[Kudos]

> Of the many pieces of advice proffered, four of the most common are: [...] don't drink and drive (they take it seriously here!)

That is absolutely not my impression of America. Americans I have met have a shockingly casual attitude to drink driving. I've also seen it been portrayed in a positive light on American TV (e.g. fictional protagonist regaling a tale).

In Ireland drink driving is still fairly pervasive amongst my parent's generation and in rural areas. But with younger people drink driving is totally taboo thanks to strict laws and a lot of education. Our media would never broadcast anything that was positive of drink driving in any way.

[waterlesscloud]

In the interest of saving visitors to the US some trouble, be assured that the police here take it quite seriously.

Whatever you see on TV or even however you see people behave, if the police pull you over, you will definitely suffer serious consequences. There will not be any tolerance.

People do it, yes, because they think they'll get away with it. But if they don't there's hefty fines and/or jail time awaiting them.

That's aside from the risk of crashing, which should be enough for anyone.

[underwater]

I've lived in Australia, UK and now California. Drink driving is much more accepted here. In Australia I regularly encountered random breath tests (police stopping and breath testing dozens of drivers at a time) and have been pulled over by a police car purely so I could be breathalised (I was completely sober).

I feel it's much more commonplace and acceptable in the US to drive alone to a bar, drink, and then drive home. Cities are much smaller in Australia and the UK so catching a taxi, public transport or walking is feasible.

[tptacek]

We have a pesky 4th Amendment in our Constitution that broadly (but not completely) prevents the police from pulling over cars without cause.

So, it is true that if you're a "steady" drunk driver, you're perhaps more likely to get away with driving drunk here than in Oz.

If you get pulled over though, you're likely to be arrested. Getting arrested in the US (as opposed to getting cited) is very unpleasant.

[waterlesscloud]

Cause is pretty easy to come by, though. Speeding is the most likely, but there's also the old standby of "weaving".

I worked in a bar for a few years, which oddly enough involved driving home at the well-known bar closing time for the city. And that late at night I pretty much ignored speed limits. I got pulled over quite a lot, and every time as soon as they realized I wasn't drinking, they let me go with no penalty. They were quite obviously trolling for DUIs.

[tptacek]

Good for them, I say. At any rate, obviously, if you're speeding (which I, too, do all the time) it's tough to complain about being pulled over.

[Natsu]

I often drive home from work very late at night and I've been pulled over and followed for doing absolutely nothing wrong. I think one said my license plate was dirty. They let me go and told me to have a nice night when it was clear that I wasn't doing anything wrong, though.

[nfg]

Irish also and absolutely agree, none of my peer group would even consider driving after drinking in Ireland, but in my experience it's much more common and accepted in the US - you can even see thi in action in US television / films.

[Turing_Machine]

"you can even see thi in action in US television / films."

So Ireland is just like "Darby O'Gill and the Little People", then? :-)

In virtually all U.S. states, driving while intoxicated will result in a stiff fine, the loss of driving privileges for a very long time, and quite likely some jail time to boot.

This has changed dramatically over the last 20-30 years.

[simonjw]

I'm also Irish and I think the original comment is pretty valid - The point is you would never see a "normal" character in an irish/uk made production drink-driving, it is just a complete taboo. However, a massive amount of American produced shows have the protagonists driving home from the bar, and it is just accepted, which I always find quite jarring. If it was part of the character's image to be a law breaker/troubled/etc, that would be one thing, but "Sideways", the newest American Pie movie and "Dan in Real Life" spring to mind as 3 films I have seen lately which have examples of this casual drink driving. Clearly they aren't documentaries :-) but the American Pie movie in particular is pretty mainstream, so it was really surprising. I think it is reasonable to assume that the US attitude to drink-driving is quite a way behind Ireland.

And on your point on Darby O'Gill - That was an American film depicting Ireland, which was obviously full of stereotypes. The films and tv shows we are talking about are an American view of America, which you would assume should be a little more accurate in terms of attitudes/culture...

[nfg]

Agreed on all points, and just to emphasise: my primary experience of this is in person in the US in a variety of cities with groups in their 20s / 30s. In my experience this just doesn't happen in Ireland anymore and it would be very surprising to see this sort of behavior show up in a movie / tv here except in the context of highlighting the 'wrongness' of the action.

[maratd]

> Americans I have met have a shockingly casual attitude to drink driving.

Were these Americans cops? Their opinion is the only one that counts. Getting caught with a DUI = jail, mandatory suspended license for 3 - 12 months, thousands of dollars in fines. And unlike in other countries, slipping the cop some money will = more jail and probably a beating. That's for natives. A foreigner? LMAO!

[simonjw]

Haha something tells me other countries which have very negative attitudes to drink driving are not the type of places that you go around bribing police :-)

And I'm not sure what you are suggesting with the comment about getting a beating from cops, and it being much worse for foreigners? Are you defending the US as a tourist destination or attacking it? :-)