Driving Under the Influence

[Mizzkizz7]

There has been a series of accidents recently and in the past that were caused by drunk driving. What makes me angry is the person that were drinking never gets time in jail and they end up drinking and driving again killing someone. Why are these judges letting these people off the hook so easily?
  The next time the offender gets on the road it could be one of several of our loved ones killed. Anyone with an DUI needs to do long extended time in jail. It's not fair to innocent victims. It can save several lives.

[kathleenkleinhans]

 I understand completely.  Slowly, States are adjusting the BAC to separate DUI from DWI so hopefully the cost will deter more folks from drinking anything alcoholic before driving!

[snuggleycutejc]

Well, here you almost can get in an accident just by reading the bright lighted signs on our highway when driving normally alert. Don't matter if danger signs post the fines or what consequence has for you. I feel if you have to...or frequently take stimulate-drink to get to dizzy fairyland point, you might be crazy even before any kind of stimulate was taken. A crazy person don't know that he/she is crazy.

[heypeg]

Probably the worst thing you can do is drink and drive. No excuse.

[hitch0403]

Its not only drinking.......its texting...talking on phone.....speeding...road rage...etc.

That stuff kills and injures too.

[teresa3200]

In my state they will get arrested and see the judge usually the next day. They don't usually get jail time but do have to pick up trash along side the roads on weekends. They do get a pretty large fine. But I do agree they should get jail time. If they are let off easy they never learn a thing.

[countrygirl12]

There has been a series of accidents recently and in the past that were caused by drunk driving. What makes me angry is the person that were drinking never gets time in jail and they end up drinking and driving again killing someone. Why are these judges letting these people off the hook so easily?
  The next time the offender gets on the road it could be one of several of our loved ones killed. Anyone with an DUI needs to do long extended time in jail. It's not fair to innocent victims. It can save several lives.

They do get jail time.  If it is the first offense I think it is 48 hours.  That is jail time.  If they kill someone they do get jail time.  It may not be but a few months but they DO get jail time.  The jails are so over crowded they do not have room to put every one in jail who is breaking laws.  So more serious offenses are who gets the jail time.

And it doesn't matter if it is YOUR loved one or someone else's.  There was an accident on the interstate a few years ago where a guy I knew drove the wrong way on the interstate.  He was hurt and he killed more than one in a family who was on vacation traveling thru the area.  I am not sure he ever went to jail.  Probably not.

There was another man (who was a big shot with a lot of money) in my hometown who ran over a pedestrian and killed her.  He never spent the first day in jail.

But back to your orig question - there simply is not enough room in the jails for everyone who commits a crime. That is why the judges let them go.  There is no where to put them.

[countrygirl12]

I understand completely.  Slowly, States are adjusting the BAC to separate DUI from DWI so hopefully the cost will deter more folks from drinking anything alcoholic before driving!

DUI - Driving UNDER Influence
DWI - Driving WHILE Intoxicated

The BAC is not changed other than the amount to be charged has been lowered which is a good thing.  The BLOOD ALCOHOL CONTENT doesn't separate the two.  You cannot charge a person who is high on drugs with DWI because they are not INTOXICATED.  They aren't drunk.  But you can charge them with DUI because they ARE under the INFLUENCE.  Just of drugs not alcohol. It is just that drugs didn't use to be such a problem so when people hear DUI they auto think they were drunk.

[Tresbn00]

Driving under the influence, driving while intoxicated, Driving while texting/talking on a cellular, driving while doing one's makeup/hair, Driving while parenting poorly behaved children, driving with the music too loud, Driving after a heated argument, driving without prescribed glasses on, Driving when one's peripheral accuity/general motor skills have diminished due to an advanced state of age, driving with work problems on your mind, driving while exhausted. These are the tip of the ice burg on states of mind/activity people choose to drive with and all can be equally as dangerous as they demean one's focus on the road. The key words center around a lack of focus,a choice to drive without one hundred percent concentration on the road, and an impaired ability to drive. Given the choice, and impairment, shouldn't any unfocused driver be subjected to the same legal repercussions? Advertisement campaigns have centered on Drugs and alcohol, which is why there is more anger in this arena, while seemingly no money has been spent on distracted drivers.

