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Belgium: Almost No Booze For Motorcycle Riders |
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File under Travel News
Author: Mike Werner
Location: Normandy, France
Via: Hbvl
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Those weird politicians in Belgium. The ruling party is putting in a new law that will forbid inexperienced car drivers from drinking. A BAC  limit of 0.2% will be the limit of anyone with a driving license younger than 2 years. That limit amounts to eating a liqueur candy.
Fine you say. Young kids shouldn't drink and drive. But the statistics show that it's the 40-54 year old people who DUIDriving Under Influence. Drinking and driving., not the kids (assuming that it's the kids that don't have an "old" driving license). So the law is already pretty biased towards people who don't really drink and drive. But then, kids pay less taxes, while the real group who drinks, do pay lots of taxes...
But now comes the worse part..... this law will not only be applied to inexperienced drivers. The law will also be applicable to trucks drivers, bus drivers, police and here comes the stinger... motorcycle riders!
Yes, we're singled out, again! Commercial drivers (ie professionals) of trucks and buses, cops (they must really have a problem in Belgium...), etc, but riding a motorcycle isn't a profession (apart from one or two), we're just a private group using a private vehicle for transportation.
So why single out motorcycle riders? Studies have shown that in fact most motorcycle riders are very responsible when it comes to drinking & riding. MCIA in the UK just published a report that motorcyclists are half as likely to drink & ride (source: MCIA ).
The only reason I can come up with is a hatred by politicians of anyone who isn't part of the normal-in-their-eyes establishment. Even if the King of Belgium is a motorcycle passionate, it's not enough for the politicians to stop going after motorcycle riders. Let them show that as a group, bikers are irresponsible when it comes to DUI. I dare them.
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