Should drunk driving penalties be increased?

[Archae]

Not to the point like this one country, (forgot which one,) where 1rst time drunk drivers are executed.

But I was watching ABC news earlier, and they had a segment about a guy who was able to get a 3rd-time DUI who really was plowed, behind the wheel of a white Mustang off the road and in jail.

Here in Wisconsin, a 1rst-time DUI is still just a traffic offense.

Every time here in WI the laws are proposed to be toughened, the Tavern League tries (and nearly always succeeds) to block them.

[Proud liberal 80]

1. Yes

So should texting while driving which is just as dangerous, if not more

[Not Ruth]

2. I would be good with a loss of license for 10 years for the first offense

[nini]

3. YES

There is absolutely NO excuse for driving drunk, especially now with things like Uber and Lyft etc..

I was hit head on over 30 years ago by one and have been in pain every day since and disabled. I am lucky compared to many who are now 6 ft under.

It's no different than shooting a gun blindfolded. Do it enough times and you kill someone.

[Archae]

4. What happened to the drunk?

He or she end up paying for your medical bills/other expenses?

Did he or she go to jail?

My parents and one sister were in a car and were hit by a drunk attorney, decades ago.
The guy tried to pull any and every stunt imaginable to get out of paying.

He finally did pay up, but it took a year and a half to get the money.

[nini]

6. He was uninsured to add insult to injury

I pulled on my uninsured motorist coverage.

He got a ticket.. AND the people in his car sued me to try and get something out of the insurance. They didn't.

[Hieronymus]

5. Yes

[Cicada]

7. Prevention better: mandatory car alcohol sensors

Mass produced devices to lock ignition if driver is drunk: maybe $50.

Steering wheels should have embedded breathalyzers.

Problem solved.

[panader0]

8. Years ago I used to stop by the local tavern on the way home from

a long day of laying brick. Have a coupla beers and head home. Now, the
BAC has been reduced to .08% for a DUI. That's about one and a half or two beers.
The cops can even get you for "impaired to the slightest degree", which is less
than the .08% limit. I don't go to the bar anymore---Bars around here have folded up.
Plus the no smoking thing. People used to be able to go out and have a bit of fun.
No more. As a member of a band, I can attest that bars can no longer afford to
hire musicians. Sure, nobody should drive drunk.

[Jake Stern]

9. Yes

As a victim of a drunk driver who has vivid memories of dragging his screaming battered and bloodied elderly father out the twisted pile that was his car I say throw the book at 'em.

The driver that nearly killed me and my father, hit another man and his son and a car with two children in the back seat and struck several other cars was both drunk AND on cocaine so what did the Arapahoe County ADA think was appropriate? A year license suspension and "alcohol classes".

I had to literally threaten to stand before the judge to object to the plea bargain and go to 9 News to get the ADA to ask for 90 days house arrest.

Not good with links but the link takes you to a photo of the scene. My dad's car is on the left and the drunk's truck is on the right.

[link:http://imgur.com/a/t2Low|

[Archae]

11. It's getting better, BUT...

When I heard about that "affluenza" brat and his slap on the wrist, I was quite angry.

Sounds like the driver who hit you had the same "disease."

[Jake Stern]

14. The insane thing is that the drunk that struck us was the only person in court for his first offence

There was a guy there on his FOURTH and yet he only got 10 days. While we were waiting out in the hall there was a young woman about 25 who was waiting as well. Found out she was there for a DUI so I asked her "Did you learn your lesson?" I was floored when she said "I should have learned that my first and second times."

[Archae]

16. There still is an acceptance of drunk driving, many times.

I heard guys in my school (high school? Yup!) bragging about "driving home on autopilot" and laughing about waking up the next morning hungover and parked on someone's lawn.

That attitude is improving, but it still exists.

[A HERETIC I AM]

10. Alright, I'll poke the hornets nest. Tens of millions of Americans drive DUI every day....

I think it is a fair estimate to say that millions of people in this country stop for a beer or a cocktail at a bar on the way home from work every day. The overwhelming majority make it home safely, every day. If you have one single beer, you are technically under the influence, if nothing else you are "DUBAL" or Driving with an Unlawful Blood Alcohol Level.

So.....either set up DUI checkpoints at the door to every single bar, pub and cocktail lounge in the country (which BTW... How come you never hear of DUI checkpoints exiting football games?) or use the laws currently in place.

Frankly, Driving Under the Influence should not be a crime, just as carrying a gun isn't a crime in most areas. However, use that gun in the commission of a crime and the penalty is doubled or tripled.

If you speed, drive recklessly or crash and you are over the .08 or .10 threshold, you're toast. But if you can drive home completely safely with a buzz on, that mere fact should not be illegal.

[Archae]

12. "Buzzed" driving is drunk driving.

My own Dad used to joke about driving home from "The Corner Bar" (that's what it was called,) with his "shoes full."

Have a designated driver who doesn't drink at all.

Otherwise there will be more blood on the road.

[A HERETIC I AM]

13. Where did you get that slogan? Straight from a TV ad?

Let me be clear: I do not suggest drunk people should drive automobiles, but as I said, millions upon millions of people drive home completely safely every single day after having a beer or two at a pub.

[Archae]

15. I heard it somewhere, I don't remember where.

[A HERETIC I AM]

17. Perhaps here;

[Skittles]

18. first DUI, find out if it's a stupid mistake or if there is a real drinking problem

treat accordingly

[flotsam]

19. Sure-you can increase the penalties...

Just as soon as you give parity of punishment for cell phone use. As soon as you support pulling licenses and jailtime for Little Muffy who absolutely had to text a friend and never saw the biker she killed then we can talk increasing penalties. Until all impaired driving is treated the same this discussion is BS...