Posted on 12/27/2004 10:35:19 AM PST by sully777
"Because lawyers and judges drink."
...and most politicians are lawyers or vice versa, or both.
substitute the weapon of choice and you'd see big changes:
make "car" a "gun" and see how tough on crime pols become.
This is one of those .."If you have to ask the question, you wouldn't understand the answer"
Like a lot of behavioral things.
What kinda odds ya want?
To an obviously intoxicated bar patron, "You're not going to drive home, are you?" To which the drunk replies, "Yes I am, I'm too drunk to walk!"
You forgot "How else am I gonna get my car home???"
Sam Kinison
Is this based on arrests or convictions?
It is super super easy to be arrested for drinking even if you never had a single drink. (arrest them all let the judge sort them out)
As any lawyer who has taken a DUI/DWI seminar can attest, the procedures and system is so flawed that it is surprising that it has any effect.
What I would like to see is the conviction rate of cases actually taken to trial, not plead out. That will elighten some people.
So we go up from six months to 12 months.
The problem is that the approach has been to claim the problem not the solutions.
Convictions aside, the courts aside, why not use the court system as a club to force treatment? Don't give breaks, give the opportunity to PROVE YOURSELF with treatment. The reward would be a work permit DL, failure would mean max penalties. An arestee would always have the option of taking the minimum plea offer same as always.
Women driving land barges while talking on cell phone are a bigger threat then drunk drivers.
John
humor:
A dui/dwi task force officer stakes out a bar frequented by many drunks to make an arrest after closing time.
The first patron staggers out and is STAGGERING all over the place. Keys dropping, leaning on trees, all a comedy as the patron works his way to his vehicle.
At the vehicle, the patron struggles with his keys and finally starts the car and takes off. The officer follows the patron the required distance and then turns on the lights and pulls him over.
After the officer orders the required roadside exercises and had the mobile breathalyzer give the required test the patron is exposed as being totally sober, not even trace alchohol.
The Officer asks what is going on and the patron responds that he is the "designated decoy". The officer then looks back to the now empty bar paking lot...
beat ya. see 38.
Amen!
Yesterday, a 30-something gal passed me on the highway (in an SUV) holding a cell phone to her ear with her right hand and holding and reading something while steering with her left hand!
I gave her a wide berth and watched her continue to zip along in the fast lane, position unchanged, until I exited the road about 3 miles later.
ahhhhhh ya got me.....
The women who are putting on makeup, drinking their latte, and talking on a hands free cell, manipulating the stering where with their knees since the have no hands AND their car is a stick shift...
that is scarry when you see it on the road.
Rush Limbaugh has discussed it on his program and there have been articles on FR.
They engage in sodomy with men they know to have AIDS.
Some people like to live dangerously.
hahahaha....
No, here's the deal.
There is really a lot of drunk driving. I mean a whole lot. After 2:00 AM, half of the drivers are legally drunk. However, it takes a cop about an hour to dispose of a drunk driver. Do the math.
In a city of 200,000, there are 20 patrol cars working traffic beats at 2:00 AM.
Chances of getting caught drunk driving are very small. Only alcoholics that fall asleep at the wheel, run into something, or are really obvious in front of the cop get stopped.
People with DUI's report that they drove drunk hundreds of times without being stopped. If you violate the law hundreds of times and only got caught once and paid a $300 fine, and had a work only suspension for 6 months would that work?
As a matter of fact, I'd wager that far more DUI arrests are made on people who rarely drink and get 'bowled over' by some margarita at dinner than by all the professional alcoholics out there. They have learned to 'manage'.
I don't know what should be done about it. Not everyone has a designated driver or a taxi ride, and by the time they realize (or don't realize) they've had too many, their judgment tells them it'll be OK. I can tell you that it's pretty strict already, here in GA my daughter got a DUI which isn't finished yet, she had one drink (tiny thing) and didn't feel impaired but the cops pulled her over. Now she will go through court, lawyer fees, fines, suspended license, high insurance rates etc. I really don't see how making the laws tougher is the solution.
These people have no experience with cops. I guaranty you that in Ohio, the decoy would have blown a 1.0 or above, notwithstanding his having nothing to drink.
Like, the punishment should fit the crime?
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