Drunk Driving

[oliveu2cm]

I didn't know if I should make this a poll or not... I guess for now I'll leave it just for discussion.

What are your thoughts on this subject? I was raised in a very strict household regarding alcohol & went to several MADD camps, etc in high school, so I grew up w/ the notion driving drunk (even if it's below the legal limit) is a bad idea. I've heard and befriended families who have lost children to drunk drivers. One man in FLA actually ran into a bus (his BAC was v. high, I can't remember all the details) killed several young children. And he walked with only a few years to do in prison.

I know different countries have different laws on driving drunk. Do you think your country/state is too strict? too leniant? Do you think that there should be NO tolerance for any alcohol in a person's system if they choose to operate a motor vehicle? Even a little can impair a person's judgement... I wouldn't want to meet someone on the road who'd been drinking.

And where do we draw the line? I have a friend who is getting married soon, and her fiance drinks and drives a lot. I've witnessed it. I haven't drank so I could drive (knowing he would drink & drive) and he would NOT let me drive- he was "fine." But doesn't everyone think they are fine enough to drive?

I'd love to hear other's thoughts & opinions on this subject. Please try & be respectful because I'm sure someone out there on this board has had to deal with a death of a loved one due to these circumstances.

Thanks,
Olive

 

[Angela Harlem]

I feel very strongly about this topic, not because I have lost anyone close, but because of the danger of it. Drunk Driving shows an unbelievable amount of stupidity. Even drinking and driving without being drunk per se.
Our laws are .05 for a full licence holder and I dont agree with it at all. I dont think the rule of 2 standard drinks in the first hour and one every hour after that are ok. I am all for the abolishment of the limit full stop. It should be .00. Zero tolerance. Some people think that this is a silly way to view it and that even a few drinks will not affect their driving. No drinks can affect someone's driving as far as I'm concerned and to add to it in any way is irresponsible. Once I went out for a fairly large night at a big club in my area. At the end of the night I was absolutely rooted. Legless. As a laugh on our way out to the cab, I asked my husband for a dollar coin so I could test my level on the breathaliser the club had in the foyer. It said I was .03. The shock nearly sobered me up. I could barely form a cohesive sentance and yet if I chose to drive, I would not be charged if pulled over?? More importantly I could take someone's life on the roads and the persons family would have no recourse for justice. This is my point on the alcohol limit. .05 is a standard that clearly fails many individuals. Too many factors skew such a limit. I would need to be in hospital getting my stomach pumped with a reading of .05 and if I were the type to not have such strong convictions about the subject, how long would it be before I was a statistic and killed someone or many someones??? It is not right, however you look at it. I am so disappointed that this however is not a view shared by everyone. On the opposite end of the scale to me, is those who only require a couple of drinks to reach the illegal limit. How many people know what their limit is? How many of us test ourselves and know what we're at? As an interesting twist to my point, I am a very short female. Not thin by any means, but not with a large enough frame to be able to take such large quantities of alcohol and still be considered legal - or so I thought. The reason why that night I was so curious is because I wanted to know how high my level was. I really thought it would be through the roof. Everyone knows females have a quicker tendancy to the affects of alcohol and a smaller person especially. I however did not fit it. I could have drunk myself into a stupor reaching the legal limit.
I know a couple of people who drink and drive. As far as I know, one espeically who does it often has no idea what his limit actually is as he has never done a test out of curioosity. He goes by how he feels and sometimes not even that. He is one of my neighbours and we have a regular drinking hole about 500 metres away from our street as the crow flies. He also justifies his drink driving on the fact we live so close and his odds are small. Distance is a poor excuse. Virtually invalid as far as I'm concerned. As long as you are driving and passing others on your way, there is a risk.
So yeah include me in the totally against it side.

If you want to make it a poll, just let us know Olive.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I feel SO STRONGLY about this

In my opinion, you drink, get in a car and drive, you might as well have a loaded weapon in your hands and just run into the street and start firing. The laws are far too lenient.

