Ok, can we all agree on this statement and that it is a problem: People will always drink and drive.
Great, I'm glad we agree. Now that we've got that out of the way, let's look at what is being done to solve the problem.
This won't take long. I can sum it up in one word: JAIL
Putting more and more people in jail for DWI/DUI seems to be the most widely acceptable solution to solving the impaired driving epidemic. I disagree.
In and of itself, this is not a solution. Maybe it is part of the solution, but the problem clearly still exists.
It did not stop the person from drinking and driving in the first place. Maybe it will in the future for this one particular individual, but it did not stop it from occurring the first time. There is someone else driving drunk right around the corner. They know they could get a DWI yet they still get in the car and drive while impaired.
Why?
It's just not realistic to think we can catch all of them and it's unreasonable to think that putting everyone in jail for driving impaired is even remotely possible. Yet society continues to use this as the most effective method for stopping impaired driving.
Why?
We do the same thing over and over again expecting different results. It's insane!
I agree that, for some, a DWI/DUI is a deterrent. But it has been proven over many years that it is not an effective deterrent. The numbers prove it. If it worked, why wouldn't the number of DWI incidents decrease? They're not … it's not working. We are not seeing different results.
It is obvious that society needs new tools to help stop it. We need to make an attempt to stop it before it can happen. Now I know it's not possible to stop it completely. Even prohibition couldn't stop it so we know we do not want to revisit those days.
Let's look at some facts.
NHTSA (National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration) estimates that in 2003 more than 17,000 people died in "alcohol related" crashes. More than 500,000 people were injured in "alcohol related" accidents.
Boy this jail idea is really paying off isn't it?
In 2004, approximately 1.4 million people were arrested for DUI/DWI.
Again, this jail idea is really working great! It's…….. BRILLIANT!
I say people need more options available to them so they do not feel compelled to drink and drive. I strongly believe that we are losing the war on drunk driving because we are too focused on putting people in jail. We are not addressing this issue head on. We are simply sitting back, waiting on the problem to occur only to then punish those responsible…after the fact. Society is not being proactive in resolving the issue.
We just punish those that commit the crime. We don't even try to stop the crime from occurring in the first place. Ridiculous!
We put the burden on local police authorities to solve the problem…like they can stop it. They do the best that they can, but they will never be able to solve it on their own.
NHTSA even gives our fine local authorities a list of guidelines to help them in assessing DUI symptoms; a list of indications that a driver is over the legal limit. This list is widely used to train police officers to detect drunk drivers (the numbers to the right indicate the chance out of 100 that you are impaired):
Turning with wide radius 65
Straddling center or lane marker 65
Appearing to be drunk 60
Almost striking object or vehicle 60
Weaving 60
Driving on other than designated roadway 55
Swerving 55
Slow speed (more than 10mph below limit) 50
Stopping (without cause) in traffic lane 50
Drifting 50
Following too closely 45
Tires on center or land marker 45
Braking erratically 45
Driving into opposing or crossing traffic 45
Signaling inconsistent with driving actions 40
Stopping inappropriately (other than in lane)35
Turning abruptly or illegally 35
Accelerating or decelerating rapidly 30
Headlights off 30
For many years now our laws attempting to prevent drinking and driving have gotten tougher. The allowed "legal limit" for BAC continues to get less and less. It is currently .08% and from the looks of it, MADD wants to get it down even lower. They are pushing for .05% in many states now.
Desperation is setting in. Our court system is less tolerant of first time DUI offenders than ever before. Jail sentences are getting increasingly more severe. The methods being used to stop impaired driving are flawed.
Texas is a great example of this:
Just recently, a 56-year-old Fort Worth man was sentenced to 99 years in prison on his eighth conviction on a DWI charge. I repeat: his 8th conviction. Obviously the first 7 did not deter this individual.
While I think 8 DWI's is beyond ridiculous and a sure sign this man has a real drinking problem, why do the courts find it necessary to make this man die in jail for driving under the influence? If you don't think this a desperate act by the courts I'll give you some more examples.
Troy McKinney of Houston, one of the premier DUI attorneys in the country, recently made an Open Records Act demand on the Texas Department of Criminal Justice: How many Texans are serving sentences of 60 years to life in prison for drunk driving?
