Over the weekend I was watching an Italian TV programme. The discussion concerned driving, drinking and falling asleep at the wheel. Most driving accidents occurring in Italy are caused by people under the age of 30, during the early morning hours, generally on weekends after a late night out, and involved drinking, but not necessarily. It was suggested that young drivers should receive more driving education and that the current driver education system was not adequately preparing young drivers. Improving upon driver education would be a big plus, but I think more needs to be done.
I think that the 'community' has a responsibility too. More surveillance should be conducted i.e. police checking drivers outside clubs and bars before they get into their cars. Or, making certain a group of people have a designated driver before leaving a club/bar. Or, that the bartenders take everyone's car keys when they enter the bar, and if a person is observed as being drunk later on in the evening, then their car keys would not be given back to them; instead a taxi would be called for them. I have seen this done in the U.S.A. very often. But what if someone is not even drunk and they have an accident due to falling asleep at the wheel? A pot of coffee would be the answer?

kfscala

You know Karin, when I was living in Italy drinking and driving expecially by young people did not seem to be a problem. My father was a wine company rep ( Ruffino ) and since I always saw wine on my table I did not think that drinking was a particolar cool things to do. I remember I had my first beer at 22! I hear however that now things are quite different and I too heard of those night accidents by kids drinking ( and more ) - Here in the US there are very strict laws. DC has zero tollerance for example. The post had an article about a woman who was arrested and had all sort of troubles for having a beer and driving, but this it too much I think.
Paolo

Drinking and driving in the US is a little different.

From a young persons standpoint, I can say that it is more common that most people know.

Whats upsetting is that once someone drives drunk and makes it to their destination without troubles, they think that everytime they drive drunk they'll be fine, so they continue to do it.

I was also given wine at the dinner table at a younger age, obviously in moderation and with parental consent. I found that I didn't like wine at such a young age, so there was no "hype" to alcohol when there was a party or peer pressure at a later age.

Its unfortunate. People want what they can't have. If you don't give kids the experience at a young age what it tastes like, then they'll seek it out by any means later in life. I know from personal experience.

My friends mother did not teach him this way. The second he had alcohol in hand for the first time, he wanted more than he could handle... anyways, long story short, teach kids at a young age, then it won't be a problem.

Ciao,

A friend in Italy also told me, as Dan and Paolo say, that Italians are given wine from a young age so they don't have the same view of alcohol we do here in the states.

Italians drink a lot of wine, but I have never seen a drunk Italian... of course I've seen them happily tipsy, but they don't drink to excess the way Americans tend to do. They don't 'go out drinking' as Americans do. They go out to eat or hang out with friends, and they have a glass of wine (or a few) or a beer (or a few) but their goal is not to get drunk as it is here.

There's a fundamental difference in the perspectives on alcohol in general between the USA and Italy.

And yes, people want what they can't have... we make alcohol hugely more attractive by denying access to it, and then wonder why our kids go crazy when they finally get their hands on it.

Teresa

__________________
###
InkWell International
www.inkwell-inc.biz
Cultural Writing Retreats Worldwide
Professional Writing and Editing

See my new book about Italy!
http://www.inkwell-inc.biz/dream.html

But when they stop someone in the USA who they suspect of drinking they have to do the breathalizer test. Some people can drink several beers and they pass the test. While another person who has low tolerance for alcohol will fail the test. Paolo, maybe that woman only had one beer but she was....oh well. But, I think too, that to crucify someone for one beer is too much.....

Yes, that is true Italians do not go out to get drunk.

Here in Italy I have seen Americans get really drunk. It is so embarrassing at times. I have received much respect though from Italian men--when they see me next to another American who gets drunk and then they see me sober, they just shake their head and LAUGH. I like the way the Italians handle their drinking. For them drinking wine is a ritual they do with their food.

When I was in Italy last summer I went for the first time to what I would call a 'bar.' It was dimly lit, the music was too loud, the bar ran the length of the room and was peopled with drunk people who had, by 10 PM, already had too much to drink. Most of them were strangieri, not Italians and they were all weirdly unaware of the fact that speaking more loudly did not mean others would understand their language.

