Abolish Drunk Driving Laws

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Yeah, I see the sarcasm in a couple of responses. The OP and other responses seem a little too serious! And responding with sarcasm to this kind of outrageous nonsense is emblematic of why many jurisdictions in this country, as well as some others such as France, continue to see such a problem from this. BTW, full disclosure, maybe I am a bit too sensitive on this issue but you might be too if your oldest son, an honor student who never touched drugs or alcohol, was killed by a drunk driver who had multiple prior convictions but had not killed anyone till that day!!

Sorry for the loss, but that 'drunk' driver could have been anyone texting, eating, changing a cd, looking at the kids in the back, speeding, weaving in and out of traffic, etc....

[mawilson 2,133]

BTW, full disclosure, maybe I am a bit too sensitive on this issue but you might be too if your oldest son, an honor student who never touched drugs or alcohol, was killed by a drunk driver who had multiple prior convictions but had not killed anyone till that day!!

I am really sorry for your loss. Is it possible, however, that the drunk driver

who killed your son was a BAD driver first, and DRUNK second?

When people hear of someone getting killed by a drunk driver, they always assume

that alcohol is the reason. There's no way of knowing whether or not the same

accident would have occurred without the alcohol factor.

[james&olya 1,121]

Sorry for the loss, but that 'drunk' driver could have been anyone texting, eating, changing a cd, looking at the kids in the back, speeding, weaving in and out of traffic, etc....

Don't continue being such a blathering idiot!!! How does any other stupid and irresponsible behavior justify or lessen culpability for DUI? I am all for serious penalties for driving and texting, etc.

Are you aware of the different statistics for countries such as Norway where DUI is rare? It is completely unacceptable socially and so it does not happen. Your post reflects an attitude that is the real problem here. :bonk: :bonk:

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Alcohol bad. Drugs bad. Hippies bad.

[james&olya 1,121]

Alcohol bad. Drugs bad. Hippies bad.

Depends on what that hippy is doing!

(Axx, gas, cash, or grass?)

Edited January 6, 2011 by james&olya

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Depends on what that hippy is doing!

(Axx, gas, cash, or grass?)

I speed up when I see furry animals. Perhaps he is running for his life?

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

I pretty much agree with the OP. There was a story done in my former small town. Two council members sat down in the main chamber with a bottle of wine and the police. BAC was checked first and a sobriety test done. One was a male 50's probably 200 pounds, the other female 30's 110ish? The male barely passed the test sober. He failed after a single drink but it took him 5 drinks to hit .08

The woman never failed even at after .08 which was only 2.

Its not that I'm against the demonizing of drink driving, I'm simply against the methodology behind its enforcement.

[james&olya 1,121]

I pretty much agree with the OP. There was a story done in my former small town. Two council members sat down in the main chamber with a bottle of wine and the police. BAC was checked first and a sobriety test done. One was a male 50's probably 200 pounds, the other female 30's 110ish? The male barely passed the test sober. He failed after a single drink but it took him 5 drinks to hit .08

The woman never failed even at after .08 which was only 2.

Its not that I'm against the demonizing of drink driving, I'm simply against the methodology behind its enforcement.

Maybe technology will soon make it possible to have our vehicles continuously monitor the drivers alertness, reaction time, judgment, and compliance with driving rules (speed limits, etc). Then maybe it would be possible for people with superior reflexes and driving skills to suffer diminishment by alcohol and still stay above a minimum ability to drive. I have doubts as to how easy this would be to get accepted but I suppose there is an intelligent rationale there. But until we reach that point I am going to remain a strong supporter of MADD!!

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Don't continue being such a blathering idiot!!! How does any other stupid and irresponsible behavior justify or lessen culpability for DUI? I am all for serious penalties for driving and texting, etc.

Are you aware of the different statistics for countries such as Norway where DUI is rare? It is completely unacceptable socially and so it does not happen. Your post reflects an attitude that is the real problem here. :bonk: :bonk:

It's not acceptable here either. We just have a much more expansive land mass and larger population.... It's going to be bigger numbers.

[웃 910]

I am really sorry for your loss. Is it possible, however, that the drunk driver

who killed your son was a BAD driver first, and DRUNK second?

When people hear of someone getting killed by a drunk driver, they always assume

that alcohol is the reason. There's no way of knowing whether or not the same

accident would have occurred without the alcohol factor.

This is true to a point. But a lot of times you can be too drunk to drive. Usually this is when you cannot walk without stumbling or you are within an hour of passing out and throwing up all over yourself....Most people stop drinking before they get to these levels of intoxication but some actually do reach these levels of drunkeness AND STILL DRIVE...

