy daze?"

Not surprisingly, Hawke's Bay police said they were "hugely disappointed" with the high number who failed the sobriety checkpoint.

Of the 27 drivers identified, 11 booked a date in court for blowing over 400mcg. The remaining motorists blew between 250 and 400mcg - a range that attracts only a $200 fine and 50 demerit points.

The next comment was a little more considered: "16 of these people would have been OK to drive prior to the last politically motivated change [2014] to the law. They were certainly not intoxicated but simply getting home after a pint of beer".

The comment's first line is debatable - the second is drivel.

None of the unscientific (albeit numerous) tests we've done in this newsroom over the years went anywhere near showing that one pint would get one anywhere near the 250mcg limit.

So let's keep it real; too many motorists are still insisting on boozing rights.

The lowered limit, which remains comparatively liberal, was never intended as a silver bullet.

There'll always be the need for a certain dose of dogma (and sacrifice of personal freedom) to spark such glacial shifts in mindset.