Sipping a Lone Star while driving in the lone star state is no longer cool but it used to be just fine.

Once upon a time, you could enjoy your beer, wine, whiskey, whatever while you rolled down the Texas highway of your choice. That is frowned upon these days though.

It can get you in trouble now and, depending on how many you've had, the penalty could be extra stiff.

Drinking while driving was once legal in Texas. That little 'ole band from Texas, ZZ Top, kinda sing about doing it in their song Mexican Blackbird.

At one point in the song about driving from Texas to Mexico to meet up with a "working girl", Billy Gibbons advises the driver to keep both hands on the wheel and then asks the passenger in the back seat to hand him a beer.

He mentions hand rolling a smoke too ... with one hand.

These days that's a no - no for anyone in the vehicle, whether they're the driver or a passenger. Being caught doing so can get you an "open container" violation. which will leave your wallet $500 lighter.

$500 per container that is. 3 empty containers + the one you're currently drinking = $2,000.

If you are also deemed legally drunk, that's an entirely different matter. Those penalties are already big and could ramp your open container ticket from "Class C" to "Class B" which raises the fine and can include jail time.

Driving after you have been drinking really isn't smart but if you're NOT drunk, you can legally do it. Drunk or not though, it's never legal to have an open container in the car.

If it's something that was opened earlier but not being consumed at the time, put it in the trunk. a locked storage box or behind your upright seat if you have no trunk.

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