Notice this demand is just for those convicted of drunk driving. It does not include DWI's resulting in injury or death. Just drunk driving (over .08%).
Here's what the letter from the Department said:
21 to 25 years 125
26 to 30 years 39
31 to 40 years 55
41 to 59 years 16
60 to 98 years 23
99 years 6
Life 13
Total = 277 people in TX serving sentences longer than 20 years for DWI.
And that's just in one state.
Remember, these sentences do not include DWI causing death or injury…just for drunk driving over .08%. It is important to not however that these sentences were for those having at least 3 previous DWI's. Again, it is obvious that their previous DWI convictions were not strong deterrents for these individuals.
This is happening in every state. Yet….still…one person dies every 30 seconds in an impaired driving crash. Can you say INSANITY!
Now people, if you have gotten 3 DWI's…..YOU HAVE A PROBLEM. You should probably make a call to Alcoholics Anonymous and get some help. You may have a genetically-predisposed disease and should really get some much needed help.
Alcoholism is a disease and treatment is available. When you get strep-throat you go to the doctor to get antibiotics to treat the disease don't you? C'mon, do what needs to be done…get some help.
Really though, some of the people that go to jail on DWI convictions really do not belong there.
Let's look at a common situation. You go on a date. You eat a wonderful meal having two glasses of wine at a restaurant and it's time to pay your bill and head out. You down the last bit of wine in your glass as you stand to go to the car.
Five minutes later, you're stopped for swerving because you were having an intimate conversation with your date and took your eyes off the road for less than a second just to say "I love you too".
The officer approaches. Smells the wine still on your breath and asks you to step out of the vehicle. Next thing you know….you're taking a breathalyzer, put in the back of his patrol car and head to the police station.
You're sitting back there thinking to yourself; "I only had two glasses of wine with dinner". You don't feel any effects from the wine. Why are you being arrested for DWI? How could you blow .09%? What just happened?
What just happened is called "absorptive stage analysis". The breathalyzer just took your breath sample while your body was still absorbing the alcohol from that last swallow of wine you had at the dinner table.
Your body continues to absorb this alcohol for about an hour after your last drink. The alcohol is passing from your stomach and intestine into your blood and your body has not yet reached "equilibrium". In other words, the alcohol is not yet evenly distributed throughout your body. Because you just finished your wine, the alcohol is concentrated in your blood stream.
Your lungs are being constantly bathed by your blood and the alcohol diffuses into the air within your lungs. Any testing during this stage of absorption will result in falsely high blood-alcohol readings. You just breathed this air into the breathalyzer mouthpiece and you registered drunk.
Busted………..Desperation!
This just doesn't seem right does it? Even experts in forensic toxicology admit:
"Breath is not a reliable means of estimating a subject's BAC (blood alcohol concentration)...There is a significant likelihood that a given subject will be in the absorptive state when tasted under field conditions. Because of large differences in arterial BAC and venous BAC during absorption, breath tests consistently overestimate the result that would be obtained from a blood test -- by as much as 100% or more." Simpson, "Accuracy and Precision of Breath Alcohol Measurements for Subjects in the Absorptive State", 33(6) Clinical Chemistry" 753.
This means that if you take a breath test within about an hour of your last drink, you will have a false positive for drunk driving. It could be twice as high as your true blood-alcohol level.
YOU GO TO JAIL!
The point to all of this is it doesn't matter if you had only two glasses of wine at dinner or you have been drinking all day. Due to the desperate attempts to stop impaired driving, we are all treated the same when it comes to drinking and driving. If you get pulled over in either case, you are going to jail.
Don't blame the police. They are only doing the job we have asked them to do.
Society and therefore the courts have become so desperate that people are dying in jail because they drove while impaired. If society wants that…then so be it, but it is still not going to solve the problem.
We're desperate because we are focusing on only part of the solution.
It's up to each one of us to be responsible for our own actions.
By being responsible for our own actions, we can stop these desperate attempts by others to solve the impaired driving problem. We can solve it ourselves. Their attempts are not working. It's up to you as an individual to stop it. You do have options. Be wise about it and do the right thing. Don't drive impaired. If you are lucky enough to have SafeRide America in your town, call us.
The National Council for the Prevention of Impaired Driving: Giving You Options
SafeRide America - We're there when you need us most.