Hey, that's just to reduce the cost of the "free ferry rides" program - if people are too scared to ride the ferries, there won't be any expense for giving them free rides! :-)

Noel

It is odd isn't it, how anyone could even remotely imagine there is any such thing as a "safe" blood alcohol level when piloting a passenger ferry... I mean I am a nurse... I wonder what someone would say when visiting their parent (or child) in hospital and they smelled alcohol on my breath as I was going to carry out some procedure on their relative? Sobering thought eh? (had to get that one in.)

How would you feel if you got pulled over by a traffic cop and when he leaned into your car to give you a ticket he smelt of alcohol?

What about a tipsy airplane pilot?... Hang on wasn't there just such a case a few years ago? I wonder what happened to him... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4073837.stm Hey six months at Her Majesty's pleasure... Interesting to note the judge's comments when he handed out the sentence....

"You were entrusted with the safety of the crew, passengers and, of course, people on the ground who may have been affected if anything had gone wrong. That is highly irresponsible and reckless. Those who are reckless in such circumstances risk being a danger to the public and to themselves and I am satisfied this demands a custodial sentence."

Oh yeah what did employers do after he was convicted? "He was fired from the airline immediately."

Ah but that is just a one off isn't it? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/4061783.stm

And what did Judge John Burke QC have to say while sending the pilot off to prison for six months?  "You had a responsibility to ensure passenger safety. They (the passengers) assumed their safety was in good hands. If you had been a mere passenger causing problems and interfering with your fellow passengers and crew and misbehaving you would have gone to prison," he said. "In your case the passengers did not even appreciate their safety was in jeopardy. They assumed their safety was in good hands."

And just for good measure he was sacked from his $200,000 a year job as a pilot with Finnair, where he had worked for 25 years, BEFORE the case even went to court...

Six months though... surely the leniency of the sentence means that it's not that serious an offense? http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2006-07-09-southwest-pilot-arrested_x.htm Ah... so in the US the offense carries a penalty of up to 15 years in federal prison and fines... must be fairly serious then...

But of course airplanes and passenger ferries have nothing in common with each other... I mean yes they are big machines... and yes they carry people... yes lots of them... OK so there are some similarities... what's the blood alcohol limit for airline pilots? "The legal alcohol limit for pilots and cabin crew is 20 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, while for car drivers it is 80 milligrams of alcohol." Ah that's right... remind me again, what's the level for ferry pilots? "Under Bermuda law, the legal limit for ferry pilots is 100 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, compared to 80 milligrams for drivers of motor vehicles." See there you go... just like I said ferries and airplanes... apples and oranges... no comparison!

Well of course the unions would never oppose random breath testing for pilots would they? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1271570.stm So according to the British Air Line Pilots' Association (BALPA) we can travel safe in the knowledge that we can leave it to flight crew members to report colleagues who have a drink or drug problem...

Is it just me or is it nice to be an ostrich?


SevenT

The flip side to all this is what would have transpired if say one or more passengers were killed. A definate case of Manslaughter et al. Thank heavens this did not occur.