Somebody once asked ol\’ Teddy how he would vote on a bill granting statehood to D.C. and P.R. and he said, \”I dunno, I will er uh, drive off of that er bridge when I uh come to it.\”
I am continually amazed when I observe someone have a couple of beers/drinks at a party and then get ready to drive themselves home. When asked who their designated driver is, the reply invariably is \’I only had a couple\’. The research is clear, 1 drink impairs judgment, just 1. \’I can handle it\’ statements do not change body chemistry, nor do they enhance the rate of alcohol breakdown within the body. The \’I-can-handle-its\’ are people of average intelligence. And, they are also potential murderers once behind the wheel.
I believe more deaths are caused by non-\’drunk\’ drivers. So are we not all potential murderers??? Please take a break, relax enjoy life and stop beating everyone else up. Non-drinkers, much like non-smokers, think the sky is falling. Careful a piece of the sky just missed me. You know what…I hardly ever have drinks…but I wont beat everyone else up either. SILLINESS
Right on, Mark. There is drunk (2.0 plus alch level) and there is 1.0-1.6, being relaxed and sober enough to drive (better than driving while tired) and the law now treats these the same. Will driving while being tired, or having kids in the back of the car distracting you, or talking to someone in the car while driving or driving while listening to the radio be illegal soon too?
Here in MD, the well-intentioned prohibitionists have managed to get our DUI threshold down to .08 (BAC). As if that weren\’t bad enough, there is still no public recognition that BAC has next to nothing to do with intoxication/level of impairment. BAC will continue to rise for hours as alcohol is metabolized while actual impairment begins to drop very soon after you stop drinking.
Lest I be criticized, IMHO, people who drink too much, get behind the wheel, and kill people, should be treated like the murderers they are, but we also need common sense enforcement.
I agree. All the hulabaloo about dropping the BAC limits to .08 have entirely killed Corporate Christmas parties. We used to have free drinks all night. Now we get two tickets each for drinks for a 6 hour party.
My 80 year-old 75 pound grandmother could drink more than that in 6 hours and still be sober.
If the crux of the matter is impaired judgement and reflexes, then THAT should be the criteria upon which people are judged competant or incompetant with respect to operating heavy machinery (including cars, boats, motorcycles, jackhammers, chainsaws, nuclear power plants, etc.)
The state should determine a safe \”reaction speed\” score. If you cannot pass the test (whether its from drinking, drugging, cold medicine, lack of sleep, listening to \”easy listening\” radio, or uncoordiation) you should be taken off the road.
As anyone in insurance knows, using the correct exposure base makes a difference on getting the expected results.
A friend of mine was recently rear-ended by an 83 year old, completely sober, driver. I would be willing to bet his reflexes are slower than many so called \’drunk\’ drivers. (BAC\’s under .1)
It would be better to test reflex times before issuing or renewing licenses, as well as after an accident-that may be the result of drinking and driving.
Otherwise, just make any trace of BAC an automatic DUI. (I know this is ridiculous, that is my point) It would be just as relevant as changing BAC from .10 to .08 or whatever number someone decides affects reflexes.
