Drunk Driving Recidivism
Drunk Driving Recidivism
 |
US $88.83
The # 1 killer or destroyer of human life isn't war, rape, or gun. It's drunk drivers. Why NEWS full of former
More people have been killed by drunk drivers then in all our wars combined. 95% of the alcohol consumed in USA is by only 5% of the population. Do you drink more then 5 drinks per week, your one of the 5%. The reason you might think so is all of your friends drink. Do their children, grandmothers? Nothing is wrong with drinking, only when it is excessive or done in an illegal way, (while driving, or minors). Some think it terrible we are in war and our people are dying, so do I! There have been 3000 plus killed in the total conflict. But almost as many die on our roadways every year because of drunk drivers. When they are caught, we send them to AA, but AA has a 85% failure rate! We send them to jail or prison but their recidivism rate is higher then almost all other crimes. Should we do as some of the Arab nations do and just pull them out of their cars and SHOOT THEM ON THE SPOT? The NEWS wants you to FEAR TERRORIST, GUNS, & SEX OFFENDERS but almost ignore "FEAR THE DRUNK DRIVER.
Yes, drunk driving is serious, but it's not as bad as you make it out to be. You've fallen for the fear tactics of MADD, Fox News, or some other agency that makes money off of scaring you.
Tobacco kills 16 times as many people as ALL types of motor vehicle accidents, whether alcohol was involved or not.
Did you know that if a driver who had one beer and is stopped at a traffic light gets killed by someone slamming into them who was not drinking, that accident gets reported as an "alcohol-related" accident in several states?
Here's one of the best sites I've seen for keeping a proper perspective on drinking and driving:
http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/DrivingIssues/index.html
From one of the articles there entitled "Lower DUI Thresholds More Dangerous?":
"In 1992, the Supreme Court gave its consent to random sobriety checkpoint roadblocks, despite conceding that they are probably a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice William Rehnquist ruled that the threat to highway safety posed by drunk driving justifies suspending our constitutional protection from illegal search and seizure, as well as our Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Drunk driving activists seized on the ruling and moved to employ roadblocks all over the country.
Critics of roadblocks and .08 predicted that (1) the lower standard would actually cause an increase in drunk driving deaths, as scarce law enforcement resources are diverted toward motorists who don't pose a real threat to highway safety and away from the "hardcore" drunks that do; and (2) these roadblocks will be set up under the guise of drunk driving, but will in effect become little more than revenue generators, as police use them to issue citations for any number of less serious infractions.
Both predictions have proven true. From 2000 to 2003, drunk-driving deaths began to inch upward again, after two decades of decline. In March of this year, the National Transportation Safety Board conceded as much in a newsletter, warning that, "Americans are more aware than ever before of the dangers of drinking and driving. Few realize, however, that drunk driving fatalities continue to rise -- and that thousands of them are caused by extreme or repeat offenders known as 'hard core drinking drivers.'"
The release noted that these hardcore offenders produce 40 percent of traffic accidents, but comprise just 33 percent of arrests. If we look at fatalities, the numbers are worse: People with a blood alcohol content (BAC) above .10 account for 77 percent of alcohol-related fatalities (the average drunk driving fatality involves a BAC of .17). In other words, motorists with very high blood alcohol levels account for an increasing percentage of highway fatalities, but a decreasing percentage of arrests. Of course, the federal government still doesn't get it. The top bullet point in the NTSB's press release's action agenda was to install yet more "frequent and statewide sobriety checkpoints."
Last year the number of alcohol-related fatalities went down a bit. But deaths actually increased in states that use roadblocks. The overall drop came almost entirely from the handful of states that don't use roadblocks. Roadblocks are designed to catch motorists who aren't driving erratically enough to be caught by conventional means -- and consequently, aren't as much of a threat. Given that the sites are generally well-publicized, hardcore drinkers know to avoid them.
Roadblocks have also turned into naked money-generators. A study of five Sacramento roadblocks found 22 suspected DUI arrests, but 315 citations and 215 vehicle confiscations for unrelated offenses. A newspaper account of a North Carolina roadblock reported 45 non-DWI offenses and just 3 suspected DWIs. A study of a recent San Diego roadblock found 1,169 stops, 27 citations, 10 vehicles impounded -- and one DUI arrest. Here in D.C., police have been criticized for keeping a database of personal information collected from all motorists stopped at roadblocks -- even those accused of no infraction at all. Many police departments have grown so frustrated with the process that they've given up roadblocks altogether, as well as the federal funding that comes with them."
http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/DrivingIssues/1133834173.html
I do not drink, nor have I had a DUI during my drinking days.