Throwaway for this one obviously. Location is Ohio, USA
My husband and I are celebrating our marriage with a big party at his dads house (we didn’t have a wedding). We are grilling stuff and providing drinks, but not like a bartender. Just a “help yourself” cooler.
A large portion of husbands extended family are chronic drunk drivers. Every event I have ever been to involving his family- some of his cousins, uncles, aunts, family friends, have left and driven away drunk. It’s such a casual and normal thing to them. It’s horrifying. I’ve offered to call people Ubers and been shut down. Its tricky because not only do I barely know these people but they aren’t falling down drunk. If they were I would feel confident in forcefully taking away keys and telling anyone who argued to fuck off. But it’s hard when they seem totally fine and you start to question yourself because you KNOW they just did 2 double tequila shots not 2 minutes ago.
I am wondering what our LEGAL liability is if some moron leaves drunk and gets in an accident. I can guarantee right now 100% that 5+ people will leave the party and get behind the wheel drunk.
I was thinking about calling the non-emergency line of the local police station ahead of time and alerting them about the party and advising them to have more cars out or set up a checkpoint because I know some people will leave drunk in spite of us offering free Ubers or whatever. Is that something people do? And in that case my concern is, would that make me seem MORE liable if someone did get in an accident, because it shows that I thought about this and knew it was a possibility?
I’d rather have his family bitterly remember the party as “that night we all got DUIs” than “that night Uncle Johnny was drunk and killed that family of 4”
HappyDaysMyDays on October 11st, 2018 at 12:58 UTC »
You could hire an off duty police officer to direct parking and be “security”. They will wear their uniform for it. That would help manage the safety and liability. You could make the officer aware of your concerns and he can assist by watching out for drunken potential drivers and politely offering a breathalyzer to make sure they were OK to drive, etc without being harassing, etc. Usually, the presence alone will make people act differently.
bookluvr83 on October 11st, 2018 at 12:22 UTC »
I hate drunk drivers with a passion. They put other people in danger, not just themselves. My uncle was driving drunk and got into a high speed police chase. He rolled his van, shattered every bone in his neck except one and became a dual quadriplegic. He had a stroke as a result of his injuries and suffocated as a result of the stroke. He died alone, miserable and in pain because he got behind the wheel drunk. I'm just grateful the only person injured by his stupidity was him.
LocationBot on October 11st, 2018 at 11:28 UTC »
Title: [USA-Ohio] Liability for drunk drivers leaving a party my husband and I are hosting?
Original Post:
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