I find it very interesting that the judgment of society is so bipolar when it comes to blame and justice. The courts seem to go out of their way to provide a defense to many doers of violent crimes blaming “Temporary Insanity” as the causation thus eliminating or moderating the responsibility this seems to be appropriate when a mother drowns her own children. When it comes to drinking and driving, the bar keeps rising to the point of holding everyone to the same arbitrary standards of .08, which may or may not have any impact on impairment on an individual bases or the cause of an accident for that matter. While it makes everyone feel good to set these strict standards, in realty is dose little to improve the judgment of the alcoholic or dependent drinkers that seem to not have a choice whether they take the next drink or not. When will the will meaning lawmakers realize that drunken people make poor decisions as a whole and to slap around the Alcoholic (Alcoholism which is classified as a disease) because their symptoms have been manifested on the sober. Let’s be sure give the police for greater control over society like roadblocks on main highways that have been reported to have had success rates of 6 to 10 arrests for every 1000 people delayed and searched, also not productive in the cure of the dieses. Taking away driving privileges and fining the drunk so they get fired or give someone that needs to be working to build their life an excuse to go on welfare or some State support is also a futile method to keep people sober. Sending a drunk to jail for poor decision or an event not remembered that may have resulted in a horrible accident is some how rewarding to the part of society that wants a measure of flesh, it has little or no impact when it comes to preventing drunk driving. We as a society are often so wrapped up in finding ways to punish the wrong doer (I think we must feel Godlike sending people to Jail or in the Christian model to Hell) we forget to address the cause of the behavior, or spend any effort to cure the disease. If in fact the drinking and driving is the cause of all of these fatalities and devastating to society, perhaps we should make a law requiring manufactures to put the breathalyzer in all of vehicles as standard equipment.. While we are at it lets outlaw drinking and for that matter smoking in America. Apparently laws are written as a reaction to outrage. it is outrageous and difficult to see a multiple fatality and when we discover presence of alcohol of over .08 that must have been the cause of the event, with or without an investigation, that drunk is going to jail, or that sinner is going to hell. The billions spent each year punishing people for drinking and drugging has do nothing to prevent or moderate the behaviors, lets get serious about prevention and curing disease. It is interesting that when an Alcoholic’s behaviors destroy a marriage and family, in the courts eyes, the Alcoholic is a victim of disease and there is no defense for the so called innocent partner in marriage when it comes to paying maintenance alimony or property settlement. If the Alcoholic is caught driving under the influence or involved in an accident, they are charged with homicide and sent to jail; conviction is easy when outrage is involved. Next week let’s discuss how many children drown in family swimming pools, V/S handgun accidents in the home whops no outrage with the swimming pool death, just an accident (waiting to happen, perhaps 100 times more often than an accidental shooting).
Don\’t you just love the idea about putting drunk drivers heads under the tires?
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Somebody once asked ol\’ Teddy how he would vote on a bill granting statehood to D.C. and P.R. and he said, \”I dunno, I will er uh, drive off of that er bridge when I uh come to it.\”
I am continually amazed when I observe someone have a couple of beers/drinks at a party and then get ready to drive themselves home. When asked who their designated driver is, the reply invariably is \’I only had a couple\’. The research is clear, 1 drink impairs judgment, just 1. \’I can handle it\’ statements do not change body chemistry, nor do they enhance the rate of alcohol breakdown within the body. The \’I-can-handle-its\’ are people of average intelligence. And, they are also potential murderers once behind the wheel.
I believe more deaths are caused by non-\’drunk\’ drivers. So are we not all potential murderers??? Please take a break, relax enjoy life and stop beating everyone else up. Non-drinkers, much like non-smokers, think the sky is falling. Careful a piece of the sky just missed me. You know what…I hardly ever have drinks…but I wont beat everyone else up either. SILLINESS
Right on, Mark. There is drunk (2.0 plus alch level) and there is 1.0-1.6, being relaxed and sober enough to drive (better than driving while tired) and the law now treats these the same. Will driving while being tired, or having kids in the back of the car distracting you, or talking to someone in the car while driving or driving while listening to the radio be illegal soon too?
Here in MD, the well-intentioned prohibitionists have managed to get our DUI threshold down to .08 (BAC). As if that weren\’t bad enough, there is still no public recognition that BAC has next to nothing to do with intoxication/level of impairment. BAC will continue to rise for hours as alcohol is metabolized while actual impairment begins to drop very soon after you stop drinking.
Lest I be criticized, IMHO, people who drink too much, get behind the wheel, and kill people, should be treated like the murderers they are, but we also need common sense enforcement.
I agree. All the hulabaloo about dropping the BAC limits to .08 have entirely killed Corporate Christmas parties. We used to have free drinks all night. Now we get two tickets each for drinks for a 6 hour party.
