Bavarian PM: 'Two litres of beer fine for drivers'

Forums: Germany, Driving, Drinks, Alcohol, Oktoberfest
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Bavaria's premier has come under heavy criticism from all sides after pre-Oktoberfest comments by saying that there's nothing wrong with drinking two liters of beer and then taking the car for spin.

Quote:

16.09.08
ONE TOO MANY?
Bavarian Leader Under Fire For Beer Remark

Günther Beckstein, the conservative governor of Bavaria, has caused controversy in the run-up to Oktoberfest by declaring that people who drink two liters of beer over a period of hours are fit to drive. Germany's drugs commissioner says he must have had one too many.

The governor of Bavaria, Günther Beckstein, has come under fire for saying it's all right to drive after drinking two liters of beer.

"It's not a problem if you drink one Mass (one-liter glass), or two if you're there for a few hours," Beckstein told an audience in a speech in a beer tent in the town of Erding, according to Munich newspaper Abendzeitung.

Beckstein, battling to retain an absolute majority for the staunchly traditional and conservative Christian Social Union, said he was against lowering the alcohol limit for drivers.

He said beginners should not drink and drive but that a grown man should be able to consume two Mass (just under three and a half pints) without becoming incapable of driving. "Of course that doesn't apply if one drinks the two Mass in two hours," said Beckstein.

Beckstein was speaking ahead of the opening on Saturday of the Munich Oktoberfest, the world's biggest beer festival at which strong beer is served in liter glasses.

Beckstein's comments drew vocal criticism from the government's commissioner on drugs, Sabine Bätzing, who said: "Günther Beckstein appears to have had one too many. Two liters of beer exceeds the World Health Organization's recommended volume threefold."

The opposition Green Party also criticized him. Theresa Schopper, the head of the Greens in Bavaria, said Beckstein should think about introducing a legal alcohol limit for beer tent appearances. "That would sharpen one's judgment and help to avoid talking nonsense," she said.

The regional chairman of Bavaria's police federation, Harald Schneider, said: "I ask myself what got into him there. He had probably had two Mass of beer before he said that." People who drank two liters of beers and then drove risked lives, he added.

Beckstein backtracked on Tuesday, saying he didn't want to encourage anyone to drive after drinking two liters of beer. "One mustn't drink and drive," he said.

cro -- with wire reports

Spiegel-online

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Type: Discussion • Score: 3 • Views: 3,898 • Replies: 8

[+3] - squinney - 09/16/20082 liters??? I doubt I could even find my car after that amount of beer.

@Walter Hinteler,

Well, Oktoberfest is about to start this Saturday, and although it's hard to
understand for non-Bavarians, beer is considered as one of the main food ingredients there, so there you have it! Drunk

1 Reply

@CalamityJane,

CalamityJane wrote:

so there you have it!

Thanks

http://www.welt.de/multimedia/archive/00191/Sauf_DW_Vermischtes_191115g.jpg

1 Reply

@Walter Hinteler,

That my friend, is definitely a Westphalian tourist.

1 Reply

@CalamityJane,

Right. He doesn't wear a lederhose.

0 Replies

2 liters???

I doubt I could even find my car after that amount of beer.

2 Replies

@squinney,

It's all a matter of practice, squinney. Besides, beer is only borrowed substance,
runs right through you Very Happy

0 Replies

@squinney,

to be boring for a moment, it all depends on the blood alcohol level when you drive. And that depends on how much you have drunk, and over what period of time the body has to metabolise the alcohol. As you are drinking beer, the body is also burning off the calories it contains.

The trouble is this balance depends on the individual. But its possible that if you drink quite a large amount of beer over a long period of time you might be fit to drive, whereas if you gulped down a couple of whiskeys (particularly with soda water which aids adsorption into the blood stream) and then got in the car, you could be taking a very severe risk.

It actually infuriates me that the law states the blood alcohol limit must not exceed 80mg/100ml or in breath 35microgrammes/100ml...WHEN NO ONE REALLY KNOWS WHAT THAT MEANS IN SIMPLE TERMS OF HOW MUCH CAN I DRINK.

There is a speedometer in my car and if I'm doing 50 mph in a 30 zone, I know I'm breaking the law. But the govt here has discouraged the sale of "alchometers" on the grounds that it would encourage people to drink up to the limit and then drive. They want people NOT TO DRINK AND DRIVE AT ALL. But its not illegal to drink and drive. Its only illegal to drink too much and drive. As a responsible citizen I want to know how much that is (one mass or two!!) to which I get no intelligible answer.

It would be far better to make drinking and driving illegal, that is reduce the limit to such a level that the driver knows for sure that if he has even one alcoholic drink, he is breaking the law. The limit could not be zero, to account for alcohol based medication....and of course communion wine Smile

but it would at least give a clear message to drivers.

sorry about all that but i feel quite strongly about this issue, having found myself once very slightly on the wrong side of the limit with pretty disastrous consequences.

0 Replies

@Walter Hinteler,

Sunday evening around 1830 i will drink a bottle of Bayerishe beer.
the party should seek a bedfellow to rule that free state( unconncted with united Germany)
My Linke will make a dent but CSU fails then the political spectrum in Germany will be red red red

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Bavarian PM: 'Two litres of beer fine for drivers'

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