Irish County Passes 'Few Drinks' Before Driving Allowance

Well this probably won't fly in New York City, but County Kerry in Ireland has passed a motion allowing people who live in country areas to have a few pints before driving. Say what?

The New York Times reports that the Irish county gives police the discretion to "issue permits" to people who live in rural, isolated areas, giving them permission to have two or three drinks before driving "little-used roads" at "very low speeds."

Naturally, the general public has found the move to be populist and dangerous, but local pub owner and politican Danny Healy-Rae proposed the measure hoping to stop the decline of pub culture and decrease isolation in rural areas. "I am not advocating on behalf of the kind of individuals who cause accidents on our roads," Healy-Rae told The New York Times. "I am talking about mainly elderly people who live in very remote places who come to town to get a bit of shopping, enjoy a couple of pints, and a chat with friends and then drive home at less than 30 miles an hour."

Even so, it's not the best PR move for a country so well-known for Guinness and pub culture; as The New York Times notes, Ireland did have the highest number of binge drinkers in 15 European countries surveyed in April 2010.