Tuesday, January 1, 2008
I'm as MADD as Hell.....
Happy New Year!!! Seems like a very good time to talk about something that really should be a thing of the past... drunk driving. Without a doubt, there were many, many traffic fatalities and serious injuries last night and this morning. Far more than should be tolerated by the citizens of this country. According to the MADD website http://www.madd.org/ there were almost 14,000 people killed in 2006 in crashes involving drunk drivers. According to them also, there is a device called an "ignition interlock" which would go a long way towards reducing this number. Sounds like a no-brainer to me. Personally, I feel that anyone caught driving drunk should have their license suspended for two years and an ignition interlock be installed on all cars they own, at offender's expense, AND a 25% or so increase in the offender's auto insurance. Half of this increase would go to the state in which the offender lives, earmarked for some fund related to either the cost of dealing with DUI offenders or to a relief fund for victims of them. The other half goes to the insurance company (the specific percentage would be determined by law). If they do it again after their license has been reinstated, then suspend it for five years. If it happens a third time, license revoked permanently. If they are involved in an accident while drunk, suspend for five years with the other penalties. Ten years for second offense. If there is a fatality accident, the offender should have their license permanently revoked the first time with no exceptions and if they are caught driving after their license has been revoked, mandatory prison time. Sounds harsh maybe... too bad. Driving is a privledge and until we get the drunk drivers off the road, we are literally taking our lives in our hands. Now, what can we do about stupid drivers????
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3 comments:
i like your topic for this first day of the new year! GREAT subject and i agree about tightening up on the laws for drunk drivers. looking forward to your blog daily! :D
Penalties are certainly necessary, but a closer look needs to be paid to the reasons why there are so many drunk drivers, especially at young ages. Sure, penalties are excellent reinforcements, but I think we need to fix the problem at the source (or at least try). My sister lost a friend a couple years back to drunk driving. He was 22 years old. He was drinking and driving and basically killed himself. He was a great kid though. Over 1,000 people showed for his funeral as a testament to that. I wonder if he'd be alive today if he'd been more educated or if his friends were more insistent that he not drive. It's always such a crying shame when stuff like this happens. But it's sheer stupidity when something is so preventable. Grr. Makes my blood boil!
People will always do what they will and the penalties be damned. I think that the key is to make it as difficult as possible to get away with it.
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