This seems to me to be an urban legend, but I’ve heard that 5 beers in a six pack holder (and other similar situations) is considered an “open container”. I’m sure that laws vary by state, but I fail to see how this reasoning is justified. AFAIK, a completely sober person could go into a bar and purchase 2 beers (capped), how is that illegal?
Side note: Why do bars have parking lots? I know that most people would say that they’re for the people that have one, or at the most two, drinks and then drive home. So, the people that work at bars expect that the people that have enough drinks to become “intoxicated” have someone completely sober to drive them home?
This seems very implausible. I know that it is in the best interest of the bar to refrain from getting their regulars convicted, but wouldn’t they be guilty of releasing a potential drunk driver into the streets?
There’s lots of room for debate here. I just hope to have an answer to my OP, and maybe get some insight into the rationality that supports these laws.
Bars have parking lots because people drink moderately and then drive home. This is usually not illegal. If they got rid of the parking lot, they would get rid of 90% of their customers. Potential liability is a tiny problem compared to that.
I suspect that whether or not a bar has a parking lot depends on where the bar is- I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bar with a parking lot in any part of NYC. The places where I have seen bars with parking lots have been the places where you can’t really get around without a car and where every business has at least a small parking lot. And it’s pretty easy to see why they have parking lots there - because otherwise the only customers will be from the ten or twenty houses that are within walking distance.
There are plenty of bars without parking in Cambridge MA, and we’ve only got 100,000 people. There’s usually somewhere to park within a few blocks, though.
Ardred’s boss often sells or gives away six packs that have been broken or water damaged that for one reason or another the distributor won’t take back. He always admonishes “put that in your trunk, it’s an open container.”
So, if your state has an open container law… as of Oct. 2000 that was only Connecticut, Mississippi and Wyoming, a partial 6 pack is technically an open container.
IANAL, but I am sure that I could beat that in court with one hand tied behind my back.
A six- pack ring is NOT a receptacle that contains alcohol. It is a holder for a can, which may or may not contain alcohol. Furthermore, you do not have to “open” or “break a seal” on the six-pack ring in order to remove one can. If the prosecutor argued otherwise, I would hand him an empty six- pack ring and ask him to store some liquid in it, since it is his opinion that it is a receptacle. After that I would produce a complete six-pack, remove one can and ask what seal I opened, or broke in order to remove the one can.
Here’s something that is hard to understand about open container laws. Consider these two hypothetical situations:
I’m driving along in my car, drop by a friends house, chug-a-lug “x” beers (where “x” is an amount where I’ll be barely under the legal limit after consuming), then hop in my car, pop open a pepsi and place it on the dash.
I’m driving along in my car, drop by a friends house, chug-a-lug “x” pepsis, then hop in my car, pop open a beer and place it on the dash.
In situation #1, I haven’t broken any law, in situation #2 I could be busted in 47 out of 50 states. Which situation creates the most hazard to others? I’d say #1, by far. In situation #2, that beer doesn’t even have to be for me and I’d still be busted.
Back to the OP. What if you toss out the plastic 6-pack ring? Claim that it was bought as 6 individual cans?
And to add some fodder to the trough: I used to live in a state without open container laws. But the municipality I lived in had open container laws. So as long as you stayed in the car with your open beer (and were legally sober) you violated no ordinance. But step outside with it and you were illegal…