My 80 year-old 75 pound grandmother could drink more than that in 6 hours and still be sober.
If the crux of the matter is impaired judgement and reflexes, then THAT should be the criteria upon which people are judged competant or incompetant with respect to operating heavy machinery (including cars, boats, motorcycles, jackhammers, chainsaws, nuclear power plants, etc.)
The state should determine a safe \”reaction speed\” score. If you cannot pass the test (whether its from drinking, drugging, cold medicine, lack of sleep, listening to \”easy listening\” radio, or uncoordiation) you should be taken off the road.
As anyone in insurance knows, using the correct exposure base makes a difference on getting the expected results.
Wow. You get free drinks? I\’m jealous…
A friend of mine was recently rear-ended by an 83 year old, completely sober, driver. I would be willing to bet his reflexes are slower than many so called \’drunk\’ drivers. (BAC\’s under .1)
It would be better to test reflex times before issuing or renewing licenses, as well as after an accident-that may be the result of drinking and driving.
Otherwise, just make any trace of BAC an automatic DUI. (I know this is ridiculous, that is my point) It would be just as relevant as changing BAC from .10 to .08 or whatever number someone decides affects reflexes.
I find it very interesting that the judgment of society is so bipolar when it comes to blame and justice. The courts seem to go out of their way to provide a defense to many doers of violent crimes blaming “Temporary Insanity” as the causation thus eliminating or moderating the responsibility this seems to be appropriate when a mother drowns her own children. When it comes to drinking and driving, the bar keeps rising to the point of holding everyone to the same arbitrary standards of .08, which may or may not have any impact on impairment on an individual bases or the cause of an accident for that matter. While it makes everyone feel good to set these strict standards, in realty is dose little to improve the judgment of the alcoholic or dependent drinkers that seem to not have a choice whether they take the next drink or not. When will the will meaning lawmakers realize that drunken people make poor decisions as a whole and to slap around the Alcoholic (Alcoholism which is classified as a disease) because their symptoms have been manifested on the sober. Let’s be sure give the police for greater control over society like roadblocks on main highways that have been reported to have had success rates of 6 to 10 arrests for every 1000 people delayed and searched, also not productive in the cure of the dieses. Taking away driving privileges and fining the drunk so they get fired or give someone that needs to be working to build their life an excuse to go on welfare or some State support is also a futile method to keep people sober. Sending a drunk to jail for poor decision or an event not remembered that may have resulted in a horrible accident is some how rewarding to the part of society that wants a measure of flesh, it has little or no impact when it comes to preventing drunk driving. We as a society are often so wrapped up in finding ways to punish the wrong doer (I think we must feel Godlike sending people to Jail or in the Christian model to Hell) we forget to address the cause of the behavior, or spend any effort to cure the disease. If in fact the drinking and driving is the cause of all of these fatalities and devastating to society, perhaps we should make a law requiring manufactures to put the breathalyzer in all of vehicles as standard equipment.. While we are at it lets outlaw drinking and for that matter smoking in America. Apparently laws are written as a reaction to outrage. it is outrageous and difficult to see a multiple fatality and when we discover presence of alcohol of over .08 that must have been the cause of the event, with or without an investigation, that drunk is going to jail, or that sinner is going to hell. The billions spent each year punishing people for drinking and drugging has do nothing to prevent or moderate the behaviors, lets get serious about prevention and curing disease. It is interesting that when an Alcoholic’s behaviors destroy a marriage and family, in the courts eyes, the Alcoholic is a victim of disease and there is no defense for the so called innocent partner in marriage when it comes to paying maintenance alimony or property settlement. If the Alcoholic is caught driving under the influence or involved in an accident, they are charged with homicide and sent to jail; conviction is easy when outrage is involved. Next week let’s discuss how many children drown in family swimming pools, V/S handgun accidents in the home whops no outrage with the swimming pool death, just an accident (waiting to happen, perhaps 100 times more often than an accidental shooting).
Don\’t you just love the idea about putting drunk drivers heads under the tires?