Drunk Driving! Is This the Answer?
@whiteheather39 (24403)
United States
March 1, 2007 6:37am CST
We all know that DUI is a serious problem which takes too many lives. Most DUI deaths and serious injuries are caused by repeat offenders. Do you think this is the answer?
In some South Dakota counties, people repeatedly arrested for drunken driving can continue to drive, but they must report to their local sheriff for breath testing twice a day — every morning and every night.
If they don't show, they're tracked down and thrown in jail. And if they fail the test — if they have been drinking anything at all — they go to jail on the spot.
South Dakota Attorney General Larry Long, who started the experiment, noted that many people arrested for DUI are alcoholics who do it again and again, even after their licenses have been taken away. So the way to attack the problem, he said, is not to prevent them from getting behind the wheel but to stop them from drinking."If they quit drinking, I don't care if they drive," he said.
Lacey Graff, 24, a legal secretary in Sioux Falls, went into the program in August after being arrested a third time for drunken driving, and is serving 90 days behind bars for her last offense.
While awaiting sentencing, she was tested twice a day and failed twice, spending a night behind bars each time. But she said the experience led her to check into rehab."It's a pain in the neck to have to go down there twice a day," she said. But she added: "It may have saved my life, with the path I was going. I'd been continuing on that road for almost two years, being drunk almost every day."Long tried out twice-a-day testing decades ago as a local prosecutor in a rural county and liked the results."These are people who have chronic alcoholism problems. We're keeping them sober," he said."It is effective. It does work," Leidholt said. "If they blow a hot test, they're immediately taken to jail."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070228/ap_on_re_us/testing_drunks
Photo Drunk Driving
8 people like this
19 responses
@addysmum (1225)
• Canada
1 Mar 07
The amount of man hours used in that must by huge. Not to mention the time out of the convicted persons day could cost them their job leaving them more likely to re-offend due to depression and such. In Canada the RCMP have to few people to support that kind of system. I would be interested in seeing if it works though, anything to stop drunk drivers. My father was hit and nearly killed by a drunk driver while dad was riding his motorcycle. The driver and his passenger got out of the truck and ran off. When the RCMP finally caught them they wouldn't say who was driving so nobody was charged.
3 people like this
@BlackBay (584)
• Canada
1 Mar 07
I don't think this would work for long and I think it is very time consuming for law enforcement to be waiting for these people to show up twice aday for a breathalyser. In this day and age there is no excuse for driving Drunk, everyone knows if you've been drinking Don't get in your car and Drive, they can take cabs, buses, have a DD, so whats their excuse for driving? The laws should be tougher on those who drink and drive, too many people have lost there lives because some jerk thought he/she was sober enough to drive.
A family friend lost his wife 3 christmas back when she went to town in the late afternoon to pick up a few extras for their 4yr. old daughter for Christmas when she was hit head on in a straight stretch of highway by a Drunk Native man. She was killed instantly. This man got 18mths for his crime and only served 6 mths. and is out Drinking and Driving again, plus the husband cannot sue him because he is Native.Husband and daughter lost the most important person in their lives and what consoleing do they get....NOTHING! This guy should be spending the rest of his life in Prison.
3 people like this
@classy56 (2880)
• United States
1 Mar 07
this is a good ideal,but it would be hard for someone who worked an had to be at work 4am in the morning.they would have to get up early just to get tested an to drive to the testing site.wow,that would be a pain in the butt an plus go there at night also.an the long lines a person would have to stand in waiting to be tested.if there is that many drunks out there.they didnt say how long you had to do this..but i dont think this will stop dinking an driveing.there are still alot of drunks who hasnt got caught yet.an everyday there is a new drunk to replace the the ones that are in jail.
@mari61960 (4893)
• United States
2 Mar 07
I don't know if it's the answer but it sounds like it might help to me. It would be easy to take the test and go drink and then be okay by the time you had to test again though wouldn't it? Well what we have right now isn't working that's for sure.
@aryan8pm (3)
• India
2 Mar 07
drunk driving is an another hidden war for many countries and both sides have our people the suffring people and the catching people,but if we control this situation in the due time so we can think that we had won a war and very big war where there is all hidden enemy.
