Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

  • Shop
  • Subscribe to BMG
  • Contact
  • Log In
  • Front Page
  • All Posts
  • About
  • Rules
  • Events
  • Register on BMG

Why Isn’t Drunk Driving Prevention Used to Back Late-Night T Service?

June 8, 2014 By thegreenmiles

060512nappingOne of the best ways to prevent drunk driving is to give people transit options so they don’t need to drive at all, argues Sommer Mathis at The Atlantic City Lab. But she says the benefits of avoiding drunk driving crashes is rarely cited as a reason to expand transit, using the MBTA as an example:

Politicians and policymakers all over the country have been hard at work in recent years convincing voters that investing in systems like light rail and bus rapid transit will reduce congestion, improve air quality, and spur economic development. But nowhere has anyone been making the case that giving people more and better options not to drive is a massive public safety issue.

Take Boston, for example. In one of America’s oldest cities, stuffed to the gills with thirsty college students, the MBTA only introduced late-night weekend service on the ‘T’ a couple of months ago. But the expanded service, part of a one-year pilot program, is not being billed not as a public safety initiative. Instead, as the Boston Globe reports, the ‘T’ will be monitoring whether the new hours “increase sales at local businesses, encourage restaurants close to T stations to stay open later, and make Boston’s convention centers more competitive in bringing high-profile events to the city.” That’s not to say economic goals can’t be put right alongside safety ones, of course, but saving lives has not, as yet, appeared to have entered the conversation.

The war on drunk driving, like the war on drugs, is far too limited to a “just say no” strategy. Even at one-time huge drinking festivals like New Bedford’s Portuguese Feast where temporary shuttle service could be provided cheaply and easily, instead everyone looks the other way.

Please share widely!
fb-share-icon
Tweet
0
0

Filed Under: User Tagged With: boston, drunk-driving, mbta, public-transit, transportation

Comments

  1. farnkoff says

    June 8, 2014 at 8:51 pm

    Massachusetts is definitely a state that loves its booze, and doesn’t seem to do a very good job preventing or punishing drunk driving. It also seems to undervalue public transit for some reason, choosing instead to waste money on unncecessary billion-dollar convention center upgrades and the like.

  2. kevin-mentzer says

    June 9, 2014 at 8:12 am

    I’m going to guess that the MBTA isn’t promoting this because they don’t want the public to think that the riders are a bunch of drunks – so it’s an image issue. They may also not want to be seen as promoting drunkenness.

    • thegreenmiles says

      June 9, 2014 at 9:19 am

      But prioritizing “adults drinking is sinful” over “let’s keep the T open late & save lives” sounds like that.

      • Christopher says

        June 9, 2014 at 4:17 pm

        …between adults drinking and getting drunk. There’s really no need for the latter though people I’m sure misjudge from time to time. That said, this is one of many reasons to run the T later. Not everyone keeps a “normal” schedule.

      • Christopher says

        June 9, 2014 at 4:19 pm

        …Puritans drank their share. Water wasn’t clean back in the day and most of their liquid consumption had some alcohol content.

      • Christopher says

        June 11, 2014 at 4:44 pm

        I suspect there are 20 accused witches in Salem back in 1692 who would beg to differ:)

    • SomervilleTom says

      June 9, 2014 at 4:31 pm

      There is a world of difference between “drunk” and “not able to drive safely”.

      I’m a big guy (6’5″, 250lbs), and I like to have two or three glasses of wine with a nice multi-course dinner. I haven’t been “drunk”, in the sense of falling-down puking-my-guts-out where-am-I wasted in decades. Nevertheless, I do NOT feel comfortable driving after three glasses of wine.

      I suggest that if the T ran all night, it would be possible to get a decent meal in a restaurant after a late movie (try that now!) or stop in for dessert and drinks on the way home from a concert.

      I agree with you that MBTA may be thinking this way — I think it is wrong-headed and provincial.

      • stomv says

        June 11, 2014 at 12:52 pm

        I have no problem sharing a streetcar with somervilletom after he’s dined and had a few glasses of wine.