I think it's one of the most immoral, irresponsible things a human being could ever do. And this is one issue I will never change my opinion about.

 

[oliveu2cm]

What I find difficult is this notion that it's ok to have one drink, and you can still drive (in a couple hours). I've told friend's I'm not going to drink cuz I have to drive, and it's funny(..) how I get repeatedly asked or encouraged to "just have one." and i'm not talking about a sat night, this is just on a tuesday or thursday night you know? and sometimes i just don't want a beer . And I don't have disrespectful friends.. I dunno.

I'm dealing w/ this issue even more today cuz last night I did have a drink w/ dinner and drove a few hours later and my boyfriend was very upset at me. Since i moved i can go out more during the week - but not to the point where I'd take a taxi. So I have to decide for myself where I'm going to draw the line. I'm leaning towards the- don't drink at all, or have a friend drive.

I know these are a list of excuses but it'd kinda help me to get this outta my head. how can i suddenly enforce on my friends not to have a drink w/ dinner if we go out if they are driving? Does this mean I always have to drive? Really drinking is NOT a big part of my life but when these situations arise I'd like to be prepared. Why do people think you can't have fun if you're not drinking?

Thanks Angela & Mrs. Springsteen for your posts. .05 is shocking to me! Mass. has .01 and I thought that was leniant. The thought of someone killing someone I love because they were driving drunk works me up into a fury.. Something I learned at MADD was you don't call drunk driving crashes "accidents". Cuz getting behind the wheel of a car intoxicated isn't an accident.

*edited for spelling

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Some important issues you raise here Olive. I just think it's GREAT that you think about it so much If you choose not to drink, your friends should respect that.

I RARELY drink (I can't remember the last time I did), and, w/ out a doubt, there seem to be many people who can't have a "good time" w/ out it. Just for me, I don't think someone should drive after having any amount of alcohol.

Also, some people have very personal issues surrounding alcohol, and others should try to respect that.

 

[BVS]

I think this is an interesting topic. Obviously even the most ignorant of people think drinking and driving is wrong in theory. But excersizing that logic and knowing how to exercise that logic is something completely different. Alcohol blood level may be the best measurement we have right now, but the results vary from person to person so much that the levels are arbitrary. By the way Angela, those coin operated devices in bars are by no means accurate, I've blown on one before, not having a drink for days(just to see what it would read) and I got a .02.

It's a hard measure. I'm not sure how to regulate. Some can operate an automobile with 2 drinks, some can't operate a vehicle sober. Some can't operate a vehicle on medication. I wouldn't know where to begin, but I don't believe in a zero tolerance. There are just too many factors. What about sleep deprivation, age, etc.

 

[Angela Harlem]

Wow, your state laws are more strict than ours will ever be Olive! I was going to mention this before but forgot. The way our drivers licence system works is, once you turn 16 you can get whats called a Learners, or L's. A year after that, or not before the age of 17 you can get a Provisional licence, or your P's. That means you can drive without a full licence holder with you, on your own basically. The speed limit is less and what do you know! There is a blood alcohol level limit too. .03 is our limit for provisional licence holders. Can you believe that??? These are mainly young kids with little to no driving experience, HENCE the provisional licence system and by our seriously backward laws, they can get behind the wheel with the same BAC I had that night I felt incredibly drunk - and legally drive a motor vehicle. I do not wish to stereotype in any way here, but this is a huge problem. Our legal drinking age is 18. It coincides with when most teens are experiencing the freedom of driving, going to parties as they are now of age and what does all this lead to? A rise in the number of accidents and deaths on the roads due to teens being legally allowed to drive while under the influence.

