That is to say, a responsible citizen is liable to be locked up and left with a police record for what the New Prohibitionists say he might do with a blood alcoholic concentration of over .08 rather than for what he did do. For the financially well-off the taxi business and chauffeurs will prosper. The less well-off will suffer increased harassment. There are ways to suppress drunk driving and even drunkenness that are more respectful of personal liberty and gustatory customs that are central to our social history. Public drunks and convicted drunks could be denied liberties owing to the demonstrated threat they present to society.
Most dangerous drunks have a record of drunkenness before they cause mortal damage.
State authorities could and should close in on these louts early before their records become long and the casualties mount up. On both counts I have my doubts. There is a ravening Puritanism at large in the land. It focuses on the recreations and customs of the law-abiding. After all, there are certain sectors of society that are obvious sources of public danger, for instance the young or the underclass.