Are DUI Laws Excessive in your state ... ?

[ray66v]

I helped tow these DWI/DUI accidents away, any questions?

Yes I'll bite.

Did your state have DUI laws on the books at the time of these incidents? If yes, then your evidence appears to prove they don't stop drunk driving.

Just like the death penalty does not stop murder.

 

[JohnDeere4300]

H

Good Mornin Johndeere,
Im truly sorry that your life was so affected by a drunk ! Im also very sorry to hear that you were injured and lost your CDL.

But I have a hard time with someone being sent away to jail for 20 years after being stopped in a routine check after consumming two beers JMHO !
Which I guess Im entitled to an opinion also. So I guess Im saying that I dont agree with your system!


JMHO!

Alot of people probably don't agree with my system, they better be glad that i don't make the laws, because alot of people would not be
driving and drinking right now.( HOW COULD THEY ANYWAY BEING
LOCKED UP IN PRISON)

And alot of people don't have a problem drinking and driving UNTIL
they get hit by another drunk, then it's crying all the way.
They probably said, they probably had more than i had to drink.
i JUST HAD TWO BEER's, they probably had 2 1/2 beer's.
and then the DRUNK sues the DRUNK.

I just can't understand WHY a person wants to just drink two beers
(AS STATED) and hit the road. unless he has a alcohol problem and
can't wait to get home. JMHO!

 

[JohnDeere4300]

Good Mornin crbr,
Im glad you brought up cell phones when discussing roadway accidents ! Im thinking statistically they contribute to more accidents than alcohol.

Im glad i dont own one ! Last time I looked, the fine was $75 for getting caught using one ! Not 20 years in prison !

Sorry but i thought this thread was about (DUI laws Excessive in your state...?)

yes there is alot of people that use cell phones and they a dangerous.
but a drunk just worries about drinking his (TWO BEERS THEN DRIVES)

start a thread on cell phone use? (A.M.T.M.W.)

 

[scott_vt]

Sorry but i thought this thread was about (DUI laws Excessive in your state...?)

yes there is alot of people that use cell phones and they a dangerous.
but a drunk just worries about drinking his (TWO BEERS THEN DRIVES)

start a thread on cell phone use? (A.M.T.M.W.)

Good Afternoon Bill,
Yes Bill, the thread was started to get peoples feelings on DUI laws in their respective state ! I was the OP and thats the way the thread started ! Some where along this thread someone brought up cell phones, not myself although I did comment on it ! Im sure that the person who brought it up was thinking along the lines of"driving
impairment",with that thought in mind I thought it was appropriate to discuss since it causes roadway accidents also !

As I said in a previous post, posing a hypothetical accident with a lady talking on her cell phone and applying lipstick, can also kill innocent people on the highway just as easily as someone that is drunk ! The reason that I made that post, was to point out that all impairents are not treated the same in the face of the law ! Thats all plain and simple !

In closing, I would like to state, that I dont agree with all the people that posted their feelings on this thread, and I certainly dont expect others to embrace all of my views either ! But at the end of the day I still would like to walk away from the keyboard and know I have not created any enemies because I have one view and they another ! I respect your views Bill,and I hope you grant me the same respect ! Much too often I have seen people become much too upset with others views on TBN, and then unfortunately the thread becomes nothing more than a ******* contest. I never started this thread for that to happen !

 

[Sigarms]

Really though, what is the deterrent then?? You're telling me that if an 'ordinary guy', like you or me, has 4 or 6 beers after work on friday and then makes the stupid call of driving himself home and gets caught, that the 6 months of lost income, personal embarassment, personal stress, and family stress, that a DUI will bring him won't make him think twice about doing that again??? Would the thought of showering with a He77's Angel named Bubba for a few months stop him?? Or maybe, just maybe it'd wake him up and make him realize the guilt and shame he'd feel if he killed someone else's little girl, little boy, wife, husband, mom, dad, etc.......

The question would be why a guy would have 4 or 6 beers after work on Friday, and make a stupid call to drive when he knows that there is a possiblity that he can get caught and have to go through the ordeal you just described?

FACT is, if you have more than two beers in an hour and drive, you're pushing the legal limit of being drunk.

The question is, how many Americans have more than one beer an hour, and then drive and DON"T get caught (for various reasons).

The problem is alcohol. Vehicles get thrown into the equation because people own them.

That said, only after DECADES did people realize that people driving drunk on the highways pose a serious problem.

My point is if you don't get to the root of the problem, legal guidelines imposing incarceration are only a band aid to the issue at hand.

Is the issue legal penalties, or driving while impaired?

I find it amusing that people never classify alcohol as a drug. It is.

