Zero tolerance here. You blow any indication of drinking on the breathalyzer. Or they smell it. Today it is pretty much their job if they let you drive away. Not even a one drink limit is left now. When you reflect upon it this whole newer scenario is good.

About fifty percent of fatalities once involved people that had been drinking. Today that percentage would be reduced to some extent. As Tom stated we have too much to lose by risking it.

He was already very lucky. Being intoxicated on a motorcycle can cause real issues with your senses pertaining to balance.

I drove intoxicated once and never again. I found myself making a left hand turn from the wrong lane on the highway. I recognized the error right away. Fortunatly there was no traffic around that evening. Never again I promised myself. I was probably about 19 or 20. A promise to myself I actually kept. Unlike those at the New years.

Yet when I was a kid a lot of people where out drinking on the weekends and driving. I suspect unless there was an accident there was no enforcement.

We still have periodic roadblock type setups to check drivers. I do not think they are very productive anymore at catching people drinking. So expired safety inspections and people that have missed their plate renewals. Or no proof of insurance. Or for some reason do not have a current drivers license still make them cost effective. I probably hit them twice on average each year.

If nothing else a good reminder to keep all your paperwork current. Lack of an insurance document or current drivers license . You will get towed and stranded. Sometimes they might let another current licensed driver drive. Or come and get the car. You get the fine or fines of course.

I have seen people that drive so bad they should not be allowed to drive. I questioned one once. The answer I got was they really did not care if they hurt someone. That was what their insurance was for. Unfortunatly it was a relative of mine.

At 77 I have to watch myself as carefully as I can. I do not want to continue driving once I feel incapable. Of course I fear not recognizing it.

Here it is a doctors responsibility by law to also inform the department of motor vehicles. If a person has reached that stage. In their opinion. I approve of this also. I am all too aware of how tough it will be not to have a drivers license. At the same time I have no wish to hurt anyone.

Too many people still get old and too self centered otherwise. Or half out of their minds. So far I feel fit to drive and do many things fortunately. For the last couple of years other than in fast moving streams of traffic on a highway. I drive the speed limits almost religiously.

For what it is worth I have never been in a real self created car or truck accident. That amounts to just not being in the wrong place at the right time possibly. An insurance carrier many decades ago. Told me that a guy with your background. Of predominance in your types of sports. For some reason seem not to get involved in car accidents.

Such has been the case other than being rear ended on a highway once. I have been driving for 61 years so far. In high risk areas like Toronto and with our heavy truck. Total driven milage I have no ideal but above average I strongly suspect. Drove in anything until perhaps 5 years ago. Since then if conditions are bad I just do not bother going.

Perhaps some things worth learning. If you do not know how to identify a white out. Try to have people explain this to you if you live where it does snow. From my perspective it is a fairly well defined curtain. In otherwise clear air ahead of you usually unless it is also snowing at the same time. The ones where it is not snowing have the potential of being the worse by far. Basically snow blowing off a hill usually.

You do not want to enter it. How hard can it rain? You cannot really see the hood ornament on a large truck clearly. . On a car your windshield wipers may go. They are physically weaker by design on a car.

For both conditions get well off the road as soon as possible. There will be others out there especially in large trucks at speed still in many cases. In the day these were the guys trying to keep on time for about five dollars an hour. They run enormous risks.

If you get into a whiteout. Keep feeling for the edge of the road gravel. most cars ahead of you are probably off the road. You cannot stop. The risk is high. Just less if you keep moving. Most will not get through one lasting a mile or two. In a true whiteout there really is absolutely no visablity.

Do not assume the intensity of the rain is even comparable to what it is in some areas. Where we live it never gets that heavy. It gets bad of course but never like I have experience a couple of times while far away.

It has been almost like solid water falling a couple of times. I barely saw a slight glow in unbeiievable heavy rain and used it once. It was a cutoff from the main highway that was extremely well lit. Is what it turned out to be. I had already substantially dropped off speed as I was basically seeing nothing. These things are the creators of massive car pileups at times as well. That slight glow could have been a mass pileup burning. Whatever it was it was better than nothing.

I think the majority of drivers will never experience either of these two conditions. That is a good thing. Even just knowing they exist at the same time might save you.