And that’s why states changed their Blue Laws.
@db4690, yes the reason you laid out is one that legislators pushed when passing the 9 P.M. closing law.
Of course they failed to realize that since 9 P.M. is not very late at night that many people would:
- Make a mad dash run to the liquor store and buy even more than they planned to.
- Decide that they wanted some rum and coke and since the liquor stores were closed at 9 on a Saturday night they would just get behind the wheel and head to the nearest club that sold mixed drinks.
So instead of a drunk at home they now have one on the road…
Yes, indeed.
When we first moved to NJ, in 1956, nobody in my family was prepared for the Sunday shopping restrictions–which had not existed in NY state.
What was really bizarre was the way that supermarkets in NJ used to use clothesline or other “barriers” to close-off the…verboten…areas of the store on Sundays. 
They could sell food, but they weren’t allowed to sell the non-food items that supermarkets normally sell, such as insecticides, cleaning products, charcoal, etc., and they would block-off those areas of the store.
Finally, sometime in the 1970s, every county in NJ lifted those restrictions–with the exception of Bergen County.
Back in the '50s, '60s, and even the '70s, traffic problems were not really commonplace, but nowadays if you attempt to drive on Route 17 or Route 4 in Bergen County, you have to be prepared for gridlocked traffic conditions on Saturdays, simply because two day’s worth of shopping expeditions have to be compacted into one day.
And if they are anything like our legislators they think they are geniuses. Our legislators should be turned into something useful like fertilizer but would most likely be replaced with much worse. Our state liquor stores are closed Sundays and holidays. They are open 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM with the exception of Fridays and Saturdays when they close at 8:00 PM. Beer wine hard lemonade etc. Can be sold in grocery and even gas station convenience stores where I recently saw cocktails in a can between 8:00 AM and 2:00 AM. Let me steer us back to automotive. In 1978 AZ I saw drive thru liquor stores! The few I saw were like convenience stores where you could buy a bottle of booze and a not quite full equivalent of a big gulp without leaving your drivers seat or turning off the engine. What an efficient way to encourage drunk driving!!! I searched to see if these still existed and discovered they have spread to other states. My favorite was Liquor & Guns Drive Thru. Due to background check and paperwork I think you would have to go inside for guns But it was in TX so…
I have to partially disagree with you . . .
Who cares if you get your booze from a drive-thru liquor store, or a walk-in liquor store
If you’re determined to drink and drive, it’s not going to make much difference to you
It’s very easy to walk in the store, buy your booze, walk back to your car, open the bottle and drive, one hand on the wheel, one hand on the bottle. Doesn’t waste but a few minutes of your precious time, walking in the store
And you’ll buy your booze BEFORE the store closes, enough to last until it opens up again
standard operating procedure for some folks
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My point concerning drive through liquor stores with mixer was encouraging drinking and driving. If you don’t get that I have no response. Of course dedicated drunk drivers no matter how inconvenienced will find a way.
I still partially disagree with you
For example, lots of people visiting a McDonald’s drive-thru, for example, are just as likely to just be picking up dinner on the way home, and that’s where they’ll eat it
That’s what I do, and I’m by no means part of some tiny minority . . . except I don’t frequent McDonald’s and have drastically cut down on my consumption of fast food
Drive-thrus . . . whether they be liquor stores or fast food . . . are merely a convenience
As far as I’m concerned, they are not “encouraging” consumption of their products in your car
For the record, I “get” the point you’re trying to make . . . but I still partially disagree with you, and I’m not going to budge
There’s no winning me over to your side, nor do I expect you to change sides
That’s true about “nowadays”, VDC. I used to go to NJ often for meetings with both vendors and with our sister facility in the '80s, and traffic was absolutely terrible. Hated the highway designs too. I can’t believe it could be any worse with Blue Laws in place, it’s pretty horrible as is. 
drive-thru liquor stores are good for people that are already drunk. They don’t have to stagger into the store and take the chance of being denied the sale because they are drunk.