Then again, we all know how prohibition worked out.

Do I have the annswer? No.

However, my opinion is that if a person blows a .08 and gets pulled over because he or she was observed by a police officer, perhaps "throwing the book" at them will accomplish nothing other than perhaps destroying their lives over a stupid mistake. They now have tools out that you blow your breath into before you can start the car. Perhaps something along that line? Then again, people being people, always try to figure out a way to beat the system if possible.

 

[Cat_Driver]

..Cell phones are next. Dead is dead

Three kids in my daughters school got killed five minutes after leaving class so it was not drugs, drinking etc. it was attributed to either texting or talking on the phone.

The graduating class is small and losing three kids was like losing 30% of the class.

 

[LBrown59]

Good morning Scotty. I understand your angst with the unequal application of the law and your worry of being stopped and charged.
1*I also think that the outcome of a concentrated effort on the part of CDL holders might be to lower the limits on everyone rather than raise the limits to bring about equality.
2* If the law is to be equal, why not just make everyone have a .04 BAC limit?
3*Why not make everyone have to meet the same rigid standards as the CDL holder?
If you weigh 100 lb, your BAC will be .03 after one drink.If you weigh 200 lb, your BAC will be .03 after two drinks
A BAC of .04 to .06 brings about overconfidence in driving
A BAC of .03 to .035 causes braking, starting, and stopping times to be reduced by 25% to 30%
A BAC of .03 shows some impairment of visual skills

4*Considering those numbers, I think there is plenty of argument for making alcohol related penalties even more stringent.
5*Finally, what about the guy who is found sleeping in his car in the parking lot of a bar? If he is over the limit, I believe he is also charged with DWI or something similar. Is that fair?
In Texas in 1997, 30.4% of all traffic dealths were alcohol related. Someone was injured every 18 minutes and three persons killed in every 24 hour period. Those numbers are horrible.
6*I think you will find more people who are willing to take excessive measures to reduce those numbers than would be willing to increase the BAC limits for CDL holders.
7*My expectation is that limits will tighten for the non-CDL holders rather than the opposite.

1*That would be the correct thing to do.
2*That would be the rite way to do it.
3*Makes sense to me : What do I care what type license or vehicle the drunk that hit me had?
4*They definitely aren't nearly strict enough.
5*Not unless they change the BAC to apply to occupying and or operating a vehicle.
6*That's a positive for sure.

13,000 people killed in the USA in 2007 due to alcohol related accidents. How many people died in the military? of AID's? or any other highly documented instance?

8*Sorry, I think if you are ever caught drinking and driving with anything above .00 you ought to loose the privilage of driving. My opinion, so there you go.

8* Good opinion.

 

[tallyho8]

Having a law on the books and enforcing it are two different matters. Too many people are never arrested because they have friends or influence.

The mayor of a small nearby town was stopped by the police for reckless driving and was found to be drunk and the police drove him home and never mentioned it. Months later, he was drunk again at 2 in the morning, driving a city vehicle, and attempted to drive across the Causeway, the worlds longest bridge and also a toll bridge. He crashed through the toll gate, tearing it down, without paying and was stopped 4 miles out on the bridge driving with no lights on a bridge with no lights. The traffic stop was videotaped on the police recorder and the police just drove him home and issued no tickets. When this hit the news the mayor calmed things down by agreeing to pay for the damaged toll gate. Yes, he is still mayor although the policeman who was following orders from his superior was fired.

Though I believe that DWI should get the stiffest of all traffic penalties and that 2nd and 3rd offenses should be even more severe, we must make the penalties equal to the crime. We can not put an armed robber who shoots and injures someone in the commission of his crime in jail for 10 years and put someone in jail for a simple DWI for 20 years.

 

[LBrown59]

Victims don't think so.

 

[jgrreed]

The mayor of a small nearby town was stopped by the police for reckless driving and was found to be drunk and the police drove him home and never mentioned it. Months later, he was drunk again at 2 in the morning, driving a city vehicle, and attempted to drive across the Causeway, the worlds longest bridge and also a toll bridge. He crashed through the toll gate, tearing it down, without paying and was stopped 4 miles out on the bridge driving with no lights on a bridge with no lights. The traffic stop was videotaped on the police recorder and the police just drove him home and issued no tickets. When this hit the news the mayor calmed things down by agreeing to pay for the damaged toll gate. Yes, he is still mayor although the policeman who was following orders from his superior was fired.

If One wanted to make things 'right', there are higher powers than the local police. I know that law enforcement in the states is a lot more 'individual' from jurisdiction to jurisdiction than they are in Canada, but still, that's BS!!

-Jer.