Your personal approach to the whole thing seems much like mine and my husband's. We made it a rule a long long time ago that we would never combine the 2. Not even one drink. Whoever drives has soft drink. Its as simple as that. Sometimes we will go our with a group of friends and I may be the driver that night. After a while the wheedling starts, "You know you can have at least one. Hell, you can even have one every hour!" I am fully aware of that and am disappointed that our views are not respected. I am 26 and the friends we usually go out with are in their late 20's to early 30's. My husband and I are 2 of the youngest and yet we are the only ones who are steadfast with this. So to see this in my friends who are twice the age of teens who can do this, leaves me with no surprise that the death tolls on my state roads are as dire as they are with teens especially. Responsible driving and drinking needs to be set in a pattern from the start I feel, and the way it is set up here currently, it leaves little room for enforcement of learning responsibility. Kids will drink a bit and drive because they are allowed. They grow into adults who then feel "well now I'm an adult, I can hold my drink and am a more experienced driver - according to the laws too, I am within reason to be doing such a thing".

It saddens me as much as it angers me.

 

[oliveu2cm]

Angela, I am sure once you tell me I'll remember.. but where do you live again? I was under the imperssion MA was one of the highest BAC in the USA.

 

[Angela Harlem]

Hey Olive I live in Aus - Land of the ridiculous BAC laws!

 

[FizzingWhizzbees]

I'm of the opinion that a person shouldn't be allowed to drink any alcohol if they drive. It makes me extremely angry that some people do choose to drive under the influence of alcohol because it's not only their own life they are putting at risk, it's the lives of anyone also travelling by car that night, or even walking along a road that night. Nobody has the right to endanger other people's lives simply because they feel like getting drunk and then driving a car.

 

[oliveu2cm]

i got confused

i'm sorry- MA state law is as follows: If you have taken a breathalyzer and your reading is above .05, you will be charged with OUI. If the reading is between. .05-.07 percent, there is no legal inference of intoxication, one way or the other. A reading of .08 or above however raises an inference of intoxication.

 

[oliveu2cm]

A year after that, or not before the age of 17 you can get a Provisional licence, or your P's. That means you can drive without a full licence holder with you, on your own basically. The speed limit is less and what do you know! There is a blood alcohol level limit too. .03 is our limit for provisional licence holders. Can you believe that???

wow thats a very high BAC for a 17 year old!!!

Since you have to be 21 to drink here, anyone under 21 with ANY alcohol at ALL in their system will be charged. Under 21 = no tolerance.

Our legal drinking age is 18. It coincides with when most teens are experiencing the freedom of driving, going to parties as they are now of age and what does all this lead to?

This is really interesting to me. So many people believe that the way to "cure" America of alcoholism, binge drinking, etc is to lower the drinking age. I can't see how this could ever help things. European countries have just a high rate of alcholism as America. And if you lower the legal drinking age to coincide with the age one can drive.. well......

A rise in the number of accidents and deaths on the roads due to teens being legally allowed to drive while under the influence.

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

interesting that this thread was started today. i received an email last night from a friend informing me that someone that i knew lost her husband due to a drunk driver last weekend on their drive back from Birmingham AL to Atlanta. The wife and the son survived with minor cuts and bruises, but the husband was killed by the driver. The drunk driver crossed the median of the highway and slammed into their car.

i had a friend when i was in high school who was killed by a drunk driver who was also high on cocaine. my poor friend was simply trying to cross the road to go back home and she never made it home.

because of this it forced me to become active in SADD as a student when I was in high school. Today, when i hear about drunk drivers who get behind the wheel and take innocent lives of others on the road it angers me beyond belief.

Receiving that email last night was very upsetting and a chilling reminder how precious life is. It was the most heartbreaking thing i have ever received in my inbox and I dont ever want to see that again!

 

[oliveu2cm]

I'm sorry to hear that MVD.

 

[adamswildhoney]

Drinking and Driving dont go, I think that the government should make a law that says if you drink you cant drive for at least 5hrs or more.

 

[pax]

There's a girl at my school who is now facing months of rehab. after being hit by a drunk driver. Thankfully she pulled through and she's going to be okay, but she was in the hospital for something like three weeks, I think.

My views on the subject? Zero tolerance. If you are driving, you shouldn't be drinking, simple as that. That's why there are cabs and buses and designated drivers.

