On drinking and driving, ‘society has not come far enough’ – Judith Timson; The Star. http://www.thestar.com/life/2015/09/30/on-drinking-and-driving-society-has-not-come-far-enough.html “Marco Muzzo, 29, grandson of a billionaire and member of a construction clan whose proud business motto is “Do Good Work,” faces 18 charges in their deaths, including four counts of impaired driving causing death. The maximum penalty for this is life imprisonment” It is easy to condemn this spoiled “playboy”; and condemned he surely will be both in public opinion and severely by the courts. Not only has he caused irreparable harm to the victim’s family; but also to his own. He has ruined his own life and that of his fiancée. Surely, if he has a shred of conscience; he will regret this day for the rest of his miserable life. Having said this; I cannot help but feeling some kind of déjà vu; or in the words attributed to John Bradford (1510–1555) “There but for the grace of God go I”. I am old enough to remember when seat belts were optional and an extra charge (and so were armrests on basic models). I was an early adapter, and it saved my skin when I lost control on icy patch on highway 400 in the mid-sixties. In those days; driving and drinking was commonplace. We would go the pub and drive home; and there were an implicit agreement that the cops would not sit outside the pub’s parking lot to snare you. Later, in business; I would more than once attend business functions having more than one drink; and subsequently driving home. I don’t consider myself exceptionally stupid or careless; but it took an impaired driving charge in the seventies to give me a wake-up call. We all think we are –in the words of Garrison Keillor about the children at Lake Wobegon –“above average”; and this surely applies to our driving skills. Impaired driving today is even more dangerous; as traffic density is much greater on both highways and city streets. Rather than expect us to all to become teetotallers; let’s adopt the technology that require a breath analysis before a car will start. Sigmund Roseth