I'd much rather go to a loud sidewalk cafe with cars driving by two feet from my table, people drinking a beer or glass of wine but not drunk, and everyone speaking Italian, loudly.

Teresa

__________________
###
InkWell International
www.inkwell-inc.biz
Cultural Writing Retreats Worldwide
Professional Writing and Editing

See my new book about Italy!
http://www.inkwell-inc.biz/dream.html

When at our villa in Puglia we tend to eat at the same restaurant in Otuni. We have a friend there called Oronzo, he will drink all night with us and not think twice about getting in his Panda, with no hand break, and driving home. My husband and his friend have only ever accepted a lift once, never again.

Quick story, sorry it's not about an Italian, it's about a Frenchman.

I worked on a ranch in the remote mountains of Colorado, USA, an odd place to find a gourmet French chef, one might think, but there he was. Stefan drank a glass of wine or sherry for every tablespoon he put in the sauce, and he was usually drunk by noon.

Unfortunately for others, he was so used to his drink that he never showed signs of drunkenness. One evening, after a hard-cooking (i.e., hard-drinking) day, Stefan offered to drive a few of us to town.

Town was 11 miles down a mountain. Literally. We lived at 10,000 feet, the town was at 8,000 feet, and the road was switchbacks and narrow, along the sides of canyons. Stefan piled us into a car, started to town... two minutes later I was literally cowering in a corner of the back seat, praying to a god I'm not on good terms with in other circumstances, with my eyes closed.

Tires schreeching, radio blasting, Stefan singing at the top of his lungs, we went barelling down the mountain. When we stopped at the only traffic light in town 11 miles and eight minutes later, I crawled out the door and lay safely on the side of the road while Stefan and his victims zoomed merrily away.

I never got in a car with him again. He told me he was the best driver in his hometown.

Fifteen years later he's still alive, he still drives drunk, and he says "I'm French" as if that explains why he can continue to drive drunk and make it home every night. Maybe he's right and there's some European driving gene... or maybe he's just lucky.

Teresa

__________________
###
InkWell International
www.inkwell-inc.biz
Cultural Writing Retreats Worldwide
Professional Writing and Editing

See my new book about Italy!
http://www.inkwell-inc.biz/dream.html

I can say I do admire many Italians in the way they dine and take their wine.

However, on the other hand, there are those Italians who do not care about their fellow human being. Yes, there are Italians who DO drink and drive. I was attacked by a man, who was drunk. I had to call the police. The man FORCED my car off the road. He was in a Mercedes, by the way. The man put his fist through my car window and tried to grab my telephone away when I was calling my husband and the police. This man had alcohol smell on him as he breathed into me while I sat in my car. His behavior was very, very vulgar. Luckily I got the tag number. The man was in his fifties--not a young kid--but a very irresponsible adult, and one who did not have respect for others on the road and certainly not for women either. And, to make things even more sad, the police NEVER came to my aid. If that had been in the U.S.A. it would have been dealt with quite differently. I had to go to the Carbinieri office to bitch and complain. Sad, isn't it?

To think that Italians are not driving and drinking regularily is a myth. They do. And, not only do they drink and drive, but because they are intoxicated with alcohol they get aggressive with other drivers while intoxicated, they ALSO get away with it many times.

Driving and drinking is not regulated here in Italy as it is in the USA, in the meaning that drivers are not checked as they get into their cars after drinking by establishments.

kfscala

I've never seen people drunk like in U.S.
I visited many countries and many cities in the world but the most drunk people I have ever met was in U.S.
I think this happens because alchol ban. I visited my family in U.S. and it was very strange for me when they asked my ID card in the front door in a pub.
I had my international drive licence but not my passport and they didn't let me go inside. My cousin, who is 19, had a fake ID and he could. I tought men at doors check about age and not about regular documents as my passport as well.
Anyway sometimes I think people in U.S. need drink to have fun. They start drink when they live at college and when they are 21 there are no limits anymore and can demonstrate they are adult. I don't like drunk girls they are really ugly, specially the prettiest ones.
I think is a social problem that need to be solved in an other way than with prohibition.