[Ladywithafan]

Remove parking lots from bars; if you're not supposed to drink & drive then why are you able to park at a bar?!

[boxus]

Originally Posted by Ladywithafan

Remove parking lots from bars; if you're not supposed to drink & drive then why are you able to park at a bar?!

That is where the DD comes in, and, not everyone at a bar drinks. I love bars, but I do not always drink and my wife rarely does, I like the atmosphere of bars.

Also, a person can order a beer and sip on it for awhile, eat some snacks, and watch a game. Being at a bar does not mean someone gets drunk.

[boxus]

Originally Posted by Mike1306

So a small woman goes out after work, stays out for an hour and has 3 beers.
Gets pulled over going home and blows a .15, she deserves a year in prison?

I really have a problem with the percentage of income fines, because someone has applied themselves in life and is better off financially they get penalized more? That is ridiculous.

Yes she does. .15 is way too high for anyone to be driving (my wife weighs 100lbs, I know these things well). If the person knows they drank too much, then perhaps they should not be driving. What is the hurry? Why cannot someone just plan ahead a little? Yes, one year prison.

Fines are meant to be a deterrent measure for committing a crime. It is not much of a deterrent when it is mere pocket change to someone. I live in Brickell in Miami, a person can walk along anytime and see who always has the parking tickets, the expensive cars do, because the ticket is such a small fine, it is not even worth their time to put more money in the parking meter.

A fine, being a deterrent, needs to be pegged to income to make it a deterrent.

[FlyMIA]

DONT DRINK AND DRIVE. It is a very simple and easy thing to do. I think fines should be huge if you get caught over a .12 or so $5,000 first offense. Cant pay? 1,000 hours of community service. After your first DUI you should never do it again right? Well thing is most people do it again so 2nd time mandatory jail time $10,000 fine lose your license for a few years. 3rd 2 years in Jail, lose license for 10 years. 4th: 3-5 years, lose your license for life. Way too many people get killed because of people drinking and driving.

[Mike1306]

Originally Posted by tilli

Are you telling me you think it is reasonable for a small woman to drive after downing three beers in one hour? I am not small (not huge either) but I can drink like a fish if I want to, and it's very difficult for me to drink beer fast enough to feel it. With three in me, I feel as though I could drive, no problem. But I know that is because alcohol affects your judgement and lowers your inhibitions and I would not actually attempt it. If she had three beers in her, she should have called for a ride instead of endangering everyone else on the road, or hung out at the bar for a couple hours to ride it out. A year in prison doesn't sound so out of line when you consider that she could have killed someone.

A percentage of income makes a lot more sense to me than a flat fine. Fines should be designed to be a burden on the one who is fined, and it should hurt a "better off financially" person in the wallet just as it does for low income people. Higher income people just laugh at the fines, I've seen it myself. A sliding scale would make them take it more seriously.

Should someone who is better off financially get a longer prison sentence for a crime? It would be a larger burden since they presumably would have more bills to pay and if they could not work and were in jail those bills would not get paid.
Unfortunately the way society works a person who is generally in high standing in the community and earns a good living would generally get a higher sentence than someone from the hood charged with the same crime only due to the "they had a rough life" viewpoint for the hood rat.

[tilli]

Should someone who is better off financially get a longer prison sentence for a crime?

Nope, no reason for it. The "financially better off" feel the pain of time served just as acutely as the not so financially better off. Fines are a different story. I'd be ok with the financially better off choosing jail time rather than paying a scaled up fine if they chose to do so.

Unfortunately the way society works a person who is generally in high standing in the community and earns a good living would generally get a higher sentence than someone from the hood charged with the same crime only due to the "they had a rough life" viewpoint for the hood rat.

Oh, please. The way society works is the person with high standing in the community and lots of money would never even get convicted, because they can afford the good lawyers who can manipulate the system to their best advantage. They are rarely held to the same standards as the hood rat - we'd put him away for years while Mr. Financially Better Off would have to pick up trash in the median one Saturday a month.

[jambo101]

Originally Posted by FlyMIA

DONT DRINK AND DRIVE. It is a very simple and easy thing to do. I think fines should be huge if you get caught over a .12 or so $5,000 first offense. Cant pay? 1,000 hours of community service. After your first DUI you should never do it again right? Well thing is most people do it again so 2nd time mandatory jail time $10,000 fine lose your license for a few years. 3rd 2 years in Jail, lose license for 10 years. 4th: 3-5 years, lose your license for life. Way too many people get killed because of people drinking and driving.

If the laws in place arent curtailing drinking and driving then up the severity of the penalties for getting caught drinking while driving.
FlyMIA has the right idea..

However for some there is no hope
http://newportrichey.wtsp.com/news/w...ulted-him-fish

[ferret111]

Originally Posted by Mike1306

Unfortunately the way society works a person who is generally in high standing in the community and earns a good living would generally get a higher sentence than someone from the hood charged with the same crime only due to the "they had a rough life" viewpoint for the hood rat.

Exact opposite.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by FlyMIA

DONT DRINK AND DRIVE. It is a very simple and easy thing to do.

Well, no... not really. If one likes to eat out at restaurants is one supposed to have a Coke or Sprite at a nice sit-down restaurant versus a bottle of wine because some knee-jerk MADD activists cooked up a catchy slogan because they think the general population can't control themselves to maintain under .12 because a fringe element cannot????? Seriously.

[mango23]

Originally Posted by boxus

Make any DUI a felony and the numbers will magically drop overnight.

As far as I am concerned it is an assault with a deadly weapon the moment you get behind the wheel impaired.