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Drunken driving.

BrettNortje said:
This occurs all the time and is the cause of many traffic accidents. the best way to keep drunk drivers off the road is to have a breathalyser fitted to each car near the driver's seat, which is quite cheap, or not receive a sticker that says they are allowed to drive.

At a bar, the owner must ask the drinker for their keys, or, not sell them alcohol. it is up to the owner when to give the drinker their keys back, and, they may demand they drink water or coffee to neutralize the mixture inside them.

If the drinker was to exercise before they drive, or, be forced to take a nap before they drive, the problem would be severely cut down. then, there is also the option for blitzes by police on bars to 'catch' people with car keys drinking too much?
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This is a bit ridiculous overall.

Distracted driving is rivaling drunk driving for leading cause of accidents, that means things like talking on the phone eating/drinking, etc. Are we to have interlocks on that too? And who is paying?

In the end, Drunk Driving is a serious concern, but not one that should lead to such gross overreactions as this.
 
Militant_Vegan_ said:
the people who have been killed by drunks don't get a life sentance, they get a death sentence.
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For those who cause fatalities, you can argue for stiffer punishments. But for those who do not, life in prison is stupid.
 
BrettNortje said:
This occurs all the time and is the cause of many traffic accidents. the best way to keep drunk drivers off the road is to have a breathalyser fitted to each car near the driver's seat, which is quite cheap, or not receive a sticker that says they are allowed to drive.

At a bar, the owner must ask the drinker for their keys, or, not sell them alcohol. it is up to the owner when to give the drinker their keys back, and, they may demand they drink water or coffee to neutralize the mixture inside them.

If the drinker was to exercise before they drive, or, be forced to take a nap before they drive, the problem would be severely cut down. then, there is also the option for blitzes by police on bars to 'catch' people with car keys drinking too much?
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I like the idea of disabling a car if the driver is drunk. This can occur both before or during operation. We have the technology to do both. Another good bit of software would be something that alerts the cops that a drunk is driving this car and gave them the GPS location of said vehicle.
 
_Sal said:
NO, this is all bad advice

if you drink, you don't drive, period

if you drink heavily you should not be driving even the next morning
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Yea. I've had some awful time hangovers before. Only 1 where I wasn't gonna drive the next day. Funny. The older I get the less it takes to get there.


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EMNofSeattle said:
IN a criminal context what does that mean?

If nothing else in my state convictions for driving offenses drop off your record in seven years, clearly that is a form of excusal
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That's your context, not mine.
 
blackjack50 said:
Yea. I've had some awful time hangovers before. Only 1 where I wasn't gonna drive the next day. Funny. The older I get the less it takes to get there.


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I don't know if I've ever drank as much in an evening as an adult as I did as an under-aged teen. I've had a few hang-overs but I don't like that out of control sick feeling that comes with too much alcohol, it isn't worth it.

For most of my adult life my job depended upon car assess as I had a territory, thus I never did drink and drive, I couldn't afford to lose access to my car let alone hurt someone and have to live with it. That would be a burden too heavy for me.
 
So who is going to pay the steep cost of installing a breathalyzer in every car? Some altruistic billionaire?

Nope, it'll be all of us. Then surely it'll be a crime to drive a car not outfitted with a breathalyzer. So then that person gets to go to jail, too, for not paying a thousand dollars to get the "upgrade." I think the private prison industry would all be behind this legislation because think of the money they'll make.

It's not going to float legally. I shouldn't have to submit to a search of my body chemistry to get in my car and drive to work. And I think you'd find at least most level-headed judges would agree, including the Federal Circuits.
 
digsbe said:
I'd be fine with 0 tolerance BAC levels, meaning if you've been drinking alcohol at all you do not drive, period. Drinking and driving should also be a felony and considered a form of reckless endangerment and a form of attempted manslaughter. Too many people have lost their lives due to drinking and driving, and the penalties aren't nearly harsh enough for those who hadn't taken a life.
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Hi Digs,

I used to drink and drive regularly when I was in construction. That was 21 years ago. I have been convicted of DWI-1, DUI-1, and DWI-3. There were no accidents.

There's a lot more to alcohol intoxication than BAC. Some rarely drink, and some drink regularly. The same BAC level in the two leaves one cross-eyed, and the other still pretty sharp.

Instead of just saying: "Make it 0.00" how about you invent a more modern measurement that better represents life as we know it?
 
Dittohead not! said:
People who drive drunk are a problem that has no simple solution.

Good judgement would preclude someone who has been drinking from getting behind the wheel.
But, alcohol impairs judgement.
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And besides, an amazing number of people drive better after six or seven drinks.

