Hubby is not an impaired driver, he is an impaired walker- he walks normally but cannot do the heel toe thing, or one foot at a time type thing- between being blown up and having a slight stroke his balance is not 100%. He is good to go on the rest. He was not charged with anything. Our insurance paid for the cow. People hit cows on the roads here at night all the time- we still have open range areas, hubby has only hit one in his lifetime so I don’t see him as a driving risk or a huge risk to cows. In fact hubby has only been in three wrecks- one a deputy sheriff ran a red light (not in pursuit) t-boned hubby, then about 10 years later hubby hit a deer- then recently the cow. Good you are concerned with property damage- when our livestock is killed on the road the driver usually flees and we don’t get paid but we would not do that to anyone else. You sure do assume a lot...
You posted: “he explained to them that he had a stroke a few years ago and his slight impairment would likely cause him to fail the test.”
It isn’t much of an assumption to link driving capability to your statement regarding impairement. In addition, you skipped over the point of my post. Your husband still did more than the vast majority of DUI arrests, yet there was no court involvement at all (it sounds like none was necessary as you made the owner of the cow whole.)
As a society we find it acceptable to not jail folks that cause property damage (your hubby) or others that actually kill people (my friend as one example) so long as those drivers had not consumed alcohol. Yet, we also find it acceptable to continue to increase the penalties and jail time requirements for others that never caused property damage or bodily harm to others.
This dicotomy has created a more dangerous driving situation. While I think your husbands situation may be entirely proper and that the driver that killed my friend should certainly be imprisoned for a very long time, I am wondering, how is the result of their situations somehow LESS damaging now than if they had been consuming alcohol?
I would prefer that all negligent drivers be treated equally, regardless of alcohol consumption. One could make the property owners’ whole, as you have done, or one could face long term prison sentences if their driving negligence causes the death of someone. It should not be that one can cause no harm, but because of some politically popular number be imprisoned while others cause harm and have much less repercussions.
While some FReepers celebrate....