Back in 1982 I was driving on the Autoroute du Sud toward Perpignan. I stopped at a Cafe de Relais to a coffee. At the bar several southbound routiers or truck drivers were quaffing afternoon aperitifs. In this case Calvados. Coming from the States I was slightly surprised that the Etat du France sanctioned the consumption of alcohol on the roadways, but while in France I decided to do what the French do and had myself a glass of the potent applejack.

Times have changed for France.

In 1981 authorities raised the drinking age in schools from 16 to 18.

Years later the Elysees enacted a complete ban on drunk driving and in 2016 the government ended happy-hours as well as a restriction on bottle sales at clubs and bars. Authorities consider this rituals to be an incentive for teenage binge drinking and the inherently bad behavior attributed to chronic drunkenness throughout the nation. According to their reports one in four French teenagers got ‘ivre mort’ or drunk at least 3 times in the last year. I would have thought it more than 3 times.

Banning happy hours will only force teens to drink 40s in parks or streets.

Better to couple the happy hours with drunk driving hours, so the public is forewarned about the soused drivers ahead of time. Say midnight to dawn. No reason for anyone sober to be on the road after those hours anyway.

Not if they know what is good for them.

By the way France leads the world in per capita drinking.

Finland comes in second and until recently I was a strong #3.

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