How drunks keep on driving


The levers that society uses to try to keep intoxicated motorists off the road aren't particularly effective. So what would work?





While a single drunken-driving conviction is traumatic and expensive enough to sober up most drivers, about one-third of all drunken-driver arrests are of people who are repeating their crime, according to the National Institutes of Health.
The most egregious offenses make headlines, such as the case of the woman arrested in two DUIs in the same day and the man accused of his 11th drunken-driving offense after dangerously passing a school bus.
Or consider this Florida man, charged with his seventh DUI. His driver's license has been permanently revoked and he can't register a car in his name, which prevents him from getting auto insurance. Yet he continued to drive and now faces up to 17 years in prison if convicted.


How do multiple DUI offenders keep driving?
"That's the question," says Jan Withers, national president of MADD, or Mothers Against Drunk Driving. "Why do people do it? They do it because they can."
Taking away everything but freedom

The levers that society uses to control impaired driving haven't proved especially effective against problem drunks.




Losing your license: A first DUI conviction will bring a license suspension of at least 30 days in every state. In most states, you also will visit a jail cell. After a third conviction, jail terms can reach a year and the suspension can last as long as eight years. After a fourth conviction, many states revoke your license permanently or treat the conviction as a felony, with prison sentences that can stretch to 10 years.
In a society that wants to treat drunken driving as a mistake rather than a crime, even the threat of jail time isn't enough to stop people from driving while intoxicated, Withers says.
Depending on which study you come across, the average person convicted under DUI laws drives drunk anywhere from 50 to 200 times before getting caught. Even after a conviction for driving drunk, 50% to 75% of people whose licenses have been suspended continue to drive, Withers says.
Losing your insurance: A first-time DUI conviction can easily triple your car insurance rates and earn you an SR-22 requirement. A repeat DUI conviction on your record, depending on the look-back rules your state and insurance company use, easily can bring a cancellation.
You need a valid driver's license to find insurance coverage, but some drivers will slip through the cracks with a suspended license. For example, some insurance companies won't run a background check on a customer until a claim is filed, says George Creal, a Georgia attorney who has represented thousands of DUI clients.
"Not all insurance companies will run your driving history on an annual basis," Creal says. Even if they do and decide not to take the risk, a driver with multiple convictions but a valid license can find coverage in a state's assigned-risk pool. Creal says he has seen clients with five DUI convictions driving legally.
An estimated 15% to 25% of drivers don't buy auto insurance anyway, so losing insurance coverage after a DUI conviction isn't much of a hindrance to them, says Robert Hunter, director of insurance at the Consumer Federation of America.

 

I think it's a bigger issue of people being idiots and feeling like they can't die and driving drunk anyway. Alcohol isn't as much of the issue as much as I dislike it in general. I have friends who have bragged of driving drunk and I blatantly told them them they are retarded.

 

What I don't understand is that the most Bars I know in my area You have to drive to them ?

Most bars I've been in the patrons have driven to them.
Most of the people I see in the bars should not be driving, but they `do I believe in the right to drink alcohol, but I don't think that the majority I've seen should be behind the wheel of a vehicle....

What do you think ? Any solution(s) ?
Post/share your thoughts ?
Here's 2 U

 

I have driven drunk way to many times when I was younger.....Very stupid of me, I have had 2 DUI's, only convicted of 1 though. A DUI has some very bad effects on a persons life, loss of license and big $$ wasted......

"you booze, you cruise, you lose"

 

Hi Chris, thanks for your post & honesty...I think everyone that drinks (?), `if honest would admit that they have driven, when they should not have...


I hope this thread makes everyone think about the risk & hurt that can be caused for driving while under the influence....+ the great expense also in finds/prison etc...

I loved your quote: "you booze, you cruise, you lose" `amen

 

Around here, when guys lose their driver's license, most of them buy those e-bikes.

 

Solution? Wow, it needs to be either SEVERLY severe like cut off your foot or blind the person.... how many years have we been warned, viewed video's, know someone who's life has been changed by a drunk driving incident. People STILL do it, I have to marvel at all the DUI busts over every holiday week end. Then again I would not be able to see my key board and have a peg leg as I have been no saint in the past. But that has been many many years back...SMOKE EM if you got em.....OOO that smell, can't you smell that smell, Whiskey Bottles brand new cars Oak tree your in my way (L Skynyrd).. R.I.P.

 

What I do if I drink is I put my keys under the drivers seat then lock my car doors as I get out. no way i can drive if i cant get in. Then I come back the next day with my spare set of keys and drive it home well after the alcohol leaves my body. Also some bars in my area offer a taxi service so they take you home after you drink thier booze. And you should always have your favorite taxi on speed dial. mine did 110 mph in city traffic weaving threw cars last time I was drunk. I thought it was cool at the time and tipped him $20. but now that im sober that was probably worse then drinking and driving.

 

Video: Truck crashing through bar d...

Link says it `all "Drive In Bar"
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Bonus Vid below
Video: Stadium truck racing returns...
^ Click (Do you like Stadium Racing)
Lot's of people attend (Drink Beer) &
Drive Home like racer drivers

 

Never been drunk... so I could never drive drunk :p

You make poor decisions when you drink, so obviously know that driving drunk is a poor decision they would do it haha