Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
DUI"s are not money makers when you consider the cost of enforcing the law alone. Bonds are not money makers for the staes but for the bonding companies and attorney's as they are refundable.The problem is that the number of cases far out strips tha ability to do anything effective until a drivers has multiple offenses. laws make a ton for pleading cases since the breathe test is dead proof and very hard to defend plus the videos of the drunks themselves.
If you drive drunk you should go to jail period. But the penalty should depend more on HOW drunk you were and if you have priors than just a "DUI" where all people are treated equally- whether they are .08 or .30.
My problem is the level they set for drunk driving, I think it should be at .10 vs .08. I can't stand MADD, I think they are as much about revenue as they area about safety.
I figure that when a person is killed in an accident caused by a drunk driver the driver should be charged with negligent homicide. If found guilty the drunk is responsible for paying the family of the deceased “man geld” or a sum of money similar to what the family lost due to the homicide. This payment would last forever as a constant reminder to the drunk to stay away from cars while drunk.
The rest of the bail, fines, etc is just a way for the government and associated businesses, to live off the addicted.
The DUI limit was once set by each state, but the Federal government blackmailed the states with highway money to lower it to .08 (after lobbying from MADD). Someone who gets a DUI for driving "drunk" at .08 should not be faced with severe criminal and financial penalties as someone driving drunk with .20 BAC would. An issue is that many people who are alcoholics don't care if their license is revoked, they will drive around drunk without a license.
DUI laws are moneymakers for the state. You can get a DUI for sitting in your parked car! I know someone who was drunk and went to the police for help calling her husband who she couldn't reach on the phone. She had bags with her and went to put them in her car and they arrested her for a DUI because...by unlocking her car and placing her belongings in it the "intent" to drive drunk was there.
Just like speeding tickets, seat belt tickets, and driving while talking on your cellphone tickets, this is a moneymaker.
If someone is driving drunk and causes injuries or death to someone else they should be held criminally liable.
DUI"s are not money makers when you consider the cost of enforcing the law alone.
What a joke. For a first time DUI at low BAC levels, you can expect to end up out of pocket by at least $6,000 in these parts. More or less elsewhere. Where do you think that money goes???
Quote:
Originally Posted by texdav
laws make a ton for pleading cases since the breathe test is dead proof and very hard to defend plus the videos of the drunks themselves.
Breath-a-lyzers are notoriously variable. They are simply taken as being proof. At best, they establish BAC, not a degree of impairment. The latter is what we would all like to control. Meanwhile, it's hardly just lawyers who make a pile of money off this racket. The courts make a bundle, the company's that run the classes that judges order people to attend make a bundle, the company's that manufacture ignition locks make a bundle. Everybody makes out here. Except all the good and honorable folks who have their lives basically ruined by this madness...
The DUI limit was once set by each state, but the Federal government blackmailed the states with highway money to lower it to .08 (after lobbying from MADD). Someone who gets a DUI for driving "drunk" at .08 should not be faced with severe criminal and financial penalties as someone driving drunk with .20 BAC would. An issue is that many people who are alcoholics don't care if their license is revoked, they will drive around drunk without a license.
DUI laws are moneymakers for the state. You can get a DUI for sitting in your parked car! I know someone who was drunk and went to the police for help calling her husband who she couldn't reach on the phone. She had bags with her and went to put them in her car and they arrested her for a DUI because...by unlocking her car and placing her belongings in it the "intent" to drive drunk was there.
Just like speeding tickets, seat belt tickets, and driving while talking on your cellphone tickets, this is a moneymaker.
If someone is driving drunk and causes injuries or death to someone else they should be held criminally liable.
I agree, MamaBee, I know someone who was out, had a few too many drinks, recognized it, unlocked the car and then tossed the keys into a shrub near the car, and laid down in the back seat to sleep it off. The police arrested him because he was in the car and drunk, and he could have retrieved the keys at any time. When people try to do the right thing, they should be credited for it, not penalized. This man lost his job because his license was suspended upon arrest, not upon conviction, and the community he lived in had no public transportation system. While driving under the influence is irresponsible and involves a threat to others as well as to yourself, the people accused of these crimes should have the same due process available to them as people arrested of other crimes. And there should be some practical sense applied as well, people who make a mistake shouldn't have to pay their whole lives, people who are repeat offenders need substance abuse treatment as well as civil penalties.
My problem is the level they set for drunk driving, I think it should be at .10 vs .08. I can't stand MADD, I think they are as much about revenue as they area about safety.
I agree entirely, although that has changed by 180 degrees over the years. I was a significant contributor to MADD in its early days. Drinking and driving was a serious and mostly unnoticed public health problem back then, and MADD did much wonderful work in putting a spotlight on the issue, in reshaping most people's attitudes, and in seeing now just about two generations grown up with the idea of a "designated driver" as a normal part of their culture. These are big things.
But this is an organization that failed to recognize that it's mission had been accomplished, and that it was time to go away. To justify little more than their own salaries at this point, what these people want now is more-more-more, further-further-further to the point of basically becoming little more than a prohibitionist group. They got .08 passed nationally and then enforced upon the states, but they aren't happy with that. They want .06 and .04. Then .00. After all, why should we tolerate any alcohol use at all and getting behind the wheel. Never mind whether any of these efforts actually provide any societal benefits to offset the signficant damage that they do. That sort of thing just isn't an issue for them as long as they can collect their salaries and be invited to appear on talk shows...
MADD has become far more neo-prohibitionist than I had ever wanted or envisioned...
-- Candy Lightner, MADD Founder
My problem is the level they set for drunk driving, I think it should be at .10 vs .08. I can't stand MADD, I think they are as much about revenue as they area about safety.
Respectfully I have to say that I don't believe anyone should have ONE DROP in their body when they get behind the wheel.
As for MADD, have you ever had to scrape your son or daughter off the road to bury them LONG before their time because someone was so selfish as to drink and drive? Put yourself in that position and then tell me how you would feel.
How should people be punished who take anothers life with so little thought, because they are selfish enough to drink and drive?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
