I don’t think DUI should itself be illegal. Breaking a traffic law or getting in an accident is all that should be charged. If the drunk kills someone, then charge them with manslaughter. Cops can’t pull you over for because you don’t have a seatbelt on. The seatbelt infraction is tacked on if your stopped for a real moving violation. The same should apply to DUI. It should be tacked on in ADDITION to whatever other violation you committed.
You're comparing seat belt offenses to DUI? A drunk driver poses an increased risk to the drivers around him. A person not wearing his seat belt poses no additional direct risk.
We have laws against DUI for the same reason we have laws against speeding or reckless driving or even failure to signal--when an operator disregards these laws, there is an increased risk of danger for other motorists.
I hate to tell you this, but in the People’s Republic of New Jersey, and a few other places, I believe, the seatbelt laws have been upgraded to a primary offense...in other words, a cop can pull you over if he sees you driving without the belt, no other infraction is necessary.
Seat belts are a Primary offense in many places now...that gets em to the door for a sniff test...
like you said, there are already mechanisms for dealing with the damage done by any negligent behavior in a car...
using arbitrary numbers and thug tactics is just plain wrong and shouldnt be accepted a 'felony', which results in loss of Rights...
I agree with you 100%, and I've been saying that here on FR for a long time!
I agree. Without damage to people or property, there should be no crime.
(but that would open the door to re-examining the war on "some" drugs, gambling, prostitution, refusing to replace your paper or plastic grocery bags with a reusable burlap bag and all sorts of other things that the control freaks in our society find offensive).
That's not true in my State.