2 people like this
@weemam (13372)
•
2 Mar 07
That is a brilliant idea , I for one am against ANY drink and then drive , Its not only themselves they have to worry about , they could kill someone , If I saw someone come out of a bar and they looked like they had been drinking I would report them , I am a quiet person normally and never stick my nose in , but this is one thing hat really gets to me , we see it happen time and time again xx
1 person likes this
@magikrose (5429)
• United States
1 Mar 07
Sounds intresting. It is a diffrent way to handle it and honestly it sounds like a royal pain to have to show up twice every day. It will definately make every one think twice about taking that drink before getting in there cars.
2 people like this
@finlander60 (1804)
• United States
1 Mar 07
South Dakota, hmmmmmmmmmm. Sounds to me as if they have got their sh** together. I like this approach. However, it doesn't go nearly as far as, say, the country of El Salvador. In El Salvador if you get caught drunk driving just once, you will not do it again. Your first offense is your last- you are shot by firing squad. What do you think of that? If you get caught drunk driving in Malaysia You are jailed, and if you are married, your spouse is jailed, too. Any responses to these kinds of treatments of drunk drivers? I don't think they are likely to have a very big problem with drunk driving with these kind of programs, do you?
2 people like this
@KrisNY (7590)
• United States
1 Mar 07
Personally I think that when you're caught drinking and driving you should be thrown in jail-- If you are over the legal limit. It's not just your life you are risking when you get behind the wheel-- but everyone else's out there at that time. Which offense? I don't know --
I think anything they do to try to stop DUI is positive - a step in the right direction! Hopefully people would get so sick of reporting twice a day- There are some places that actually have something in their phone-- and when the phone rings and it's the police or probation they have to blow into it. It tells if they have been drinking. Also what about cars that before you can start them up you have to blow into something and it doesn't start until you're sober.. I see alot of ways of getting around these types of tests.. But they are all a step in the right direction!
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
2 Mar 07
i think that it is a good idea, maybe the inconvience will make them think twice before they drink and drive. I have a friend who lost her mother because a drunk driver hit her car. he never got a scratch on him but both women in the car taht he hit were killed. It is sad.
2 people like this
@nairjula (453)
• India
2 Mar 07
Drunken driving is one of the most serious crime people commit. It could naturally lead to fatal accidents. By these accidents, its not only the drivers affected but ever the poor pedestrians some time. In many countries, drunken drivning is prohibited. But still it is going on. If the penalty imposed is not severe enough, i would continue to be diffucult to curb.
2 people like this
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
2 Mar 07
It sounds to me like a waste of police resources. You'd have to have officers whose sole job it was to deal with drunk drivers making sure they check in. I prefer that they just take their licenses away and jail them if they continue to drive without a license.
2 people like this
@margieanneart (26423)
• United States
1 Mar 07
I am not sure what really can be done to prevent this, as long as people are alcholics and so selfish, that they don't care and drive while drinking.So, when caught the first time, a fine and warning. To be caught a second time, off to jail for 5 years. There they can get unhooked from booze. When they come out and do it again, back to jail, and stay there. Harsh, but they will end up killing someone, and then what?
1 person likes this
@tad1fan (3367)
• Canada
2 Mar 07
I don't agree with this at all....what if after being caught 3-4 times they go out and kill someone,or worse,a whole family?This is stupid if you ask me.....here where I am we just had a trial finish where a man killed a mom and dad,leaving their 9 year old parentless.....he has lost his license,for life.....4th conviction and is doing 36 months in jail.....I know the time spent doesn't seem like a lot but it's better than having him back on the road....I can understand what the government is saying about whether they take their license or not they will still drive,they do it here all the time......but when this man is released,he will be on house arrest for another 12 months and his home will be checked regularly to make sure he has no access to a vehicle......I don't think having to check in,day and night will work....the bars around here don't close till 4 in the morning,I'm sure they don't close early there either.....
1 person likes this
@haissam (93)
• Pakistan
1 Mar 07
This is very serious issue all around the glob and is like street crime. I explain that street criminal commit crime by robing any one and some time they injuer or kill any one without any reason Similarly people who drive while they drink are more likly to injur some one or even kill some one and this is will fully may i say. So this offence must b treated as a serious crime
1 person likes this
