One man's assessment of stupid DUI laws
Here is a very well-done video we found on YouTube which discusses the question of whether DUI laws are rational. The quality of the video production is superb, and the discussion may be eye-opening to some.
The narrator discusses the death toll from impaired drivers as an insignificant number. We couldn't disagree more with that proposition. Even if, as the narrator says, drunken drivers kill fewer people each year than the flu, there is a major difference. Any DUI death is the direct result of somebody's decision. You can point directly to the actions of a human being that took another human being's life.
You simply can't compare death by a virus to a death by a drunk driver, so the analogy fails in my opinion. Nevertheless, if the scenario of the narrator's DUI arrest is accurate (which I find difficult to believe), then the law has gone too far. A person riding or walking a bike while drunk is little danger to anybody other than him or herself. Unless we are going back to the prohibition (which didn't work the first time around), then we need to stop criminalizing drinking through back door methods such as enacting stupid DUI laws.
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i TOTALLY AGREE WITH THE NARRATOR. PEOPLES' LIVES HAVE BEEN RUINED BECAUSE OF THESE LAWS, THIS BECOMING MORE AND MORE AN UN-FREE COUNTRY. I AGREE THERE SHOULD BE LAWS BUT, MORE IN THE LINES OF HELP AND CLASSES FOR ALCOHOLICS DUE TO THE PROBLEMS OF THE DISEASE OF ALCOHOLISM WHICH KILLS MORE PEOPLE.IF ITS ABOUT THE INNOCENT MANY INNOCENT PEOPLE DIE ALL THE TIME LAWS ARE NOT GOING TO CHANGE THAT BUT, TAKE AWAY OUR RIGHTS WHICH TRULY LEAD TO COMMUNISM. MADD LIGHTEN THE F#@* UP AND STOP TAKING AWAY FROM THE CHILDREN OF THE PARENTS THAT HAD A BEER OR TWO OR WINE AT DINNER. WE KNOW YOUR JUST A CHARITY GONE MAD!!!!! AND MORE LIKE A POPULAR BUSINESS WE KNOW YOU GUYS MAKE MONEY DON'T LET ME MAKE IT PUBLIC YOUR JUST A BUNCH OF BULLIES.AND BY THE WAY THE NARRATORS STATISTICS ARE RIGHT!!!!!THANK YOU GOOD DAY TO YA.
I can't believe that you're complaining so much over something so trivial. Do you really have to be drunk when you're mowing your lawn, or when you're golfing? Are you that dependant on alcohol where you need it while riding your bike?
As well as this, I'd like to say that although the numbers of fatalities are considerabley low over all, those people are still DEAD. You can't undo something like that, which is why they strive to prevent it.
My reccommendation to you is that you go into rehabilitation, because all I have gathered from this video is that you have a nice sized drinking problem.
Anon
I completely agree with the guy on top of me. Courts are full of these so called criminals its ludacris. The laws go way too far sometimes.
I was prompted to read information on this subject by a recent episode of a friend getting a dui in Az. Holly @#!$, I had no idea how far the zealots have been able to get lawmakers to increase penalties. Not to mention how little the $8000 in lawyer fees helped. I suspect most of the public has no idea how easily this could happen to them too. Perhaps the public should be told. As for the previous comment that deaths by virus are not preventable, but all dui related deaths are. Wouldn't that poster be surprised to one day be arrested for manslaughter, just because they went to work with the flu, gave it to others in the office and one of them died. Oh well back to watching TV...
Ok, I am watching the news today and literally back to back they have a story about some old geezer killing someone by driving his car through a fast food restaurant here in CA, and then the big number of DUI arrests on new years eve weekend.
Does anyone get that your average .08 or below driver is typically better equipped than your average senior citizen to operate a motor vehicle. What the fuck are these MADD and NHTSA assholes doing about that? Zilch. This is because the DUI driver is the new pedophile, and old people have lobbying groups (read AARP).
So when you (yeah you) are out there driving around after consuming a few beers and feeling very comfortable that you have not consumed too much to operate your vehicle, just pray that you don't get pulled over. The police have TOTAL discretion to ruin your life, as they do here in CA even for 1st offenders.
We even have signs out here encouraging people to call 911 to "report drunk drivers" and to do the jobs of police officers. This is irresponsible and stupid, because your average idiot driver here in southern cal is in no position to judge anyone else's driving, and believe me, they need to focus on their driving rather than picking up a phone and risking an accident when they witness a suspected drunk on the road, unless that person obviously obliterated and about to kill someone.
And if MADD and the NHTSA were really interested in stopping this "epidemic", they would spend their time and money lobbying for better public transportation infrastructure and subsidized taxi services in hot spots. Fucking country is going to shit because of out of control legislation based on junk science and the apathy of our sheep like populace. Print that.