NOW We Know the TRUE Meaning of

…“NANNY STATE“…

A government proposal to raise Italy’s legal age for buying alcohol from 16 to 18 is going down like a corked wine with bar owners, scientific experts and some critics in the very government that came up with the idea.
…Livia Turco, health minister, said the measure would align Italy with other European Union countries. In fact, the legal age for purchasing most or all types of alcohol in France, Germany and several smaller countries is 16, though it is 18 in the UK and 21 in the US.
…”It sends a repressive and prohibitionist message to young people, and it could have the opposite effect to that intended – making the abuse of alcoholic drinks more attractive,” said Gennaro Migliore, a communist legislator.
…“I wonder if it’s really true that you can change people’s lifestyles with prohibition,” said Lino Stoppani, Fipe’s president.
Many critics have pointed out that Italians learn to drink moderate amounts of wine or beer at a relatively young age – under 14 – because of the tradition of leisurely family meals at the weekend in restaurants.
…It is widely recognised in Italy, however, that the high level of traffic accidents is related to alcohol consumption. About 200 Italian teenagers die every year as a result of accidents involving drinking and driving.
Nevertheless, the budget’s proposals on alcohol seem in apparent conflict with the much more liberal approach that some government ministers are considering on drug use.
Paolo Ferrero, social solidarity minister, says he plans to reverse the existing law, passed by Italy’s former centre-right government, which made it a criminal offence to possess all but the smallest amounts of marijuana and cocaine.

Hmmm, beer or cocaine? Which would I rather have Ebola using? I think the best indicator on that score would be which is served at those long Sunday dinners. As for 200 teenagers killed in drinking related accidents ~ in my mind, that’s a pretty astonishingly low number considering the age at which you can legally begin quaffing. Judging by the American experience when it was 18 to drink, you’d think there’d be slaughter on every road in Italy four times a day with tanked 16 year olds.

5 Responses to “NOW We Know the TRUE Meaning of”

1. Ken S, Fifth String on the Banjo of Life says:

   October 6, 2006 at 8:47 am

   that’s a pretty astonishingly low number
   Expecially the way Italians drive.

2. tree hugging sister says:

   October 6, 2006 at 9:00 am

   I mean, sheesh! Check out THIS USA stat. for comparison:

   The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates about 10,000 people go to the emergency room every year after accidents on escalators. Of those, 20 percent involved having hands, feet or shoes trapped.

3. tree hugging sister says:

   October 6, 2006 at 9:05 am

   And check out the WIKI entry on how MADD’s saved us.

   Declines in drunk driving
   The death rate from alcohol-related traffic accidents has reportedly declined dramatically since the 1970s. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), alcohol related deaths have declined from 26,173 in 1982 to 16,694 in 2004. While some of this decline may be attributable to improvements in car safety and emergency medicine, MADD’s supporters claim the group’s efforts have brought about this decrease, because alcohol-related fatalities declined more than did non-alcohol-related fatalities.
   
   The statistics cited by NHTSA and MADD may be suspect. The data for earlier years, such as those cited for 1982, included “alcohol-caused” deaths; in later years, the category was expanded to include “alcohol-related” deaths. This meant that a sober driver who hit and killed an intoxicated pedestrian, for example, was considered to be in an “alcohol-related” incident. Similarly, an incident involving a sober driver who struck and another sober driver carrying an intoxicated passenger would count as an “alcohol-related” death.
   
   In 1999, the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) reviewed the NHTSA figures widely cited by MADD and concluded that they “raised methodological concerns calling their conclusions into question “. The statistics, the GAO report said, “fall short of providing conclusive evidence that .08% BAC laws were, by themselves, responsible for reductions in alcohol related fatalities.” The statistics were not valid even when applied to alcohol-related fatalities, even less so to alcohol-caused deaths.
   
   According to Partnership for Safe Driving, a non-profit organization in Washington, D.C., NHTSA estimated that 17,448 – or 41 percent – of traffic deaths in 2001 were “alcohol-related.” In addition, approximately 275,000 – or 16 percent – of the injuries were attributed to alcohol. However, of the 17,448 fatalities, 2,555 occurred in crashes where alcohol was detected but no one was over the legal limit; speed, distraction or fatigue may have been the primary factors. Of the remaining 14,893 deaths attributable to alcohol, 1,770 were intoxicated pedestrians and cyclists who walked out in front of the vehicles of sober drivers. This left 13,123 deaths that could be attributed to intoxicated drivers. Of these, however, 8,308 deaths were of the intoxicated drivers themselves. This left 4,815 deaths of others caused by intoxicated drivers.
   
   The Los Angeles Times also investigated the validity of the statistics cited by MADD. In 2002, for example, NHTSA’s figures claimed 18,000 deaths on the nation’s highways attributable to drunk driving. The Times investigation found that only about 5,000 of these involved a drunk driver causing the death of a sober driver, passenger or pedestrian.
   
   As for the declining rate of DUI-related fatalities, NHTSA’s statistics on MADD’s website reflect that the numbers have remained fairly constant for the past decade. The fatalities cited above for 2004, for example, are about the same as for 1997 and 1998 — and actually higher than those for 1999.

   Everytime I stub my toe or trip over the labradork after 6 p.m. is alchohol related I guess.
   I’m stunned MADD hasn’t come swooping in like avenging harpies and had that expunged or changed,

4. Mr. Bingley says:

   October 6, 2006 at 9:13 am

   Everytime I stub my toe or trip over the labradork after 6 p.m. is alchohol related I guess.
   Well, considering your inbibing patterns, yes it is.

5. tree hugging sister says:

   October 6, 2006 at 9:15 am

   (This from Mister “It’s noon somewhere in the world…”)