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Comment by chkaloon | Hacker News Reader

The article mentions alcohol consumption by kids, but I think it doesn't emphasize enough the effect of efforts like Mothers Against Drunk Driving and strict DUI laws. Back in the 70s and 80s having a few drinks at a party, bar or friend's house was normal and part of the social lubrication. Even drinks during lunch was common where I worked. No more. You either need to have a designated driver, find a taxi (which doesn't exist in most rural areas), or just not drink. The first two are a pain, so people opt for the latter and that social inhibition hangs around, and folks go home early. Have to get up for work in the morning, you know.

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> You either need to have a designated driver, find a taxi (which doesn't exist in most rural areas), or just not drink.

Or live in a place where you don’t drive to get around.

Very few places on earth are like that. Even in Europe's dense cities there are a lot of cars, get outside of that and there is no hope of an alternative. Though Europe is somewhat likely to have a bar within walking distance of your house, but a lot of people in Europe drive to whatever bar they drink in at least sometime.

Most of the world's public transportation sees themselves as a way to get to work and so parties which happen off hours in places hard for transport to reach get bad or no service.

> Very few places on earth are like that

I mean... there are fewer than 2 billion total vehicles on Earth, so I'm guessing it's not THAT uncommon to not own a car.

Unless we're arguing that people simply didn't socialize before cars existed.

> Unless we're arguing that people simply didn't socialize before cars existed.

No, the argument is that cars changed how society is physically structured, to the point where society at large is designed to center car-based transportation.

In many countries - including the US and most of Europe - this is transparently true.

Not really? Yes there are a lot of cars in EU cities, but young people are not driving them - they use combination of walking, biking and public transport.

Parties are where people live and in center - public transport gets you there. Using public transport to get from bar or home party is quite normal.

East Asia has lots of highly walkable cities with great public transit -- even a few you might not have heard of. Not just Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, Beijing but also Shenzhen, Chongqing, and Hangzhou to name a few.

Sure, there are small areas like that (which are dense areas meaning a lot of people live there), but they are still a minority. Even within those cities there are places that are more walkable than others.

or drive drunk, which if my upbringing was any indication, happened all the time

I feel like while there were laws against furnishing alcohol to minors and the like, I never really heard of some one's parents getting charged because some kid crashed his car after boozing it up at a party back then. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention but it seems like the enforcement of that really stepped up.

Oh, it certainly happened. Some people don't have a limit and decency isn't on their minds and when they get in trouble the law is used against them. Also bitter neighbors could call the cops on you.

0.08 allows for a few drinks

One person's definition of a few is 3 over 4 hours. Another person's is 5 over 2 hours. (That's even mentioning the size of the drink. A standard can of beer or a pint? A 1 ounce shot or 1.5 ounce shot?)

Here-in lies a major problem of drunk driving. (Outside of self-responsibility.)

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