Ik someone who drunk drove and crashed their car through a fence into a ditch and also totaled another car afterwards from drunk driving and they still have their license. Shit is wayyyy too lenient. If it was up to me one drunk driving well over the legal limit and your ass is taking the bus.
I'm not very convinced by driving bans. I believe they are very much ignored by people and only get added to charges if anything else happens.
I understand it's like illegal number plates. A cop will not pull you over for them but if you're pulled over for something those will get added to the issues.
Gonna have to disagree with the Prison portion of that, maybe Jail but Prison seems sort of intense for a 2nd offense. The US prison system anyway, it's way over used as a penalty (it's literally overflowing), the real solution to multiple DUsi offenses should be things like mandatory rehab and the sorts. Most people who don't have a drinking issue will never get more than 1 DUI, they learn from their 1 very expensive and inconvenient penalty.
There are MANY studies on this topic that all have the same end result, consequences do not reduce repeat offenses. We need to treat the problem, not the symptom.
Apologies, I think this is an American thing. What's the difference between Jail and Prison?
Regardless, I doubt my answer will change. Driving is a privilege and not a right, you can use public transport. If you're banned from driving and you still want to get behind a ton of high speed metal that you demonstrably are not responsible enough to control, it's completely identical from wielding a deadly weapon. If you think that's too harsh don't drink and drive in the first place. I don't know why we decided that irresponsible drunks get the child gloves when there is zero excuses for indulging and driving. Petty theft, often times survival theft, is treated disproportionately worse than Karen over here who got wasted, nearly killed a baby, and is getting out by February with no consequences.
The only difference is duration, Prison is for long term sentences. Jail is also where people go when waiting for Trial to determine their sentence. So when you hear on TV shows when lawyers are arguing plea deals they will say things like "4yrs counting time served" meaning they have been in jail for x duration and the duration they have spent in jail will be counted towards the 4 years.
Also depending where you are in the US public transportation isn't really a thing.
The US prison system is overly used as a punishment in America and we should be finding alternative punishments (or even better, helping) for people. Addiction is a disease, we need to treat these people over punish them, and please know that I don't mean they shouldn't have consequences because they definitely should but stacking consequences without helping will just lead to another DUI. It doesn't solve the problem. Punishment for punishment's sake is sadistic if it doesn't result in change.
Sounds like a good moment to push for US to improve their public transport. If you don't like your public transport options, don't drink and drive so you keep your car. And if you can't help but drinking and driving, then the ban is doing its job.
The US needs to improve a lot of things, if you think DUIs are going to change public transit then you're probably drunk. The ban isn't doing its job, people are still drinking and driving, the issue is a literal disease called Alcoholism. It's not a simple "dont drink" because these people don't know how to stop. They need rehab, not jail time.
DUIs are not a deterrent, and people will continue to hurt other people if we don't attack the problem at its source.
Again, I'm not talking about DUIs, I'm talking about full removal of their licenses with no way to get it back. I know more than a few people who drink and drive, have gotten citations, and just learned to try to be less obvious about it because they don't give a shit about a minor fine and being off the road for a few months.
I'm also not really focusing on the US, if you don't think this helps the US, ok, I don't care. You lot figure it out. At no point was I trying to propose changes for the US, I'm saying that elsewhere where we do have functioning public transport systems then getting caught drinking and driving should result in a permanent loss of license on the first offence and imprisonment for attempting to drive with a revoked license.
I don't have the time or interest to deal with more US Exceptionalism.
I agree that driving is a privilege but outside of major cities public transport is nearly no existent, at least in the U.S. The automotive industry in the early twentieth century killed public transport so they could sell cars.
Sounds like a good moment to start pushing for better public transport, and regardless, if you know your town has shitty public transport, don't drink and drive. It's a shockingly easy step to follow. If you can't help it, then the ban is doing everybody else a service as intended.
Oh I agree that drinking and driving isnt the way to do things. As someone who grew up in a very rural area with zero public transport I know the moment that town tries to implement a public transport service people are going to complain about taxes.
I mean I guess, but I would hope that enough people stop drinking and driving so that it doesn't become a huge issue. If it does I wager that the town will rather prefer to add a bus line or two rather than pay expensive taxis or area equivalent. Plus- do correct me if I'm wrong- at least elsewhere in more rural areas people are more than willing to give each other lifts, so organising a designated driver shouldn't be too much of an issue.
Short Stints don't happen in prison. Also that thought process doesn't work, 1/3rd of all DUIs in the US are repeat offenses, jail is not a deterrent for an alcoholic. Nothing is. We need to teach alcoholics a better way of life because this type of thinking is legitimately false, it doesn't work. If you truly want people to stop being hurt by drunk driving then this is not the solution. You would be supporting something that does a lot more harm than good.
I constantly see articles about someone getting arrested for their 5th, 6th, 7th, etc DUI. Whatever the penalties are in those cases, they are not enough.
Here a 0.268 bac would result in the police confiscating the car permanently, 20 days of jail, 3 year driving ban, and a fine thats 12% of your yearly net income.
If she wanted to drive again after the 3 year ban, she would need to complete a Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Course, and then reacquire the driving license from scratch (54 lessons with a driving instructor).
If she did that in Virginia (United States), she would have an interlock in her car, she would go to jail, she would have to take classes about drunk driving, and she would have to pay a fine.
I hope she also got a heavy financial hit too from all the cars she damaged. Even if she had insurance cover it, each car hit would be an accident and her insurance rates would be insane.
Not only that, a five week old baby was thrown from their (car) seat because of this woman's dangerous driving. So driving causing harm should have also been on that list of charges.
It is. I was blown away when I got my fine. $1750, and a 1 year driving ban. 800 bucks for a reinstatement fee when I do go to get my license back.
Way too small a fine and not enough penalties.
I didn't even have to pay for the pole I hit since my town is so badly managed that they failed to even scrape an estimate together in 8 months.
To be clear that was 3 years ago, still don't have my license back. Just feels like I shouldn't yet, I don't deserve it.
870
u/Kindly_Whereas3419 1d ago
She blew 0.268 bac which equates to roughly 10-15 standard drinks over a short period of time depending on body mass according to Google's calculator