M.A.D.D. seeks tighter drunk driving laws

Here in the United States of America we have a small piece of paper that is called the
CONSTITUTION

Amendment 5 - Trial and Punishment, Compensation for Takings. Ratified 12/15/1791.
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment 8 - Cruel and Unusual Punishment. Ratified 12/15/1791.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

I do NOT excuss drunk driving BUT I will NOT stand by and allow the CONSTITUTION to be eroded.

 

I couldn't care less what the constitution says. You go face the people you kill when you drive drunk.

I didn't say put the people in jail who are legal when they're driving but why do it at all? Why drink and drive, PERIOD? Just DON'T DO IT.

Every one of you who thinks it's okay to drink then drive have very narrow tunnel vision and are much more caught up in "it's my right" than realizing that what you are doing is wrong.

It's a waste of time, Lady and notarps - they just do not care. They're teenaged minds in adult bodies. They don't get it. They can't see the big picture. All they care about is "it's my RIGHT". Heck with the rest of the world.

Pathetic.

 

I think it's okay to drink a couple of beers and drive. If you'll be so kind to make note that in the previous sentance, I wrote that I think it's okay to drink a couple of beers and drive. Also, please note that I did not say, state, or imply that I think it's okay to pound a fifth of whiskey and drive. Also, please understand that nobody here has posted that they approve or condone driving legaly drunk. Also, please note that not one person in this thread has posted they have a "right" to drink and drive drunk. Not one person.

It's nice to interject emotion, ie DEAD PEOPLE, when trying to argue against the guy who stops after work for 2 beers and drives home, I know. That is how we as a country have come to the point of criminalizing EVERYBODY and EVERYTHING.

You'll get no arguement outta me about how bad it is for a drunk to have unfortunately killed other drivers on our highways, trust me. If you've lost a family member or a freind, I'm sorry. But dont blame the guy who stops at the tavern for 2 beers and drives home. He is not the killer you so seem to hate.

Not trying to get into a pissing match with ya. I can respect your view, even though I disagree somewhat. Just interjecting some middle ground reasonable common sense.

Lastly, I DEEPLY CARE ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION. Or what is left of it anymore.

 

Peterbuilt, for you, it probably is okay for you to drink one or two beer and drive. The reason I say it's NOT okay is anyone who's very tiny (like a LOT of teens are when they're young), can't drink even ONE beer or drink without having it affect them.

If you only weigh 100 pounds, you cannot drink one entire beer with NO side effects.

Those are the ones who CANNOT have even ONE beer or drink without driving.

Because so many teens are stupid, stubborn, anti-parents, anti-authority, etc., (I have two, know all about it! LOL), it's THEM I'm talking to (and the idiotic stubborn dolts who just never learn their limits).

Sometimes it IS the guy who stopped at the tavern for two beer on the way home. VERY rare but it does happen. His reaction time is a bit slow, someone did something stupid and if he'd NOT drank AT ALL, he MIGHT have reacted faster blah blah blah blah.

If you know your limits and weight/height, checked to see what your level would be after one beer and it's 0.01, go for it.

Also, if you never drink any amount, your tolerance is MUCH lower. I know people who rarely touch the stuff, one good beer or drink on an empty tummy and they're zonked!

So it's all about common sense which, unfortunately, an AWFUL lot of drinkers don't seem to have.

I know many who do - my dad, my ex, my b/f - they're all fine, would never drink if they ever were even concerned they MIGHT be over the limit.

But I know an awful lot of people who drink anyway and say "I'm fine" and stagger out to their car and off they go. Unfortunately, the laws have to be made for THEM so, yes, the innocent people with common sense suffer - but what else is new? Sigh...

 

I can tell from your posts that you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Maybe when you grow up a little you will understand and see the light. I spent 8 years as a paramedic, 17 years as a cop. 4 years of that were spent on DWI Task Force. You can cloud your mind with the revenue crap all you want, but I have seen differently in the street. I know what I'm talking about. You are presuming, and evidently in a fantasy land about drunk drivers. I can tell you haven't been out there enough to make a decision about this. Many of those "Wash Women" in MADD as you so rudely refer to, have lost children, spouses, parents, etc. But then I guess you being such an expert an all, we should listen to you insult MADD, and tell us how harmless Drunk Driving is and how arrests are strictly for "revenue". Uuuuhh! Yeah! Until you see a 4 year old girl with blonde hair and blue eyes hanging half in and half out of a windshield with no life left in her, her mother decappetated, and a scum bag drunk, cussing at the police an paramedics for not bandaging the minor cut on his hand, you wouldn't understand. Oh yeah, I forgot, it was on Christmas eve. I still see it in my sleep some nights. I've seen enough drunks behind the wheel kill enough people to last most people 10 lifetimes. You ain't tellin' me a #### thing about drunk drivers, Pal!

