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Comment by shafyy | Hacker News Reader

Another difference I observed is San Francisco vs. Zurich (both urban areas). While in Zurich very few people I know would drink and drive, people in SF don't seem to really care about being a little tipsy. Of course, this is anecdotale.

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Different potential risks, driving with a drink or two in you as an overweight man only puts you at 0.03% BAC, not even half the limit.

Commonly in parts of the midwest, people will pop a roadie while they're driving, to the point that it is part of the culture in places like Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Yes, but it doesn't matter if you need 1 or 5 drinks to feel tipsy. When you feel tipsy, then you shouldn't drive, legal or not. You are endangering other people's lives.

Same in Germany. Of course drunk driving is not unheard of (especially when you get more rural (and also older people)), but the general attitude I experienced is a lot different then in the US. Here almost noone in my group of friends would get behind the wheel after more than one beer. And if someone would dare it would probably result in "lets call you a taxi" or "crash at my couch".

When I was visiting friends in the US, a totally different picture. Almost everyone was happy to drive after a few drinks and noone did care.

If SF had Zurich’s transit system, most people wouldn’t drive, drunk or otherwise.

True. But Uber/Lyft is significantly cheaper in SF. So that doesn't really matter in this specific case.

Historically, sure. But today? I can usually get from mountain view to san jose for the price of a drink; I think we have Softbank's continued investment to thank for that. Our transit is (probably temporarily) quite cheap, while our drinks are rather expensive.

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