[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.