What would you do if you saw someone drinking a Budwieser while driving?

I dunno…I understand your feelings, but the texters and cell phoners annoy me more.

I would of done the exact same thing, its crazy that people will do that without a care in the world, and most of the other people wouldn’t think twice about it.

Hopefully the same thing. This person has no regard for the safety of others. Its one thing to be careless about your own life and totally another thing all together not to give a shit about someone else’s life. For someone to do that so openly today means he or she does not see that they have a problem.

Mind you all this was going on at around 5pm when traffic is at its peak so if he’s going to kill he’s going to kill alot. I am still in shock over it, I think it bothered me the most because at the time I had my daughter in the car and couldn’t believe my eyes.

I’d have called it in, for sure. Thanks for trying! I hope they got him.

My ex brother in law did this. He had to drive about a hour in rush hour traffic after work. He was pulling wire in a attic all summer so he would kill a beer on his way home. I think it was stupid but not anymore stupid then using your phone while driving. A twelve ounce beer wouldn’t even get him a DUI. Probably a open container but that isn’t a huge deal.

That depends on if it was his first or 31st.

@johnpowell Its not illegeal to use my cell phone and drive where I live with or without a bluetooth. But I figured if someone had the balls enough to not care to even cover the can of what he was drinking and drinking a lot at that I would hazzard a guess what he was drinking in the car probably wasn’t the first of the day for the care to have gone out the window.

@ovisaries Please. It’s “Would have,” not “Would of.” And it’s “It’s” not “Its”. Contraction u c

I’d think he/she was an idiot.

@creative1 :: “In fact I wonder if he had more than one there because he was drinking an awful lot for it to be only one can.” You don’t know, you admit as much. It was probably just a beer after work. Bud makes you piss a few times before you get a buzz. I still think calling was the right move on your part. I would have done the same.

@johnpowell They need a place on the tickets that says, “Driving idiotically!”

LOL! OK, the question begs…I’d be pissed if it was a Budweiser, but cool with it if it was a Natty Lite!

I definitely would have done the same thing. Not cool.
Although maybe it was an empty can full of apple juice.

They could have at least put it in a coke cup with a lid and a straw to hide it! Moron.

Not smart for sure but the laws we have more often make little sense when anyone with a pocket full of prescription narcotics can legally get behind the wheel and shave their privates while driving.

I’m sure this woman would know what to do! ;)

@Cruiser I know! CRAZY story!

@Dutchess_III After discovering the beer was a Natty, the cop would just give the guy a fist bump, and tell him it’s chill.

LOL! No, they’d probably arrest him for have such cheap beer. Ask Rarebeer!

I don’t know what the laws are where you are, but here, I am pretty sure if he had only had one beer and was under the limit in terms of blood alcohol limits, I don’t think what he was drinking would be an issue. If he was drinking beer and his blood alcohol level was over 0.05 (the limit here) then yes, he would be in trouble.

@Cruiser I need to know more of that story!

Aren’t there places in the country (Texas, maybe?) where it’s still legal to drive with an open container (meaning: okay to drink in moderation while driving)?

I still recall my first trip to Florida in 1979, when there were converted gas stations that had the service bays opened up to allow drive-through purchases of liquor. That quite amazed this Yankee boy – that those folks were so imaginative, I mean.

@faye If you insist!

@WasCy The same thought crossed my mind. Here are the rules in Texas:
(a) A person commits an offense if:
(1) the person is intoxicated while operating a motor vehicle in a public place; and
(2) the vehicle being operated by the person is occupied by a passenger who is younger than 15 years of age.
(b) An offense under this section is a state jail felony.
Source

I’ll be the first one to confess that there have been times in the past where I drove a car while taking my eyes off of the road, like drinking a cup of coffee or studying a map. There were also occasions where I drove home after having a cocktail or two after work, albeit exceptionally cautious. And then I realized no matter how confident I was in my driving ability, none of these things were worth the risk to myself, or more importantly, to others.

As for answering the OP’s question, I don’t know what the law is in the US state I live in, but I probably would have just kept my distance. This is what I do when I see someone on a cell phone or or displaying some other type of distracting behavior, especially during rush hour and while not having a cell phone with or passenger with me, which is more often than not. If there is an opportunity to safely pull over or have a passenger call it in, then you betcha…it will happen. It may be legal and the driver may not be under the influence, but who are any of us to know until it is investigated?

I think you did the right thing. Some drivers DO NOT respect their vehicle or the people around them, some people really just don’t care until they kill a whole family, even then the drunks usually just go drink the pain away more they just refrain from driving as much. I have been in 4 accidents 1 nearly killed me in all accidents I was following the rules of the road.

