Trip Report - DUI

[John Spartan]

FWIW, I agree with Tuq. I would still punish people who drive with a limit over .06, but a lot less severely. I'd punish people who drive .06 to .11 slightly, and punish people who drive .12 and over to the fullest extent of the law. The people who drive with a .12 and over are the real dangerous ones.

Read this:

"There are others who we would classify as hardcore drunk drivers. In all likelihood they are alcoholics who could care less that their behavior is criminal and dangerous. These people generally drive with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of twice the legal limit or more. Typically they have more than one DUI conviction. They are 200 times more likely to kill on the road than the average non-drinking driver. In 2001, there were 17,448 alcohol-related fatalities and approximately 275,000 injuries nationwide. Fifty-eight percent of these incidents involved drivers with a blood alcohol concentration of .15 or above. A large jump in the crash data at the .10 BAC level shows that drivers with a BAC between .10 and .14 are 48 times more likely to be involved in a crash. However, drivers with a BAC of .15 are 385 times more likely to be involved in a crash. Further, 58% of drivers involved in alcohol-related fatalities in 2001 were hardcore drunk drivers."

It's these people we need to really go after, and have lesser punishments for the people who simply need a mistake. Most of the people didn't even realize they were over the limit, while the hardcore drivers know that they are and just don't give a [censored]. The hardcore drivers with 3 or 4 DWI convictions should all serve significant jail time.