Passing the Bottle of Responsibility

Driving under the influence of alcohol is a serious offence.  More people die each year by alcohol related accidents then any single disease.  After work drinks at the local pub, dinner cocktails, weekend parties and holiday spirits have become an acceptable fashion of socialization in America. With so many American engaging in intoxicating activities, the numbers of deaths that are alcohol related continue to rise.  For this reason MADD, (Mothers against Drunk Drivers) DADAP (Drug and Alcohol Driving Awareness Programs) and other organization have pushed state legislators across the country to create and enforce stern laws concerning buying, selling and consumption of alcohol.  In Texas, TABC (Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission) is one law enforcement agency that concentrates on such matters.

TABC was originally established in 1935 by the State Comptroller to regulate alcohol sales, issue and/ or reject licenses and permits of those who are associated with alcohol sales, as well as enforcing alcohol related laws. However, in recent years TABC has joined with MADD to obstruct drunken driving, support the families of those who are involved in drunken driving incidents, along with preventing underage drinking. (Texas 1) These prevention methods include, yet not restricted to educational programs in regards to alcohol and drug abuse, educational programs concerning alcohol sales, safety programs that address consuming alcohol and youth leadership programs. Annual taxes on alcohol sales are paid into the General Revenue, which sponsors these programs. (Texas 2)  By the enforcement of strict laws relating to alcohol, and promoting alcohol and drug awareness programs such as these, TABC and MADD have been successful at dropping the casualty and injury numbers linked to alcohol.

About three in every ten Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some point in their lives.  In 1999, there were nearly two deaths linked to alcohol per hour and nearly thirty-eight percent of fatal crashes involved alcohol. From 1980 to 2000, fatalities connected to alcohol has decreased by one third.  However, in 2000, 16,653 people died in alcohol-related crashes and an estimated 600,000 people were injured, representing the first increase in alcohol-related traffic casualties in five years. Together, TABC and MADD have worked to reduce the number of alcohol-related victims.  For over twenty-one years, MADD has fought to keep drunk drivers off the road and has helped pass more then 2,300 pieces of legislation.  Since 1982, more than 200,000 lives have been saved through the passage of new laws, strict enforcement, prosecution, and awareness programs. (MADD 1-5)

Clearly TABC and MADD have accomplished to make Americans aware of the epidemic of driving under the influence.  With the national standard for impaired driving only .08 BAC, (blood alcohol concentration) which is the equivalency of two beers, people are becoming aware of the penalty for driving under the influence. The lost of one’s driver’s license, arrest, fines, and/or jail time for repeat offenders are becoming the motivation for adults to drink responsibly.  However, many Americans refuse to accept responsibly for his/her actions by placing blame upon the shoulders of another party. 

America has become known as “a faultless society” or “culture of victimization” the concept of denying responsibility for an action, and claiming instead to be a victim. This concept allows everyone to be a victim and no one accepts responsibility for anything. The number of million-dollar lawsuits awards has risen more than twenty-five-fold in the last twenty-five years. (Macionis 68-9)  The “sue-happy mentality” is backed by many lawyers who encourage a sense of injustice among clients in hopes to represent in court. Because so many people share this concept, individuals look for loopholes in the court system to place the blame.  Although the “Social Host Liability” was written with excellent intentions, some see it as a remedy to avoid responsibility.

            The Social Host Liability is a statute or case law that imposes potential liability on social hosts as a result of their serving alcohol to obviously intoxicated persons or minors who subsequently are involved in crashes causing death or injury to third parties. (MADD 1)  This appears to be a good, moral law to encourage alcohol servers to cease sales of alcohol to individuals who are intoxicated. However, irresponsible drinkers attempt to use the law as an escape to accepting responsibility for one's actions by claiming that indeed it was the host /establishment’s responsibility to cease service before one becomes intoxicated. Thus, the establishment victimized the consumer by selling him/her alcohol.  This hypothesis can be easily be criticized for the following reasons: 

            First, people become intoxicated at different rates and various factors can effect how an individual controls it.  Weight can have an effect on how much alcohol a person can consume, along with tolerance, eating habits, medications and mood.  Also, some types of alcohol creep on certain people yet show little to no effect on others. This means that a person can appear sober one moment and intoxicated the next. Once more, with the BAC at the low rate of.08, a person can be considered legally intoxicated, yet display little or no effect of intoxication. With various factors influencing the appearance of intoxication, a host indiscriminately cannot refuse service until after one has obviously become intoxicated, and by that time, it is too late.

            Secondly, a business that handles alcohol, such as a bar, is interacting with a verity of people continuously. Nevertheless if a host/hostess over serves a customer, the bartender on duty and the entire establishment can be held responsible for customers’ actions, even though the bartender and the owner of the establishment may or may not have had any contact with that individual.

            Finally, the federal government enforces an MDA (minimum drinking age) law, which states that it is illegal for persons to buy and or consume alcohol under the age of twenty-one. Legislators as well as American society as a whole, has redeemed this to be the age of accountability.  By the age of twenty-one, adults are to be responsible for their decisions, actions, and their over all lives.  It is not the duty of the host to neither baby sit nor supervise adults who are legally and ethically at the age of accountability and should be liable.

Although the Social Host Liability law was intended to prevent hosts from over serving customers after clearly becoming intoxicated, it is used as a weapon to avoid the consequences of one’s actions and a method to passing one’s responsibility onto another.  I do not dispute that a host should cease service to persons who are intoxicated; yet I also believe this to be a moral or ethical issue and not a legal one.  It is time that Americans become responsible and accountable for their actions, and society reject the concept of passing the bottle of responsibility.

Sandie Hart
Prosper, Texas

References

MADD. Before Congress 31 March 2002

MADD. General Statistics 31 March 2002

MADD. Estimated Lives Saved By MDA 31 March 2002

MADD. Social Host 31 March 2002

Texas Alcoholic beverage Commission, Who Are We?. 19 March 2002

Texas Safety Network, About The Issues. 31 March 2002

Macionis, John J. Sociology. Congress Cataloging. Saddle River, NJ. 1987.

State Legislative Fact Sheet. Administrative License Revocation January 2001. 31 March 2002