        I’m absolutely not interested in sharing a streetcar with a bunch of bros heading back to their pad in Allston after doing Jaegerbombs downtown all night. I’d very much prefer that they ride taxis or ubers and keep their antisocial behavior to themselves.

        This is the line that folks have to walk when discussing using the MBTA for late-night transportation.

        • JimC says

          June 11, 2014 at 1:49 pm

          But the bros, if they have jobs, are more likely to have monthly T passes, which will come in handy because they drank the cab money.

          • stomv says

            June 11, 2014 at 8:25 pm

            and, more importantly, those so-called bros all use uber anyway — credit card on smart phone.

            So, drink away the cab money — and still take personal flexible transportation home. And a barf bag.

            • JimC says

              June 11, 2014 at 11:54 pm

              … and a better option most of the time.

        • thegreenmiles says

          June 12, 2014 at 2:48 pm

          There’s a common thread between this & Kevin’s comment, which is “I don’t think people should be allowed to go out & get drunk.” That is a valid point of view, but the proper legislative response to that is “ban bars from selling you more than X drinks,” not “prevent drunks from getting home affordably & safely.”

          • kevin-mentzer says

            June 12, 2014 at 3:15 pm

            Let me just clarify so people don’t think those were my words. I had a marketers hat on and was speculating why the MBTA isn’t using safe travel for those intoxicated as a marketing tool to extend hours. Now – even if I weren’t going to use it as a marketing tool externally – I think we have a responsibility to the community to provide safe means of travel and I would hope the MBTA is using that as an argument internally to extend hours – they are just then challenged on how to sell that to our puritanical society.

            I would be the last person to try and restrict personal freedoms. I don’t think anyone has the right to tell me I can’t go out and get drunk (or stoned for that matter) as long as I have a safe way to get home. It certainly would be nice if the state provided that service.

          • Christopher says

            June 12, 2014 at 4:26 pm

            …and that there already were laws on the books against public intoxication.

          • stomv says

            June 13, 2014 at 6:18 am

            Go back and re-read.

            A somervilletom getting on the train drunk — no problem. Somervilletom won’t behave badly.

            The issue isn’t intoxication per se, it’s antisocial behavior. The reality is that, collectively, the young people returning to their apartments in Allston and Brighton on Saturday and Sunday 2am behave antisocially. If you encourage them to ride, you’re discouraging everybody else from riding, and you’re begging for the added costs ranging from cleaning up puke to police dealing with everything from elbow titting to fist fights.

            Or, to put it another way, when was the last time you were on the B Line at midnight between Sep and May on a weekend?

            • thegreenmiles says

              June 16, 2014 at 8:30 am

              Go back and re-read the post. The point is if they’re drunk on the T, they’re not drunk in their car.

Recommended Posts

  • No posts liked yet.

Recent User Posts

Predictions Open Thread

December 22, 2022 By jconway

This is why I love Joe Biden

December 21, 2022 By fredrichlariccia

Garland’s Word

December 19, 2022 By terrymcginty

Some Parting Thoughts

December 19, 2022 By jconway

Beware the latest grift

December 16, 2022 By fredrichlariccia

Thank you, Blue Mass Group!

December 15, 2022 By methuenprogressive

Recent Comments

  • blueeyes on Beware the latest griftSo where to, then??
  • Christopher on Some Parting ThoughtsI've enjoyed our discussions as well (but we have yet to…
  • Christopher on Beware the latest griftI can't imagine anyone of our ilk not already on Twitter…
  • blueeyes on Beware the latest griftI will miss this site. Where are people going? Twitter?…
  • chrismatth on A valedictoryI joined BMG late - 13 years ago next month and three da…
  • SomervilleTom on Geopolitics of FusionEVERY un-designed, un-built, and un-tested technology is…
  • Charley on the MTA on A valedictoryThat’s a great idea, and I’ll be there on Sunday. It’s a…

Archive

@bluemassgroup on Twitter

Twitter feed is not available at the moment.

From our sponsors




Google Calendar







Search

Archives

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter




Copyright © 2025 Owned and operated by BMG Media Empire LLC. Read the terms of use. Some rights reserved.