 

[U2Bama]

It's a hard measure. I'm not sure how to regulate. Some can operate an automobile with 2 drinks, some can't operate a vehicle sober. Some can't operate a vehicle on medication. I wouldn't know where to begin, but I don't believe in a zero tolerance. There are just too many factors. What about sleep deprivation, age, etc.

At the risk of going against the grain of an otherwise unanimous sentiment in this thread, I am going to concur with BonoVoxSuperstar on this. I do not think that "zero tolerance" or not allowing someone to drive if they have had one 12 ounce beer with dinner is a practical or logical solution to the problem of driving under the influence because if you did this, then it would only be fair to apply similar legal force to other possible causes such as sleep deprivation. If some people can not operate machinery properly on less than 8 hours of sleep, then everyone would be required to have 8 hours of sleep before getting behind the wheel, regardless of whether they have consumed alcohol.

I know that this is a very sensitive issue and I will probably be flamed for posting my opinion, but it is only my opinion.

~U2Alabama

 

[Angela Harlem]

I think its unanimous in regard to driving drunk. There is though, the points you Bama, and Bonovox have raised and that is driving after having a few. I guess in reality, if a few dont affect you at all in terms of driving ability, there is nothing wrong with that. The problem lies in knowinf how or if it indeed has affected you. BAC's are a standard that attempt to make a general safe limit for pretty much everyone. But if I am not unique in how alchohol affects me, then I think there's going to be a bigger difference than first realised in pretty much everyone. If there were ever a way to find out what an individual's limit is, then I wouldn't necessarily disagree with responsible drinking (not drunk) and driving. As this doesn't actually exist, save DIY testers in some clubs and pubs, I've just taken the safe option and refused to combine the 2 as they're things I know I cannot accurately measure for myself.

 

[oliveu2cm]

I read in my local paper this past weekend that a man was stopped for drunk driving... and this was the 10th time he has been stopped for drunk driving!! Since 1990! And he's only 31!!!!!

Isn't it time he's thrown in jail???

 

[BVS]

I read in my local paper this past weekend that a man was stopped for drunk driving... and this was the 10th time he has been stopped for drunk driving!! Since 1990! And he's only 31!!!!!

Isn't it time he's thrown in jail???

No, I think it's time for rehab...

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Aaaargh

 

[oliveu2cm]

No, I think it's time for rehab...

You can't force rehab on someone. I dont want this man "falling off the wagon" and getting behind the wheel and out on the road where I travel!

He's broken the law. He's driving drunk, more than once, more than twice... . He needs to be punished.

 

[BVS]

I agree rehab only works on those who want it, but the courts order rehab all the time. But this guy has a serious problem.

What's worse trying to rehabilitate and one falling off the wagon and doing it again, or one spending a few months in jail and getting out and doing it again? Try to fix and fail or time out and fail, I'd rather try to fix, but that's just me.

 

[nbcrusader]

Rehab after the first or second offense. By number ten, this character needs to be taken off the street.

 

[BVS]

Rehab after the first or second offense. By number ten, this character needs to be taken off the street.

Right, but we don't know what actions have been taken up to this point...what kind of jail time should we be looking at? Keep in mind suspending a license won't stop a person from driving either.

 

[BAW]

My feelings on this subject are pretty strong for a number of reasons but the main one being what happened to my family one year ago this month.

Drunk driving caused a chain of events that never in a million years would I have expected to happen to anyone I know. Some of you already know about this because I talked about it when it happened last year.

My son had a close friend named Josh, who last August was doing something too many teenagers do without considering the consequences. He and several other friends were standing outside at 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. drinking beer. A car came speeding by and sideswiped a car near them so Josh jumped in the passenger seat of a friends car and off they went to catch the hit and run driver.

The were about a half mile from home, traveling at a high rate of speed, when they hit some water from the sprinklers in the center divider. They went out of the control and hit a tree...causing Josh to be thrown through the windshield and decapitated. We live in a very small town so when the neighbors ran from their houses after hearing the crash, some of them knew Josh and had to see him in that condition.

