Originally posted by: SlitheryDee
Originally posted by: SampSon
Drinking and driving laws have done very little to prevent drunken drivers on the road or save lives. Over the past 20 years or so the number of people per 100,000 killed because of drinking and driving has gone down approximately 2-3 (per 100,000 people). Numbers are falsified on both sides of the argument. It is very difficult to accuratly measure the effectiveness of these laws.
In reality no amount of laws is going to stop people from doing what they want to do. People are regularly in court for their third, fourth, fifth DWI charge. So they get heavily fined, have their license suspended eventually and mabey even sent to prison. Well they are still going to drive, possibly after drinking, regardless of what the courts do to them. You can scream until you're blue in the face, but that isn't going to change a damn thing.
On a side note, driving is a privilege because the govt. has decided to levy and collect taxes on the ability to operate a vehicle. Usually that's how a "right" becomes a "privilege".
A while back everyone was screaming for this kind of statistical info, and yet only a couple people addressed it when it was posted. If this information is accurate, it answers everyone's questions about the effectiveness of OC laws.
it's the truth, from friday through Sunday a lot out at night past 10pm would fail a breath test...fact is the breath test is flawed to begin with....no scientist would accept it. It measures blood in your breath. Ulcers, mouth bleeding (a typical night of drinking and fighting), etc can alter it. Not to mention .08 on one person is doing micro work, while .04 on someone else is falling and running into doors.
I had a few beers one night, during the way moving out from my 'ex' hit my lower lip on a shelf while we were fighting....I was spitting blood.
That night I didn't come home, went out and saw a dualing organs show....had my bill and a time in and time out. I should have been right at about legal...a .08....
I pulled into 'our' driveway' and two cops immediately lighted me up. asked me to say the alphabet (I said it backwards correctly three times, his notes 'I have no idea what he is saying;').
They took me out to do the field side on the middle of the road, while they were on the sides...I hired a lawyer initially until this 'video' showed and he explained most sober people can't do field side sobriety tests without looking drunk.
All I have to say is the whole thing is unconstitutional. MADD/SADD have so much money behind them is why.
Facts are drunk accidents = death are a rarity....it's sad none the less. MADD knows noone will argue with a grieving mother, mostly.
They send me a $2.50 check every couple months to take their pen and fill out a survey. I make it look like drinking on the road is the cool thing to do (I don't)...and write on the check I deposit: "I bought a beer with this and drank it driving" or "wow the 40 in the drivethrough beer stand is the same price!"
if you get caught drinking and fail the breath test, even thought physically you can function within the limits. You will more than likely have to spend a night in jail, there is no bond....they need to 'observe' you for 8 hours, which is really about 12-16. All the while you are gotten up every couple hours for role call. You will also be photographed, fingerprinted, and weighed and measured.
You can't drive home, your car is immediately towed at the highest rates possible. My car went 1/4 mile and I had to pay $300.
Your license is suspended automatically...you can't drive until your court date.
You can apply for a 3 month pass after it. You can drive to work and medically necessary things.
If you appeal, you can't drive until you win....in my area my court date would be a little over a year away. then you have to do court...figure on catching a ride for 1.5 years.
They have to now 'boot' your car in the driveway so you don't drive....not that if you had too you can't borrow a car. There is a fee for the boot, and a fee to remove.
Then you have all these functions you have to go too. You have to pay big bucks and waste a whole night...you can hear about Paralegic Peter playing in the street in the middle of the night with his frisbee when a drunk driver came barrelling down...Para Pete tries to crawl to safety, but that drunk is way to drunk to stop and runs him down.
mother: "whoa, finally someone hit that cash cow, y00h00! steak tonight. whoa he drank too? the lord don't like the bottle, he is a sinner! He killed me boy!:
ok darla here is the frisbee the nice road out there is fun to play on.
it's an institution that should not be in America. It is because it makes them rich.