Sober policymaking.

Byline: The Register-Guard

It's not hard to understand why Mothers Against Drunk Driving and like-minded groups so bitterly opposed the Eugene City Council's decision to legalize drinking alcohol at tailgate parties on private parking lots around Autzen Stadium on the days of home football games.

After all, many University of Oregon football fans drive to and from games at Autzen. Like it or not, thousands of those same fans will drink at tailgating parties in those private lots. And no one can deny that excessive alcohol consumption and driving are a toxic brew that can lead to highway accidents, injuries and deaths.

Yet the City Council made an informed, defensible decision - one that recognizes that tailgating has long been prevalent in the dozen or so private lots near Autzen and that the Eugene Police Department would need scores of additional officers to effectively enforce a drinking ban in those areas.

The council's decision also recognizes that some of the city's largest nonprofit groups, ranging from the Boy Scouts of America to the Eugene Masonic Lodge, rely heavily on parking income from game-day tailgaters for their fund-raising and charitable activities.

But the city didn't exactly throw in the bar towel when it decided to legalize drinking on the private lots.

The new policy requires property owners and lot operators to act responsibly or face serious consequences. They will be required to register with the city and post signs and distribute fliers warning football fans not to sell alcohol or distribute it to minors, among other things. Violations will result in fines up to $500. Operators will lose their exemptions for a full year after three violations within a 12-month period.

The new policy also puts the university and private lot operators on equal footing, and the university has commendably consented to inform tailgaters who use its parking lots about the city's alcohol consumption rules. More importantly, the police will be free to focus their limited resources on more effectively combating the drunken behavior, underage drinking, illegal alcohol sales and other problems that too often mark the game day experience at Autzen Stadium and surrounding environs.

In a welcome last-minute change, the council revised the proposed ordinance to prohibit drinking in private lots after games have ended. Under the original version, drinking would have been allowed in the parking lots for an additional two hours after games. If properly enforced, the change should substantially reduce post-game alcohol consumption and, hopefully, reduce the number of drunken drivers leaving post-game tailgaters.

The new policy does not go into effect for another month, but parking lot operators and tailgaters would be well advised to conduct themselves as if the city were already monitoring private lots for compliance.

With Saturday's home game against Cal drawing national attention, including the coveted ESPN Game Day spotlight, it would be both gratifying and reassuring if alcohol-related problems in and surrounding Autzen were few and far between - or, better yet, nonexistent.