I have only done it a few times. I remember when I was 16 or 17 and new to drinking. My friend and I were so drunk our eyes couldn't focus on objects....We were very woozy....All we had to do was drive for a few minutes, out of one neighborhood, onto the mainroad for 20 seconds, and into the other neighborhood....We definitely shouldn't have been driving that night...

Another time I hadn't drank in about 8 months. I got seriously hammered by drinking way too much way too fast....I was bored as hell at my friends house and wanted to go home....I was about 30 minutes from being at the passed out drunk and dizzy stage (but didn't know it at the time).....I snuck out the apartment and got in my car and all I remember is vaguely driving away from his condo....Next thing I knew I woke up and felt like I was just coming out of a coma (but really only a few hours had passed)....I looked around and noticed I was in A HOSPITAL!!! It was insane...Something out of a movie....INEXPLAINABLE.....I wondered ####### was I doing there!!! I knew I drove drunk but had no idea what happened (did I kill someone? did I get a DUI? Did I resist arrest or do something crazy? I had no clue)......But to tell you the truth I was so EXHAUSTED I really didn't care at that point, I just wanted to sleep. My heart was probably beating at 40 beats per minute! Nurse came in (to remove the catherator) and told me I was found on the side of the road....And that the police officer that found me did issue me a DUI....I actually made it to some small country town in the exact opposite direction of where I was supposed to be driving. Never heard of the city....And I know I was extremely lucky that I didn't kill someone else or myself (probably would have if there was more traffic on the road and it wasn't the middle of the night)....So now when I hear the disgusting stories of how a drunk driver blasts into a minivan full of teenagers and kills everyone (except himself) I can relate at least to the waking up in the hospital part....You have NO CLUE why you are there and what happened. YOU JUST WAKE UP.......Thankfully I only experienced this one time in my life...Never drove even close to that intoxicated before...

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Maybe technology will soon make it possible to have our vehicles continuously monitor the drivers alertness, reaction time, judgment, and compliance with driving rules (speed limits, etc). Then maybe it would be possible for people with superior reflexes and driving skills to suffer diminishment by alcohol and still stay above a minimum ability to drive. I have doubts as to how easy this would be to get accepted but I suppose there is an intelligent rationale there. But until we reach that point I am going to remain a strong supporter of MADD!!

Which is best done using saturation patrols where police can witness driver activity. Checkpoints are foolish because:

1. Legally they must provide an opportunity to avoid it. IE. They must place signs ahead of a turn off. So guess who turns off?

2. It draws police away from doing saturation patrols which catch more DUIs then a checkpoint and are CHEAPER to operate.

Edited January 7, 2011 by Sousuke

[mawilson 2,133]

This is true to a point. But a lot of times you can be too drunk to drive. Usually this is when you cannot walk without stumbling or you are within an hour of passing out and throwing up all over yourself....Most people stop drinking before they get to these levels of intoxication but some actually do reach these levels of drunkeness AND STILL DRIVE...

I'm not against keeping such high levels of intoxication illegal.

"Buzzed driving", on the other hand, should be completely legal.

[TigerTeddyBear 26]

In Bexar county(San Antonio), Texas, they have "no refusal" weekends with eyes on making it permanent. Creeps me out... and I don't drink.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

In Bexar county(San Antonio), Texas, they have "no refusal" weekends with eyes on making it permanent. Creeps me out... and I don't drink.

That's what I was mentioning earlier in this thread.... The mandatory blood tests, it's damn creepy and something you wouldn't expect in this country...

[Peikko 1,575]

I pretty much agree with the OP. There was a story done in my former small town. Two council members sat down in the main chamber with a bottle of wine and the police. BAC was checked first and a sobriety test done. One was a male 50's probably 200 pounds, the other female 30's 110ish? The male barely passed the test sober. He failed after a single drink but it took him 5 drinks to hit .08

The woman never failed even at after .08 which was only 2.

Its not that I'm against the demonizing of drink driving, I'm simply against the methodology behind its enforcement.

If it's true that that is how the police service use their forces, for sure, but it seems highly unlikely to me. There are a lot odd stories that circulate about how the police operate, for the most part I suspect it's a lot of hooey.

As to whether drink impairs one's ability to drive, yes, it does and accidents are much more likely to happen when one is drunk because one has much slower reactions, much poorer co-ordination and impaired ability to make decisions. To suggest that driving drunk is as safe as driving sober is about as absurd a view as I have seen on VJ and there have been many. Even the article isn't suggesting that drunk driving laws are a bad idea, just that lowering the limits changed the emphasis on enforcement. I still am dubious as to whether that is true however.