By last year, this annual grant authorization had increased to $40 million.
Next year, Congress will return to the task of rewriting the transportation bill. A version passed by the House earlier this year would continue the alcohol-impaired countermeasures grant program but with some changes; for instance, it would reward states that establish "a task force to evaluate and recommend changes to the state's drunk driving programs..." ------------------------------------------------------- I'll take the grant money for the correct answer for the the question: Why do you drink and drive?
1) Gotta get home. 2) I WANT TO DRIVE. 3) BS I AM NOT DRUNK! 4) I am indestructable. 5) I drive better drunk.
Which are all selfish, delusional, self-deceiving, irrational, and uninhibited personality traits--otherwise called INTOXICATION. How does the gov't stop drunken driving? Distribute those CIA anti-intoxicant pills U-Boat Teddy takes to speak soberly to the MSM press corp. You don't see him taking Oldsmobile swims anymore! -------------------------------------------------------- Uncle Sam, you can make that $25 million check to Sully C/O FreeRepublic. They'll know where to find me.
They are alcoholics......DUH!!!!
Wanna stop them??
How about 1 year in jail for the first offence??
Nah, that would work, and there is too much money to be made on fines.
Why didn't they investigate why homosexuals still engage in anonymous public sex, or even worse bareback (condomless) sex, or even more mindboggingly "bug chasing" sexual encounters with people they KNOW to have AIDS?
Because lawyers and judges drink.
um... alcohol is legal, and people gotta get home.
Taxis? Public transit? Not in So. California.
11-time drunk driver gets probation: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1306262/posts
Man Drunk at third DWI hearing: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1298625/posts
I will grant that these are probably exceptions but these kinds of results are all too common. Accidents that involve drunk drivers and innocent deaths are treated as manslaughter in most cases while other drunk driving infractions carry a fine but permit the drunk to take to the roads. Until a zero tolerance policy with long sentences for repeat offenders is adopted this problem will persist.
I'd say it boils down the preponderance of parking lots at bars.
I'd guess lowering the standard of what constitutes drunk driving might have contributed to the fact more people are driving drunk.
Drunk driving persists because, sometimes, a drunk person needs to be someplace where they are not.
it's the most perfect catch-22 imaginable.
I have to wonder if the country isn't broken down into two groups on this, the one group who has, at one time or another, driven drunk themselves, and the second, seemingly more prevalant group, those that lie about it.
I'm lucky enough to have a neighborhood bar within walking distance, but the vast majority don't. They have little choice but to drive or stay home. Some choice. Neighborhood bars are few and far between because of restrictions on licenses as well as the very high cost.
A man walks out of a bar, obviously plastered.
Parked a short distance away is an unmarked police car out to nab drunk drivers as part of the county's new crack down. The officer watches the man and thinks to himself, "There's a quick one. Just have to wait for him to get on the road and he's mine!"
So the man weaves his way out to the car and tries his keys. They don't fit for some reason. Oh yeah. This is a red ford and he drives a blue chevy!
A few people leave the bar and drive home.
The drunk then finds the right car and in the process of getting the keys into the lock drops them and kicks them under the car. He falls and stumbles and eventually gets the keys back in his hand and back in the lock. Great! He's got the right car. The cop watches patiently as more people leave the bar.
The drunk turns the car on, turns on the left turn signal. Turns it off. Turns on the right turn signal, turns it off. then apparently passes out for about 5 minutes.
Some more people leave the bar and drive off.
The drunk wakes with a start. Looks around and starts the car. Shifts into forward and moves a couple feet. Shifts into reverse and moves a couple feet. Sounds the horn a few times and turns off the car.
Some more people leave the bar and the place closes down for the night.
Finally, as the last car in the lot pulls out, the drunk starts his car again and slowly starts onto the street.
After the drunk turns onto the street the cop turns on his lights and pulls him over. "Whash amatter oshifer?"
The cop tells the drunk to get out and performs the sobriety tests, which the drunk fails. Then the officer gets out his breathalyzer and says blow into this.
So the drunk blows into the tube and the device records 0.0% alcohol.
The cop is now really confused. "I'm afraid I'll have to take you in to get tested. My machine appears to be broke."
The drunk , suddenly stone cold sober, says "I don't think so, I'm tonight's designated decoy"
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.
Women driving land barges while talking on cell phone are a bigger threat then drunk drivers.
John
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.