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This has already been touched on briefly, but there are some legal ramifications here. If a bar or restaurant knowingly OVERSERVES someone, the business is on the hook for their actions later. If you drink 10 shots in 10 minutes and get in your car an hour later, the people you hit can sue the bar for serving you those 10 shots and letting you get in your car. They will most likely win, too.
From the article posted, it's not clear what criteria the police were using for deciding who was intoxicated, what sort of BAC those people had or even if they had their car keys on them. The 36 bars raided may have been the starting point for a significant number of drunk drivers pulled over the weekend before.
I know that I'm going to be unpopular saying this, but if you're drinking heavily in a bar (i.e. BAC over .15) and you have your cars keys in your pocket, I applaud the arresting officer even if you aren't within eyeshot of your car. Clearly your intention is to drive home, and you're most likely not going to wait out your drunkenness. One of the insurance coverages that I sell a lot of is liquor liability, and I typically only see the ones where there's been a problem. Once there's a claim on one of these policies, it's usually $250,000 to start with and goes upwards pretty quickly.
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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin
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"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo
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