Well Done, Luca Zaia

Rome

In an interview with car magazine Quattroruote this week, Italy’s Agricultural Minister Luca Zaia said that attempts by the Italian government to completely ban drinking and driving were “criminalizing” wine and threatening one of Italy’s most lucrative industries.

“We have to stop considering drunk someone who drinks two glasses,” Zaia said. “There is an ongoing criminalization that is killing one of the most important ‘made in Italy’ sectors.” Instead, Zaia suggested, authorities should focus on drivers using drugs and tranquilizers that make people fall asleep at the wheel.

Italian law currently allows a maximum of 0.5 grams of alcohol per liter of blood while driving. However, the parliament is currently considering passing a law that would make illegal the presence of any alcohol for drivers who have had a license for less than three years. And there have been calls from many special interest sectors around the country as well as the conservative government for a complete ban on drinking and driving.

In his interview, however, Zaia said the rules should remain as they are. “…At the current level, you are sober and perfectly capable of driving.”

Predictably, relatives of accident victims and health officials were up in arms over Zaia’s comments. Emanuele Scafato, head of the alcohol observatory at the National Health Institute, told Italian television on Tuesday, “(The minister’s comments) had little to do with scientific evidence and more to do with the economic interests of the wine industry.”

Undoubtedly so. But this does not make the Minister’s position any less legitimate. The law as it exists in Italy as well as the United States is intended to punish drunk drivers, people so intoxicated by drinking that their driving is impaired. I have no scientific evidence to support my claim, but anecdotal evidence and personal experience leads me to know that I, for instance, am perfectly capable of having two glasses of wine at dinner before driving home. For some people, the number may be less: perhaps only a glass of wine or half a glass. We all need to remember, drinking before driving is not illegal – driving while impaired, or with a blood alcohol content higher than a certain statutory degree is.

Without question, it is a tragedy when anybody is killed in an automobile accident, especially one that involves a drunk driver. But the irresponsibility of a few bad apples does not justify criminalizing a perfectly rational, safe and responsible majority. Of course, the MADD Fascisti will tell us that there is no responsible level of drinking before driving. I submit this is a distortion of the truth, which is a nice way of saying it’s a bald faced lie.

Television commercials exhort us, “Buzzed driving is drunk driving.” Okay, but what’s next? “One drink is drunk driving?” “One sip is drunk driving.” Bullshit. Haven’t we come far enough in one direction? Give us a break. Thank you Luca Zaia, for speaking up on our behalf, even if you did it for self serving reasons.