not gonna lie its done all the time everywhere though. its one of those unspoken truths of life in america. ask cops firefighters emts anyone, its done in varying amounts all the time. drive around exits on highway ramps and see how many empty cans/bottles/BOXES there are....
many times its passengers, sometimes its drivers. its done for all kinds of reasons. there used to be a law on the books in the south somewhere where it was allowed to have open containers in the car during rush hour. so people could drink to pass the time.
and honestly, i can think back to all the times where you would get back to your car at the end of a long ski day, and everyone would crack a brew while taking off their gear, then blast off. sometimes everyone would crack a second and drink it before getting into town (bend, OR). then hit the bar and have a DD drive home. im talking about regular people here, including ones i work with who are the ones who treat the drunk driving carnage.
my personal opinion is its morally ok, the legal limit is set that way because its supposed to prevent driving under INTOXICATION. thats where the line is drawn though. i personally think though that there is not necessarily too little enforcement or laws that are not stringent enough, but rather too little personal responsibility. if i come back from the mountain with a bunch of ER doctors and nurses and we pass around a flask between 5 of us, none getting intoxicated, are we villains? or is the dude who gets piss drunk at the bar, blacks out, then drives home?
food for thought. but to the OP, yeah driving and holding a beer intoxicated or not is pretty risky business, and honestly not a great idea, considering that its against the law pretty much everywhere. and to everyone else who read my post, think before you try to justify your behavior. im just being realistic. i dont want to create an aura of permissiveness with my post, just legitmate discussion.