 

I have to agree. I have towed these fools cars enough to see the death and destruction they have caused. One of these drunks hit and killed a wrecker driver working an accident several years ago. When he was stopped the cop asked him if he knew that he just hit and killed a guy. The guy said who cares?

 

Good thing your in Canada, judging by the response to this thread~ US of A will be as socialistic as yall are.
I DO GET IT. I dont drink and drive and I do NOT condone it.

SO if we give in to this part of the Constitution why not scrap the whole thing? Hail give all rights up and let Big Government take care of all our lives?

I have sat with a grieving mother who could NOT id her daughter and they had use dental records. I see her 10 years later hating the driver who killed her daughter. He lost his DL on the spot then went to jail for 5 years, had to wait another 5 years to get his DL back. He has lost his whole life. He has asked her to forgive him many times a year, she says if she does her daughter will be lost forever. All she has is the HATE ~ all because he had one drink so it was called a drunk driving what caused the wreck was another car ran him into the lane her daughter was in. OH by the way her daughter was speeding. BUT its all HIS fault.

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

 

This is the reason why there is such a casual, who cares attitude about Drunk Driving. Now, I know the law here where I live and it runs along the same lines as Texas. One drink doesn't get anyone a DWI, unless it was in a gallon bucket. I've heard the drunks, say I only had one drink or two beers or whatever. Blood alcohol level doesn't work that way. You can arrest someone for DWI because you "smell" alcohol on them. His blood alcohol level would have had to have been within the legal range, and being that he killed someone, he would be forced to take the blood test, and the court would have to prove that he was "impaired" while behind the wheel.

I've also heard the drunks say, somebody forced me off of the road, etc. That someone was usually Jack Daniels. Sometimes drunk trees walk right out in front of them. etc. The only thing I can tell you is, he would have had to been "impaired", read that "intoxicated", which dosen't mean falling down drunk; it just means he was not in full control and alcohol "impaired". Another thing to keep in mind, is that statistics show the average person who gets a DWI, has driven drunk at least 10-15 times, but only gets caught once. My guess is this wasn't his first and only rodeo.

Now as for the 5 years in jail and losing his license for 5 years. I ask you, if the tables were turned and you lost a child, would that be enough? How do you grieve for your dead child? How many children have you lost? Yet you blame her for "hating". Grief works in strange ways with mothers and fathers, and I'm sure she'll have a hard time ever letting go. That's how Mom's are. As to how "he's lost his whole life" as you say, made me gasp for air when I read it. This guy got behind the wheel while intoxicated, evidently caused or created and accident that killed a young girl, and destroyed the love of a Mothers life, and you sit there whinning about how he lost his whole life after spending 5 years in the clink, and no drivers license for 5 years. Please let me get my hanky, while I shed tears of sadness for him and play my sad violin music. I think there was a victim here, but it surely wasn't him.

Last but not least. There has to be a trial to find you guilty. You can't be shoved into prison for 5 years, unless you were PROVEN GUILTY. Also, driving in your state, as in mine, is a PRIVILEGE, not a RIGHT. If you screw up bad enough, that privilege can be revoked. When you sign for your drivers license, you sign an agreement that says, if you are stopped by a law officer, who has probable cause to believe you are intoxicated, you SHALL BE REQUIRED to take a breath or blood test. Refusal to do so, violates this agreement, and the STATE revokes your license. NOT THE COURT. The court doesn't suspend the license as punishment. The state suspends it for you violating your agreement and privilege.

I still can't understand all of this backward-### thinking here, concerning drunks behind the wheel. Evidently some folks just don't get out that much.

 

Never mind. Can't reason when people won't listen to common sense.

 

I have lost one...how many have you lost? I KNOW what the police report said about him being run off the road and his breathalyser did not register they did a blood test and it came back as well under the limit and it was 45 mins after the wreck. Standard practice in NC is to do a blood test of all involved in a fatal wreck.
I know all too well what grief does to a MOTHER. I also KNOW you have to get past the anger and move on to acceptance.

When they label you a Drunk Driver 99% of the Jurys will convict. NO Matter the evidence.

You better check your sources again because the Court CAN and DOES suspend as punishment.
I wasnt whinning about him losing his life I was stating a fact. He WAS NOT legelly DRUNK. I also know had her daughter NOT been speeding she could have avoided the accident that is according to the investigator with the police. It was a very costly accident many people were hurt in the aftermath.
As for common sense I have quite a bit. I also can separate emotion and see the facts.
You have already judged and convicted him and you do NOT know all the evidence hmmmmm