In an effort to combat the soul-sucking loneliness affecting its villagers but also to empower the culture of its local, endangered pubs, the town council in Kilgarvan devised a plan allowing the local police to issue special permits enabling those who’d had “two or three” drinks at their nearest pub to drive home on back roads at “very low speeds” without getting arrested. In other words, the Irish town sorta legalized quasi-drunk driving. Danny Healy-Rae, the politician who introduced the measure, is also a pub owner and even argued that allowing customers to drink and drive would lower the risk of suicide in his remote village. Pub customers, perhaps not surprisingly, seem cool with it, but despite the local momentum, the Times reports, the idea is seemingly not catching on elsewhere. [NYT]
