[QUOTE=EJsGirl]
No, it’s actually serious. When I was a serial drunk driver, I always had insurance.
[/QUOTE]
Maybe not.
I was taken completely by surprise back in 1981, in British Columbia, to find out that my insurance was null and void with respect to an auto accident where it was determined that my bac was 0.10.
[QUOTE=EJsGirl]
Hee hee hee… 
No, it’s actually serious. When I was a serial drunk driver, I always had insurance.
I was only caught once, and that DUI raised my rates but did not preclude me from having insurance.
And just for anecdotal “holy crap”- my conservative estimate is that I drove drunk about 1000 times and was only caught once.
I am not proud of it- just honest about it.
[/QUOTE]
I imagine, though I don’t know for a fact, that if you gad 4 or 5 or even more DUI convictions, that auto insurance would be either totally unavailable or simply unaffordable.
But you’re right. If you don’t ge stopped, by cop or a bridge abutment, you can drive drunk for only the cost of the drinks and gas.
Consider yourselves lucky you’re not in Australia, where the BAC is .05 for people with an open licence, and ZERO for bus drivers, taxi drivers, and people on learners/probationary licences (as it should be).
The simplest rule is this: Don’t get behind the wheel of a car if you’ve had anything to drink. The ads here constantly stress that. Going to a party? Get a taxi, or find someone to be the Designated Driver. Going to the pub? Same thing.
Having a few drinks at home? Then don’t get any ideas about driving down to the supermarket or fast food emporium for late-night snacks.
I’m not surprised the Road Toll in the US is so high, with a .08 BAC limit… :eek:
All this sounds good,but alcoholics apparently can’t control it. There is no easy answer. We could fill the jails if we really tried and then refill them the next month. The cost would be prohibitive and lives ruined. It would still not solve the problem. Drug users need help and education. That only works for a small portion of them. I wish I had a nice easy answer. Other than prohibition.the only one that would work.
[QUOTE=gonzomax]
All this sounds good,but alcoholics apparently can’t control it. There is no easy answer. We could fill the jails if we really tried and then refill them the next month. The cost would be prohibitive and lives ruined. It would still not solve the problem. Drug users need help and education. That only works for a small portion of them. I wish I had a nice easy answer. Other than prohibition.the only one that would work.
[/QUOTE]
Jailing them seems to work here- people (alcoholic or otherwise) VERY quickly get the message that drinking and driving will have negative consequences, and thus really, really, really isn’t worth it.
It doesn’t have to be a long sentence- 30 days or so- but eventually the message gets through.
And let’s fact it- if it works here in Australia, a land besotted with alcohol in its various incarnations- it can work in the US. 
[QUOTE=Martini Enfield]
And let’s fact it- if it works here in Australia, a land besotted with alcohol in its various incarnations- it can work in the US.
[/QUOTE]
I wouldn’t put money on it. Folks like the one referenced in the OP have had jail sentences already. At some point, it should become a prison sentence - a long one.
I sort of agree with gonzomax that they can’t help themselves, but neither could Typhoid Mary. When they have repeatedly demonstrated that they are a danger to society, the only answer is to remove them from society.
I’m not, as I’ve made clear above, talking about the people that go home once a year or so slightly lit from a party; I’m talking about the people who drive while they are hammered, and do so constantly, and will not or can not change that.
I met a guy who had 7 dui s . He had money and got a high power lawyer. He served no time ,he paid fines and when they gave him community service ,he got out of it by atty claiming he had a bad back. You could not get this trteatment. This was several years ago.
[QUOTE=Martini Enfield]
Consider yourselves lucky you’re not in Australia, where the BAC is .05 for people with an open licence, and ZERO for bus drivers, taxi drivers, and people on learners/probationary licences (as it should be).
The simplest rule is this: Don’t get behind the wheel of a car if you’ve had anything to drink. The ads here constantly stress that. Going to a party? Get a taxi, or find someone to be the Designated Driver. Going to the pub? Same thing.
Having a few drinks at home? Then don’t get any ideas about driving down to the supermarket or fast food emporium for late-night snacks.
I’m not surprised the Road Toll in the US is so high, with a .08 BAC limit… :eek:
[/QUOTE]
This is also what they do in Sweden and a few other places. It removes a lot of the “but I only had two glasses of wine, and that was with a meal, several hours ago” nonsense where people think they are sober but are actually at .09 or whatever. Apparently, in Sweden the big thing now is spot checks in the morning to catch people who are still drunk from the night before…
Personally, I think a forehead tatto reading “Drunk Driver: Don’t serve alcohol” would do the trick.
[QUOTE=The Flying Dutchman]
Well, yes go ahead and bash the drunk
Go ahead and bash the state, but remember that the state are really the people in a democracy.
If you sincerely want to prevent alcohol related mayhem on the streets, you have no choice but to want prohibition. Over the past 20 years I’ve seen a major war against drinking and driving compared to previously, yet I’ve seen no evidence of positive results. Too many of us want the right to imbibe. Too many of us can’t handle it.
Everytime someone puts forth a proposal for a drinking establishment in a municipality, they have to provide for parking spaces. Think about that.
[/QUOTE]
Hell, the first time I saw a drive through liquor store I thought to myself “Thats an accident waiting to happen!”. When I was younger in the 80’s we used to get tanked and hop in a car and go the latest party. I’m only grateful that I outgrew such idiotic behaviour and that I didn’t kill myself or someone else while doing it.