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Politics : Moderate Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Broken_Clock who wrote (14898)	12/29/2004 4:41:40 PM
From: redfish	Respond to of 20773

If they really wanted to get serious about DUI they would have wolf packs near bars that are popular with young people on Friday and Saturday nights. They could nail 100 a night easily. The problem is that drinking and driving is an important part of the U.S. economy, it would really hurt bars and restaurants if the .08 limit was enforced.

To: Broken_Clock who wrote (14898)	12/29/2004 4:43:10 PM
From: Dale Baker	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 20773

Whatever the solution, the point is finding a real solution instead of evading responsibility, blaming the other guy and/or diverting scarce resources away from solutions that actually improve our lives. Those last three items are collectively known as "the modern political process." Yelling and screaming about it on the air is known as hate-talk TV and radio. ;<)

To: Broken_Clock who wrote (14898)	12/30/2004 1:51:52 AM
From: john dodson	Respond to of 20773

Ah, the classic DUI question of "insufficient enforcement or insufficient penalty?" It's interesting to argue both sides. Clearly either would significantly reduce DUI's with increased focus. However, the bottom line is that it is clearly tolerated in America. I know, I know we're constantly bombarded with scare campaigns. We got one running right now in Texas - "You drink and drive and you are going to jail!" To be fair, Texas has been tough at times. In fact, a judge in Williamson county (20 minutes north of Austin) was recently convicted of DUI and was kicked off the bench. To fully appreciate the irony here, one must realize that Williamson county is the really tough county on all kinds of crime, routinely giving outrageous sentences. They're especially tough on on drunk drivers. And this particular judge gave more than his share of tough sentences to DUI'ers. What's that biblical passage about judgement and being careful? Until the enforcement system is something other than the reactive wait-until-it-happens-and-then-its-gotta-be-obvious-for-us-to-catch-your-swirving-arse, things aren't really gonna change. The fact is most don't intend to drive drunk. "Just a beer or two" is what most say, and many stick to it. Some don't. These are the ones who end up driving legally intoxicated. As a previous poster indicated, the police could routinely bag the daily limit on these guys outside any bar or club. Why don't they do that? Well for one, most business wouldn't like it much if the cops arrested their customers in mass. Such establishments do have considerable influence in such issues. Then there's the whole thing about rights and privacy in America, yada, yada, yada. It's a slippery slope that wouldn't last long. As my good Palestinian buddy has instructed me on more than one occasion: "In Palestine, we do not have many thieves. You steal and get caught, you lose your hand. Until you get that serious about drunk driving here in America, it will continue to happen." True, true, I always think to myself, but is it worth it?