Drunk Driving

[Angels baby101]

Ok i just posted something about this in the halloween thread but ok heres my question...

Does anyone else think that they should set a higher punishment for Drunk driving? Or are they just wrong for basically making it a slap on the wrist? And what about Teenagers? Should they be punished more harshly when given a DUI.... I mean do you guys feel safe with the way the law is now or do you think they should strengthen them? Most of us do it.... Have a drink or two and think we're ok to drive home and most of the time we are but what about those of us who aren't drunk do we feel safe with someone who's had even just one drink driving potentially recklessly throughout? Expecially on nights like halloween when are children walk the streets?

here is the real reason i ask because it just stuns us that this happened and so close to us... Its been all the talk around here

I work at happy harry's and this happy harry's just happens to be on the corner of some dangerous narrow roads that are dimly lit and also has too high of a speed limit for the road.... anyways to my point..... Here is a peice from the news

Monday October 29th -Three people were killed and two others were clinging to life after a collision Monday night in Milford Crossroads, north of Newark.

Emergency services workers were called to the crash scene at Possum Park and Paper Mill roads at 9:29 p.m. There, they found two people dead inside a green BMW that had collided with a black Honda Civic. Debris from the ruined vehicles was spread across the southbound lanes of Paper Mill Road.

The impact knocked the two cars 50 to 75 feet apart. The BMW, which rolled over, lay split in two, and the force of the crash had sheared off part of the Civic's roof.

A third person killed in the crash had been thrown from the BMW. Late Monday night, two boots and a sneaker remained in the road

Tuesday October 30th- 4th person is announced dead... He died from his many injuries, he was also the driver of the Honda Civic, he just happened to be on his way to work at the time as a secruity guard.... the fourth person that was in the BMW still is in critical condition but awake from his coma.....


its horrible to think that that could be someone i work with closely or my mom or any one.....

I just cant help but think that the law on Drunk driving is just to soft.... i mean i'm not saying that the person should be sentanced to jail for all his life but more then just a slap on the wrist and a dont do it agian.... warning after warning ya know?

 

[Rowan Hawthorn]

The only problem I have with making the drunk driving laws tougher is that, here in Kentucky at any rate, they've reduced the blood alcohol level to the point where you don't have to be drunk - or even tipsy - to be legally drunk. As usual, that didn't accomplish anything at all outside of giving the politicians something to brag about when election time rolls around. What was needed was more consistent enforcement of the existing laws (too many "special" people get off scot-free while others without connections, power, or money get the book thrown at them,) possibly higher penalties, but, more important, some actual penalties involved for those who continue to drive after losing their licenses over DUIs. If you've already had your license revoked because of drunken driving, there should be jail time involved every time you're caught driving after that, instead of just a fine - which, as often as not, goes unpaid, anyway, until the offender either racks up enough violations that they can't be ignored, or kills someone.

 

[Blondie Bear]

Most of our laws depend on one thing: getting caught. Laws are reactive, not proactive; they won't stop people from doing things, they just make sure they can be punished if they're caught doing them. Most people have an immortality-complex; they think that it can't happen to THEM, they won't get caught, they won't have an accident, they're perfectly fine. This is somewhat reinforced, for drivers, by the low ratio of speeders who are caught and punished. People get away with doing 90 in a 55 (that's mph for our overseas friends) all the time, so they're going to assume that they can get away with driving a few miles home from the party a little buzzed. The fear of punishment, for the most part, is gone from that law.

Now, as far as I know, if a drunken driver is in an accident and kills someone, they are charged with negligent homicide, and that carries some pretty steep penalties. But it still didn't stop them from doing it, did it?

I think we've gotten too dependent on law. We've forgotten that the only people the law stops from doing something are those who a) weren't going to do it anyway because it's wrong; or b) are actually afraid of getting caught and punished. We need to concentrate more on society and people's conciences than on law making, because laws don't stop people from breaking them.