[debidoo]

I don't know the answer it makes no sense to me.  I am 65 and when I was about 10 we were hit head on by a man known to have been in trouble several times for drinking and driving.  Thank God no one in our car was killed but we were hurt badly.  Ofcourse he was fine.

[Nancy5]

Its not only drinking.......its texting...talking on phone.....speeding...road rage...etc.

That stuff kills and injures too.

Driving under the influence, driving while intoxicated, Driving while texting/talking on a cellular, driving while doing one's makeup/hair, Driving while parenting poorly behaved children, driving with the music too loud, Driving after a heated argument, driving without prescribed glasses on, Driving when one's peripheral accuity/general motor skills have diminished due to an advanced state of age, driving with work problems on your mind, driving while exhausted. These are the tip of the ice burg on states of mind/activity people choose to drive with and all can be equally as dangerous as they demean one's focus on the road. The key words center around a lack of focus,a choice to drive without one hundred percent concentration on the road, and an impaired ability to drive. Given the choice, and impairment, shouldn't any unfocused driver be subjected to the same legal repercussions? Advertisement campaigns have centered on Drugs and alcohol, which is why there is more anger in this arena, while seemingly no money has been spent on distracted drivers.

So true.

[minioncookies]

Ah yes the open road.. It's like a giant video game.. You never know what to expect anymore.. From someone drinking, on their phone, putting on makeup, not paying attention, not judging the distance, not staying in their lane, something in the middle of the road, people  jumping in front of you and just expecting you to be able to stop on a dime.. to something flying out of the back of the car and or truck..  I mean the road is becoming really unsafe anymore.. The amount of unpredictablility is unsettling but you gotta do what you gotta do from day to day to commute.. i know people who will not drive because they are afraid.. It is sad to think you can loose your life at any moment and the people who cause it are gonna get a big slap on the wrist or nothing at all will happen.. Depending on.. A how much money you have.. and B If it's your first offence .. As the jails are filled with people who basically are repeat offenders when in reality i feel like most of the real bad ones are still on the streets but just my opinion..

[countrygirl12]

I don't know the answer it makes no sense to me.  I am 65 and when I was about 10 we were hit head on by a man known to have been in trouble several times for drinking and driving.  Thank God no one in our car was killed but we were hurt badly.  Ofcourse he was fine.

He was known to have been in trouble in the past for being under the influence while driving. BUT was he drunk THIS time? IT does not matter what he done in the past if he was not drunk at the time of THIS accident.

[countrygirl12]

Ah yes the open road.. It's like a giant video game.. You never know what to expect anymore.. From someone drinking, on their phone, putting on makeup, not paying attention, not judging the distance, not staying in their lane, something in the middle of the road, people  jumping in front of you and just expecting you to be able to stop on a dime.. to something flying out of the back of the car and or truck..  I mean the road is becoming really unsafe anymore.. The amount of unpredictablility is unsettling but you gotta do what you gotta do from day to day to commute.. i know people who will not drive because they are afraid.. It is sad to think you can loose your life at any moment and the people who cause it are gonna get a big slap on the wrist or nothing at all will happen.. Depending on.. A how much money you have.. and B If it's your first offence .. As the jails are filled with people who basically are repeat offenders when in reality i feel like most of the real bad ones are still on the streets but just my opinion..

It is not just driving. You could lose your life at any minute any where.  People can walk in to the restaurant you are in and shoot you and kill you.  What about the guy who was in a gas station a few days ago and some idiot comes in to rob the place and he tried to leave the building???  The perp filled him full of holes.  I am sure when he walked in to the gas station he never thought he would not live to come back out.

Or a few years ago when some idiot shot up the movie theater.  I bet no one who sat down in the theater to watch that movie ever thought I will die before this movie ends.

The fact is we live in a hate filled anger filled world where life has no value whatsoever.  And then you add on to it most people know that they will have a good chance of getting off with probation.

[ktheodos]

DUIs and DWIs are unacceptable...