Josh was buried on what would have been his 17th birthday...his death all the more tragic because his own parents died when he was 2 years old and he was raised by his grandparents, who were just devastated beyond belief. His grandfather looked like he would crumble at any second.

Seeing a church full of sobbing 17 and 18 year old boys was probably the most heartbreaking thing I've ever witnessed and having to hold up my then 15 year old younger son was almost more than I could bear. He looked up to Josh like an older brother and hard a very, very hard time accepting his death.

So my thoughts on drunk driving? I don't have an answer or any ideas about how to stop it...I only know what its done to my family so the thought of someone getting behind the wheel after drinking makes me sick...I don't know if zero tolerance will do any good because there are variables like weight, sex and age but the laws obviously aren't working right now because this keeps happening again and again.

No charges were filed against the driver of the car Josh was riding in...he only suffered a broken leg. I don't know how much he had to drink that night but I can't help thinking that if Josh had been sober, he might have used better judgement and not jumped a car with someone else who had been drinking....but we'll never know.

Josh Davies
1985 - 2002

 

[bonoman]

I have many opinion on this subject. Alot of them different from yours.

Drinking is like eating, i might be able to eat 5 plates of food and be full but you might have one plate of food and be full. It all depends on the person.

I can drink 4-5 beers and not be phased. I am 6'2 260 and have a very strong metabilism. I also know people my weight, age, height that can have 4-5 beers and be falling down drunk.

The level of BAC in my provience is .08. I think that is an adequete level. If you blow over .05 you get a automatic 24hr suspension.

I am not talking about people that are stunned drunk. I am talking about people that have had a few (2) and are still able to drive. People that drink till they cant stand and drive deserve the punnishment, which i think is to light (more to Come). If you have had 6 beers in two hours you probably have had to much to drink and that goes for anyone. But if I were to have 6 beers over 6 hrs it wouldnt phase me a bit.

Also, i think that any person that knowingly gets into a vehicle with a drunk driver has no right to sue for damages caused by the person they were driving. If they knowingly get into that car then they are accepting the risks.

Punnishment for DD is was to leinent or way to harsh. All depending on the judge. I know a guy that hit a tree and blew .085 and got a suspension for a year and a personal breathalyzer for 4 years. I also know a guy who has had 13 DUI convictions since 1983! He has been to jail three times and says (and i believe him) that he will never drive again. But he could if he wanted to! I am not saying either of these are to harsh or to easy but it seems the justice system is way out of wack!

 

[bonoman]

I have many opinion on this subject. Alot of them different from yours.

Drinking is like eating, i might be able to eat 5 plates of food and be full but you might have one plate of food and be full. It all depends on the person.

I can drink 4-5 beers and not be phased. I am 6'2 260 and have a very strong metabilism. I also know people my weight, age, height that can have 4-5 beers and be falling down drunk.

The level of BAC in my provience is .08. I think that is an adequete level. If you blow over .05 you get a automatic 24hr suspension.

I am not talking about people that are stunned drunk. I am talking about people that have had a few (2) and are still able to drive. People that drink till they cant stand and drive deserve the punnishment, which i think is to light (more to Come). If you have had 6 beers in two hours you probably have had to much to drink and that goes for anyone. But if I were to have 6 beers over 6 hrs it wouldnt phase me a bit.

Also, i think that any person that knowingly gets into a vehicle with a drunk driver has no right to sue for damages caused by the person they were driving. If they knowingly get into that car then they are accepting the risks.

Punnishment for DD is was to leinent or way to harsh. All depending on the judge. I know a guy that hit a tree and blew .085 and got a suspension for a year and a personal breathalyzer for 4 years. I also know a guy who has had 13 DUI convictions since 1983! He has been to jail three times and says (and i believe him) that he will never drive again. But he could if he wanted to! I am not saying either of these are to harsh or to easy but it seems the justice system is way out of wack!

 

[bonoman]

SOrry

 

[bonoman]

oops