I had the lovely police of High Wycombe pull me over for "driving too carefully". They were tailing me up that hill so I was going at about 25mph!!!
Must be worldwide paranoia then haha. A friend of mine was pulled over on suspected DUI because he was driving slower than the speed limit at night trying to find the right street to turn on to get to someone's house.
I think I'm going to side with the evil fascist pigs this time. Granted, I don't have all the facts, and I'm only going off of the scant information in the article, but: Somebody called the police and complained of cars blocking the road; the police showed up, announced via a loudspeaker that cars would be towed; the police witnessed teens coming out of the house, a keg, and games normally associated with alcohol. Why are we surprised that they administered breath tests? As far as the article reports, nobody was arrested. Underage drinkers don't have to be driving to get in trouble; they can be charged with Minor in Possession. Very well, the kid demonstrated that not all parties are fueled by alcohol. I don't think the police were really wrong here. -monkey
What's lame is they can do you for possession of alcohol. talk about a step away from concentration camps.
I remember when I was 18 on holiday in Florida, I was sitting on my hotel balcony drinking a beer and just generally chilling out one afternoon. Hotel security were called by someone and they came and spoke to me. Said they understood I'm just having a beer and I'm from the UK and if I want to have a beer I shouldn't do it in plain view. I wonder what is the reasoning behind no alcohol at 21 in the USA - but driving, and joining the army, and owning a gun, at much younger ages? Countries with more relaxed laws with alcohol seem to have the least problems.
It's just one of those relative things. There are all kinds of people who can handle the responsibility of drinking at a younger age. Likewise, there are all kinds of adults who can't handle the responsibility. But the age limit has to be set somewhere, and it just happens to be 21 in the US. But it's not completely inflexible. At Fort Bliss, TX, the legal drinking age on base is 18. Apparently they didn't feel very good about their young soldiers traveling across the border to Mexico to get drunk. Gun ownership is another one where the states have varying laws. Most states allow the purchase of rifles at 18 years old, but some states make you wait until you're 21 before you buy a pistol. -monkey
There's also varying degrees of enforcement. Underage drunk driving is FAR more of an issue than underage drinking. On my college campus, for instance, where nobody drives, the campus police ignore underage drinking unless it's going on in the dorms, or if someone is so drunk that they become violent enough to start a fight or sick enough to require medical attention. I've been to plenty of frat parties that are "18 to drink" even though the law says 21, all they do is ask you if you're 18, no ID check or anything. And meanwhile there will be a few cops in the street by all the frats, who know damn well that there are hundreds of 18, 19, and 20 year olds drinking, but won't do a thing to prevent it, they'll just watch and intervene only if a fight breaks out.