And drunks are big on the distraction to other problems. "Hey, look, he didn't come to a complete stop at the stop sign. If there'd been a person in front of the car they could have been hurt."
 
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Patrickt said:
And besides, an amazing number of people drive better after six or seven drinks.

And drunks are big on the distraction to other problems. "Hey, look, he didn't come to a complete stop at the stop sign. If there'd been a person in front of the car they could have been hurt."
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An amazing number of people think they drive better after six or seven drinks anyway.
 
digsbe said:
I'd be fine with 0 tolerance BAC levels, meaning if you've been drinking alcohol at all you do not drive, period. Drinking and driving should also be a felony and considered a form of reckless endangerment and a form of attempted manslaughter. Too many people have lost their lives due to drinking and driving, and the penalties aren't nearly harsh enough for those who hadn't taken a life.
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There is no attempt to kill anyone. The intent is clearly to get home.
 
foadi said:
If you ban a group of people from getting a drivers license, you're just going to end up with a bunch of people driving around without licenses and car insurance. Or a bunch of people living on welfare because they can't work. Not the best way to deal with it. Like it or not, most parts of the country are car dependent. This blanket "take away their license" rhetoric won't help fix the problem.
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No ****. Some people don't think before they advocate political solutions.
 
Henrin said:
There is no attempt to kill anyone. The intent is clearly to get home.
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Nonsense. We had a drunken driver who had great fun running over small trees, stop signs, a mailbox, and a nun on a bicycle. He killed the nun. He wasn't trying to get home.

We had another drunk who was racing another car on a two-lane road in the mountains. When he came over the hill he hit a man on a motorcycle head on. He wasn't trying to get home, either. He was racing. He didn't stop. He pulled a Ted Kennedy and called his attorney, hid till he was quite sober, and then showed up.

Some drunks just want to get home. Some want to prove they can drive better than Mario Androtti.

It isn't just drunken drivers who kill. Most of our murders involved one or more people who were drunk. Most of our domestic disturbances with actual violence involved one or more drunks. Most of the sexual assaults involved one or more drunks. Perhaps not most but many of our simple assaults, child abuse cases, and even burglaries involved drunks.
 
There are drugs to help you sober up after a night out, or, during a night out - klonopin and xanax.
 
BrettNortje said:
There are drugs to help you sober up after a night out, or, during a night out - klonopin and xanax.
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After spending all that money to get drunk, you want to take a pill and get sober again? Seems to me like a waste of time and money. It would be better to stay sober to start with.
 
Usually when people go out drinking they do so in a group of friends. this is the usual way to do things, or, they meet up and have a few. either way someone has to drive afterwards, and, often it is under the influence. this means they need to either not drink or not drive, of course.

Then, to add to pressure on the mind, they are often in a hurry while intoxicated. this would mean that they are even more likely to have an accident. maybe if they were to breathe in a hanging air freshener that sobers you up, like one of those drugs i mentioned, they would 'snap to it?' knolopin and xanax could be made into air fresheners for the car, and have their effects on knowing or unknowing drivers?
 
BrettNortje said:
Usually when people go out drinking they do so in a group of friends. this is the usual way to do things, or, they meet up and have a few. either way someone has to drive afterwards, and, often it is under the influence. this means they need to either not drink or not drive, of course.

Then, to add to pressure on the mind, they are often in a hurry while intoxicated. this would mean that they are even more likely to have an accident. maybe if they were to breathe in a hanging air freshener that sobers you up, like one of those drugs i mentioned, they would 'snap to it?' knolopin and xanax could be made into air fresheners for the car, and have their effects on knowing or unknowing drivers?
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Do not drink alcohol while taking Xanax. This medication can increase the effects of alcohol. Alprazolam may be habit-forming and should be used only by the person for whom it was prescribed. Keep the medication in a secure place where others cannot get to it.

https://www.drugs.com/xanax.html
 
Militant_Vegan_ said:
it's time for people and society to quit glamorizing alcohol. it's no different than abusing opiates.
and having a bar out in the middle of nowhere is just begging for people to drive drunk.
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it's time for people and society to quit glamorizing pot. it's no different than abusing opiates.
and getting stoned out in the middle of nowhere is just begging for people to drive high.
 
faithful_servant said:
it's time for people and society to quit glamorizing pot. it's no different than abusing opiates.
and getting stoned out in the middle of nowhere is just begging for people to drive high.
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Glamorizing any drug and ingesting it in the middle of nowhere where it is necessary to drive to get home is a bad idea.

Outlawing drugs and then filling up the jails with druggies is also a bad idea. We've already seen the results of prohibition of alcohol and of marijuana. We've seen the result of ending prohibition of alcohol.
 
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