New Penality for DUI

[alpha]

http://www.kptv.com/story/15489360/s...e-power-outage

Unbelievable!!!

Bob

[LinuxRandal]

Which part is unbelievable?
The accident, or them determining that his alcohol level is at dangerous levels (alcohol poisoning) and releasing him to the hospital, where his stay will be billable to him, rather then the arresting group being responsible for it?

[LCHIEN]

what's the unbelievable part???

Quite frankly I frequently see smashed trees, downed street and traffic signs and light poles, and brick walls with obvious car damage, some many feet off the road. I can only imagine these are caused by drunk drivers. I can only hope they don't run into me. The saddest thing about drunk drivers is that somehow they always manage to walk away while killing an innocent family of (pick a number, like 5, 6 people).

I think the penalties for drunk driving (even when there's no deaths and accidents involved) should be made tougher and judges and juries enforce them more stringently. We are way too tolerant of drunk driving in this country.

I don't want to lash out at stereotypes but certain cultural groups seem to be involved in a high percentage of drunk driving here in Houston. Many of them illegal aliens with no insurance and they flee the country after killing people while DUI. We can't even hold them accountable.

[cabinetman]

What might make some difference (but probably not), is to find out the actual damages assessed to the drunk driver, in addition to the criminal charges. Being responsible for deaths is bad enough, and being drunk is no excuse. But little is ever divulged as to what the accused actually owes for damages, and how or what steps are taken for the recovery.

I would doubt that automobile liability pays at all in cases of DUI.

.

[BobSch]

I like Sweden's idea: .02 is DWI with a penalty up to six months in the can plus a hefty fine, .10 is "aggravated" drunk driving. The recommended punishment for that is two years in the slammer and a big fine.

[LCHIEN]

The norwegians I know are astounded when they come here and they see people driving after a beer or two. Norwegians are a big drinking people but the penalties are like Bob describes for Sweden - very stiff and no leniency. They are very careful to plan their drinking so as to walk or ride a bike or take a taxi. Going to jail, losing driving priveleges are big deterrents. Not like here where you might lose your license after several convictions and then you keep right on driving anyway with very little punative results if you are caught driving - they take away your car which is probably uninsured and the repo man is after it and a junker anyway.

if we assess people for lights out after hitting a power pole, how about people who tie up traffic for miles after a rear end accident or even worse, because they forgot to check their belts for 6 years and it broke in the middle lane of I-10 at rush hour backing up traffic for miles. 10,000 motorists delayed 15 minutes at a minimum time value if $6 per hour - $15,000, or more realistically $20 average per hour $50,000 in damages to society plus lost gas and pollution.

[dbhost]

What is really sad about DWI in Houston is that the setup of Houston itself almost lends itself to DWI violations. There is so little actually useful public transit here that people need to drive. And it's not like the bars are in neighborhoods that Johnny Drunktail can stagger home from...