…then I invite you to venture to Paramus, the shopping hub of that county, on a Saturday afternoon–if you dare. Imagine whatever you experienced, and then take it to the third power…
Recently in WI liquor stores can open at 6 am to accommodate deer hunters, supposedly, Nothin better than a drunk guy with a rifle at 8am in a tree stand I guess.
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And how would that demonstrate the effects of Blue Laws on traffic? All it would prove is that traffic in highly congested areas is absolutely abysmal with or without blue laws. I already know that. I’ve driven (very many times) in NJ, NYC, Miami, Chicago, LA, Boston, and some others that I’ve forgotten. They were all nightmares.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not an advocate of blue laws. But, having driven in all these terrible driving environments, I see zero evidence that not having blue laws helps traffic congestion. I see no traffic-related reason to either have blue laws or not have blue laws.
If you could point me to a situation where repealing blue laws has relieved traffic congestion, I’ll buy lunch. But unless you can, I remain unconvinced. 
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As stupid as the OK statute is it seems to pale in comparison to laws in Utah. My oldest son lives in northern Utah and has told me about some of the idiocy that goes on there.
A restaurant serving alcohol must have a customer showing “intent to dine” before being served liquor.
Alcohol is limited to 1.5 ounces per glass.
Wine for instance is limited to 5 ounces per glass.
Restaurants with bars (Chilis, Applebees, etc) must have “Zion Curtains”. These are shields that prevent other diners from seeing alcoholic beverages being prepared.
There’s another goofy one about being served a beer while dining but I can’t remember what it was about. Suffice it to say it was equally strange. The person who serves your food is not allowed to serve you a beer or something like that.
Probably one reason my son says a lot of people just head to WY or ID on the weekends and get likkered up before heading back to UT in a DWI state of mind…
There’s less traffic on Sunday.
So you’re suggesting that having blue laws relieves traffic congestion on Sundays?
Lunch is on me! 
What about car dealers who observe a Saturday Sabbath? My state passed a Sunday car lot closure law maybe 20 years ago. One Seventh Day Adventist sued for religious discrimination. The whole law was abandoned by the next legislative session.
Fuzzy dice are supposedly illegal here too, but I never heard of anyone getting a ticket for it.
On another note, my barber, who is a retired policeman, said that the “law” against driving barefooted does not exist. Neither is there one against driving a car with no hood, although I’ve heard of both of them for years.
Right. That’s why I think the blue laws are unconstitutional. The place I buy steel from is strictly 7th Day and used to be nice because they were open on Sundays if you wanted steel. After sundown Friday, nothing happened on their premises, nothing. Not even shutting off lights or locking tool boxes. In Israel on Saturday the hotel had a special elevator that would operate without pushing the buttons because the one traditional Jewish sect could do no work on Saturday, including pushing elevator buttons. I don’t know but I suspect there are some Jewish car dealers in Minneapolis/St. Louis Park but suspect they stay open but some would not be required to work. Of course when I was a kid, Sundays were the days for fishing or visiting or hunting or something and there wasn’t much open anyway. All in all it should be an individual choice and not for the government to dictate.
Actually many states have that law but with exceptions. For one all belts must be shielded.
In Mexico, no liquor or alcoholic beverages sold at election time, but it may be more than just voting day. since I don’t drink, I don’t know the details.
Also, it is not a crime to have an open container while driving, nor even to take a swig on the road. But, I am not sure the bad Mexican drivers drive worse when they are drunk. Just kidding, of course.
When I was a young man in the Midwest, I had an ‘uncle’ who sometimes got arrested for DUI. Family said he always got arrested for DUI when he sobered up and started home. When he was drunk, he drove slowly and the cops paid on attention. I never personally observed so cannot vouch for this claim.
I remember when Quebec and Massachusetts both prohibited truck driving on Sunday. Motorists loved it because you could take a leisurely drive in the country without trucks. Just on of the things people did for entertainment before TV ruined social lives. Truckers loved it because it gave them a scheduled day off. Trucking companies hated it and spent a lot of money lobbying (bribing legislators) to change it.