I do find most people take the rules and remake their own.

People get more angry because you do follow the rules.

Stopped at stop sign or a red light to make a right turn? Well your wrong :/ your supposed to now come to a rolling stop the faster the better, the more complete the stop the more time your wasting of the people in a rush to go nowhere, or who couldn’t wake up on time so now we pay for.

I have a large memorial sticker on my back window in memory of my husband…isn’t that enough??? Get off my ass!

Even if you rang up the police here, they wouldn’t do anything. What should they do? They only have your word the person was drinking in their car and if they did go to their home and breathalyse them they could argue they had a drink at home and the likelihood of the cops here driving out to pick up a driver someone saw drinking is highly unlikely. Now if they were out there and saw it themselves, I don’t doubt they would test the person but phoning them wouldn’t make a jot of difference here. Perhaps the police operate differently where you are.

There have been many occasions where I have seen people behaving like nuts on the road and I wished I could ring in their licence number and the police could do something, but it would be my word against the other driver and no proof.

What were you hoping the police would do? And is it really likely the police would act? Is there some mechanism for citizens to report poor/dangerous driving and it is acted on where you are? I would love to hear from @johnpennington (hope I got that name right) on this.

@john65pennington you’ve been requested for a visitation to the velvet lounge, please reply with your 0 for honesty opinion :) I say the correct answer is call the authorities John?
Your friend @Meego

lol@meego. Is there a tannoy system on Fluther? Calling @John65pennington. Come in John.

I’d put down my Coors Lite, and text them about their inferior beer, while I was shaving my privates.

@WasCy, I think Texas still does have the drive-thru daiquiris stands. I know they are still up and running in parts of Louisiana.

Wow, Texas is awfully easy on the whole drinking and driving issue. Here in the Northeast its not taken lightly. An open container is a huge issue let alone drinking it and having an above the legal limit your really in trouble. I guess its all in where you are as to how you may feel about the issue, I know I would never even dream of drinking and driving.

I call the police and follow behind at a safe distance and let them know where he’s going so they can take care of this problem.

@klutzaroo I followed as far as I could but I had to pick my other daughter up by a certain time and couldn’t get off the highway where he was and risk being late to pick her up otherwise I would have done just that. That was why when he got off I called back to let them know where, the barracks have another entrance that will lead over to where he got off so I am sure they went after him.

Update: Texas changed the state’s Open Container Law on Sept. 1, 2001. Source

@WasCy They still have brew-thrus all over the Outer Banks, NC.

I would assume it’s a pirate copy, because the Chinese manufacturer misspelled the brand of the beer.

So if you can have an opened alchoholic drink while in your car then I’m sure there is a legal limit that they have placed to stop you from drinking and driving, no? Because that would be what’s really in question here. There cant actually be states out there in the US that don’t enforce drinking and driving, is there? If there is then that’s just stupid anyway.

@mattbrowne It is endearing when you display your wit.

@Meego There are many states in the US that have a law against open containers of alcoholic beverages. It doesn’t matter if the driver has been drinking or not. Then there are other states that have variations.

Currently, 39 states and the District of Columbia are in compliance.[9] Alaska, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Wyoming have similar limits on the possession of open containers in vehicles, but not to the level of TEA-21 compliance.

As of November, 2007, only one state (Mississippi) allows drivers to consume alcohol while driving (as long as the driver stays below the 0.08% blood alcohol content limit for drunk driving and many counties within Mississippi have their own laws preventing open containers), and only eight states (Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia) allow passengers to consume alcohol while the vehicle is in motion. Still, local laws in these states may limit open containers in vehicles, although those local laws do not impact the state’s compliance or noncompliance with TEA-21. Source

@Pied_Pfeffer That’s kind of what I was thinking. So in which I would assume that the poster of the original question did the right thing, although I’m sure a license plate number would greatly impact the outcome, even if said driver got all the way home before the police and the police breath tested said person and they were over the limit it would take a simple touch on the hood of the car to confirm the evidence of the witness statement…suspicion is part of the job.

@Meego I did provide the license plate number to the police at the time I was calling it in along with the make, model and color of the car, so the police knew exactly who they were looking for.

@Pied_Pfeffer Thank you for the info regarding the open container laws and regarding drinking while driving.

@creative1 You are very welcome.

@creative1 well no worries then. I’m sure the authorities will do the right thing…if they did not catch the person, they know who the person is…for all you know that person could be a “regular” with the police.
I think you did the right thing.