LogFAQs > #904878050

zebatov posted...

Try fighting bulls*** legislation instead of asking "How high?"

Or just don't drink and drive. It really doesn't matter how many manage to make it home safely. Most idiots who unambiguously qualify for Dangerous Driving charges make it home safely, because the majority of the people on the road are competent enough drivers to mitigate their idiocy provided nothing else is going wrong. That doesn't mean they aren't driving dangerously, it just means they got lucky enough to avoid situations to which they would have been unable to react safely. Statistically, people who drive like that have a much higher risk of getting into serious crashes. Almost every single one of them would be happy to tell you that they're a special snowflake who's the exception to that because nothing too bad has ever happened to them and they're good at driving like that, but that's not a reason to accept their recklessness.

Same with alcohol. Alcohol impairs reflexes and judgement, both of which are vitally important for driving. That's an undeniable fact. That you don't notice that impairment doesn't mean it isn't happening, nor that you aren't at a much higher risk of causing a collision. That you are less impaired than some others might be at the same BAC also doesn't mean you aren't impaired at all. Being impaired puts you at a higher risk of crashing, and that's never a good thing. If you can avoid it, you should, and mandating that by law is perfectly reasonable.

Quite simply, if you're drinking, don't drive. If you're driving, don't drink. You never need to drink, even if it would be fun to do so. If you do feel the need to drink, consider voluntarily giving up your license until you deal with your alcoholism.

Incidentally, the fact that towing and impound fees compound as rapidly as they do if you are unable to afford any one of them is part of the spiral of debt alluded to earlier that means lower-income people suffer unduly for any traffic violations they may commit. That is indeed a problem, which is only going to be fixed if fines start taking the offender's financial means into account somehow. As bad as that is, though, the only way you're going to lose a license for DUI's is if you're a repeat offender, and DUI offenders stop deserving any sort of sympathy after the first offense. Once can be a mistake, and should be treated as a wake-up call. Twice is wanton disregard for everyone else on the road. Don't drink and drive. Just don't.
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