One for the Road Rides Into Sunset

The time-honored Texas tradition of driving your pickup with one hand on the wheel and the other wrapped around a long-neck bottle of beer has reached the end of the road.

After more than a decade of legislative bickering--and the threatened loss of federal highway construction dollars--Texas has joined 32 other states in banning open alcohol containers within reach of a vehicle’s occupants.

The ban was to take effect at midnight Friday.

“I know why they’re doing it. Money talks,” said Tom Hurst of Houston. “But I think the people they want to eliminate are not going to pay any more attention to it than the man in the moon.”

Hurst, 53, who grew up outside San Antonio, recalled the icehouse drive-throughs, where beer by the drink was as convenient as a Big Mac is today. While he supports many alcohol-related traffic law changes, including the tougher 0.08% blood-alcohol limit, Hurst said the state Legislature crossed the line this time.

“I drive a Suburban. So when we’re going to a football game, it means it applies to everyone in the car,” Hurst said. “I totally disagree with it.”

Having an open can or bottle is considered pure Texas. In the opening scenes of the movie “Urban Cowboy,” John Travolta guides his pickup past the Houston skyline, a long-neck in one hand.

“I once heard someone from New Mexico call a drive to Texas a ‘two six-pack trip,’ ” said Bill Lewis, spokesman for the state chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Under the old law, a driver could not be charged for having an open container unless he was seen actually consuming its contents.

The new law makes knowingly having open containers in moving vehicles a misdemeanor punishable by a $500 fine. For vehicles without trunks, an open container must either be in a locked glove compartment or out of reach behind the last passenger seat.

According to 1999 federal figures, Texas led the nation with 1,734 alcohol-related traffic deaths. That represents about half of the state’s total highway fatalities. The rate of alcohol-related deaths for the rest of the country was 32%.

“This law begins to finally say Texas has had enough,” said state Rep. Fred Hill, the Republican who had pushed for the law for a decade. He said the measure would not have passed if not for the threatened loss of $80 million in highway construction funds.

Thirty-two other states have open-container laws, said Wendy Hamilton, MADD national vice president.

“The importance is the safety of everybody--not just the driver but the passengers in the vehicle and everyone else on the road,” Hamilton said.