San Antonio citizens life is not worth the same (Dallas: 2013, insurance)

[elnina]

Interesting how DWI cases are handled here. The punishment depends who you kill.
Normally when you get caught DWI it's a "slap on the wrist" or maybe a fine and breathalyzer mounted inside the car. Many repeat offenders still drive... and drink.
Not sure what is the sentence when someone gets killed, but I don't remember seeing anyone to be sentenced to 45 years.

/ CORRECTION - Police Officer's Family Settles Death by Drunk Driver Case | KRGV.com | CHANNEL 5 NEWS | Breaking News Breaking Stories

I don't say that the sentence is too harsh in this case - I just wish this kind of sentence will be a standard in EVERY case involved death by intoxicated driver.

[TrapperL]

Just goes to show ya, when it comes to folks drinking and driving, there are no winners. My brother in law was an alcoholic and it was brutal on my sister. I'm well aware of the damage caused by excessive drinking. Even though this lady will probably die in prison, she has left her own family with a probable missing grandmother and the shame of having a family member behind bars. The dead police officers family has a major hole in their life as well. But the system is screwed up and I'm not sure the fix. The bar and the bartender also lost, but why? Since when do I assume to know someones physiology? Some can hold a lot of booze before they show any signs of drunkiness. Me, one beer and I'm done. Since when should a business be responsible for your actions? If you build a house and it falls down, is Lowes or Home Depot responsible because yer a moron? That needs to change. But what really needs to change is the limits and the amount of arrests for drunken driving. Once is enough. The next time it's jail for 3 months. If it happens again, it's a year in jail. Or maybe we should have the bars check for proof of drinking that could be on your license. If you don't have the proper ID to buy it, you can't have it. Buy it for someone else and you lose your right to buy it for life. Maybe that would work. But what's on the books now is a joke and this lady getting the 45 year prison sentence sends a message to nobody that cares. A drunk needs to be off of the streets and the penalties swift and strong. Maybe while these drunks are doing prison time they could also work with the EMTs and see the damage they do while they are sober. Maybe that would stop some of this. Maybe we just need to get rid of alcohol altogether. It's not like it has any social value and like smoking, there would be far less folks with physical issues because of excessive drinking. I know it cost the taxpayers of Texas about 20 grand for my BILs hospital bill as my sister had nothing left from his drinking everything they had.

[SnappyBob]

While we are on the subject of vehicular manslaughter, it makes me think of my friend who is in ICU right now fighting for his life because he was hit by a lady that, from what I understand, the Police think may have been texting and driving. My reaction to this is: They ?think? she might have been texting and driving? If there had been any doubt as to her sobriety they would have done any and all tests necessary to determine if they had a DWI case or not. They seem to not be pursuing the TWD cases as enthusiastically. Texting while driving should be dealt with just as severely as DWI. I'll bet at any given time there are more people driving while texting than driving while drunk and the end result is the same in many cases. If the truth were known we might find out that there are as many traffic fatalities due to driver distraction as there are from DWI. Why is there not equal concern?

[dpantle]

I very much agree SB. I think it's an awareness or education issue. While drunk drivers have been around since there were cars, texting drivers are a somewhat new phenomenon. I do see some progress made though. Programs by AT&T ("It can wait"), new laws concerning TWD.

I'm sure we're not far from victims groups of folks like MADD, only for victims of TWD. Political groups such as these are where the real progress is achieved.

[elnina]

I am sure they could find out from the phone provider if the driver was using the phone/texting while driving or not. The question is: will they bother with it?
The insurance might...

AT&T programs like "It can wait" are nice and pretty but they will not make much difference. People will more likely respond to LAWS. AT&T and others should rather focus on some kind of phone/service feature that would prevent people from texting while driving. ( Any use of a mobile phone should be forbidden as long as the vehicle's engine is running - the only exception should be calls to 911. Hand-free devices needs to be promoted more)

Texting while driving remains a contentious issue in Texas. Despite a bipartisan bill being approved by state lawmakers, Governor Rick Perry vetoed the bill claiming that it infringed on individual freedoms . In response to Gov. Perry's veto of a blanket ban on texting while driving, several Texas cities introduced their own city-wide bans to make the practice illegal. These cities include Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Amarillo, Galveston, El Paso, Missouri City, the Canyon and Stephenville. In the Texas legislative session which began in 2013, new proposals to reduce texting while driving have been introduced.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texting_while_driving
On January 26, 2010, the US Department of Transportation announced a federal ban on texting while driving by truckers and bus drivers.

I just hope it will include all other drivers soon. Very soon.

[CyVaquero]

Originally Posted by elnina

I am sure they could find out from the phone provider if the driver was using the phone/texting while driving or not. The question is: will they bother with it?
The insurance might...

I've heard injury lawyers say that the first thing they do is subpoena the phone records.

[dpantle]

Originally Posted by elnina

AT&T programs like "It can wait" are nice and pretty but they will not make much difference. People will more likely respond to LAW

I very much disagree. I do agree that violators won't respond to much of anything but LAW, but when I spoke of education, awareness, and victim groups having the most impact, it was with the lawmakers in mind.

Not much of any progress was ever made with DWI laws until MADD created the national awareness, and therefore political heat.

[TXStrat]

I almost lost my mom to a 4x repeat drunk driver that had already permanantly lost his license in Ohio. You cannot convince me that anything other than a lengthy jail term will disuade repeat offenders.

[VeeGer]

I have a friend who had 6-7 DUIs before they locked him up for a year. He did it again and got locked up for 6 years. Since then he never touched a drop of alcohol.

[samvp]

Incredibly sensational and overly dramatic thread headline.