DUIs - Stuck On Stupid
Driving Under the Influence is a universal problem of dreadful proportions impacting society. It's absolutely sociopathic in tenor, influence and outcome, yet so many people just do not understand, do not wish to understand, what they are committing the larger community to when they enjoy a night out and feel perfectly in control of themselves, sufficiently so that they have the right to drive if they wish to.
People at the highest echelons of society do this, not only the young, callow and foolish. Well educated individuals, people in the professions, elite public servants alongside plumbers, painters, bread makers, bank tellers, municipal workers, and punks. Drunk driving is responsible for serious road accidents, many of them impairing people for the rest of their lives. DUIs are responsible for highway deaths through vehicular homicide.
No one seems exempt from this type of inexcusable poor judgement; the former premier of British Columbia was found guilty of drunk driving, and now an Edmonton East Conservative Member of Parliament, pulled over on the road, refused to take a breathalyzer test. But then, MP Peter Goldring two years ago had opposed legislative changes that would permit police to screen all drivers.
"It is safe to say everyone is opposed to drunk driving - but there are civil liberty issues involved. There is the presumption of innocence and the right to not self-incriminate", he wrote righteously in an article he posted on his website, in 2009. How very prescient of him; he knew well of what he spoke and resisted.
Three provincial criminal court judges in Prince Edward Island, appalled at what they saw in their small province alone, decided they would make a few changes, agreeing to crack down on alcohol-impaired drivers. Since their agreement a year ago anyone found guilty of drunk driving has been given a prison sentence (94%).
Those found guilty faced a minimum three days in jail for first offenders, matched with a minimum fine of $1,200, and license suspension. "A lot of the sentencing guidelines are established by the appeal court. [But] in P.E.I., we just decided that the numbers were horrendous and something had to be done", explained now-retired Judge Ralph Thompson.
P.E.I. is still the sole Canadian province where convicted DUIs face incarceration even if they have not caused bodily harm or death. Not only do they face prison, a fine and license suspension, but newspapers report these charges, bringing the community's attention to those among them who continue to care less about their community than they should.
What is happening in P.E.I. is the law, the courts and the community taking closer notice of this antisocial phenomenon and addressing it in a disciplined manner to punish those who take advantage of society's patient tolerance. Yet, sad to say, even these increased measures at demonstrating society's displeasure have not noticeably, positively impacted on the issue.
And the sad statistics tell a story of road carnage without end, although the campaign of MADD over the decades did make a dent in the numbers.
According to Transport Canada's data, someone over 19 driving a vehicle, with a blood-alcohol level of .015, is statistically just as likely to cause an accident as someone with a blood-alcohol level of .099. 80% of all alcohol-related crashes causing death are caused by drivers with a blood-alcohol level of over .08.
Crime rates per 100,000 people involving impaired driving dropped by 55% between 1986 and 2009, according to Statistics Canada. Fatalities resulting from impaired driving accidents also decreased in that period.
In the U.S. the federal government mandated that all states adopt a new standard reducing the legal limit from .10 to .08 in the 1990s. Resulting in a 1995 study undertaken by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicating no improvement in making highways safer from dangerous drivers.
It seems that irrespective of the remedial steps hopefully taken by responsible public-safety bodies human nature seems irreversibly stuck on "stupid".
People at the highest echelons of society do this, not only the young, callow and foolish. Well educated individuals, people in the professions, elite public servants alongside plumbers, painters, bread makers, bank tellers, municipal workers, and punks. Drunk driving is responsible for serious road accidents, many of them impairing people for the rest of their lives. DUIs are responsible for highway deaths through vehicular homicide.
No one seems exempt from this type of inexcusable poor judgement; the former premier of British Columbia was found guilty of drunk driving, and now an Edmonton East Conservative Member of Parliament, pulled over on the road, refused to take a breathalyzer test. But then, MP Peter Goldring two years ago had opposed legislative changes that would permit police to screen all drivers.
"It is safe to say everyone is opposed to drunk driving - but there are civil liberty issues involved. There is the presumption of innocence and the right to not self-incriminate", he wrote righteously in an article he posted on his website, in 2009. How very prescient of him; he knew well of what he spoke and resisted.
Three provincial criminal court judges in Prince Edward Island, appalled at what they saw in their small province alone, decided they would make a few changes, agreeing to crack down on alcohol-impaired drivers. Since their agreement a year ago anyone found guilty of drunk driving has been given a prison sentence (94%).
Those found guilty faced a minimum three days in jail for first offenders, matched with a minimum fine of $1,200, and license suspension. "A lot of the sentencing guidelines are established by the appeal court. [But] in P.E.I., we just decided that the numbers were horrendous and something had to be done", explained now-retired Judge Ralph Thompson.
P.E.I. is still the sole Canadian province where convicted DUIs face incarceration even if they have not caused bodily harm or death. Not only do they face prison, a fine and license suspension, but newspapers report these charges, bringing the community's attention to those among them who continue to care less about their community than they should.
What is happening in P.E.I. is the law, the courts and the community taking closer notice of this antisocial phenomenon and addressing it in a disciplined manner to punish those who take advantage of society's patient tolerance. Yet, sad to say, even these increased measures at demonstrating society's displeasure have not noticeably, positively impacted on the issue.
And the sad statistics tell a story of road carnage without end, although the campaign of MADD over the decades did make a dent in the numbers.
According to Transport Canada's data, someone over 19 driving a vehicle, with a blood-alcohol level of .015, is statistically just as likely to cause an accident as someone with a blood-alcohol level of .099. 80% of all alcohol-related crashes causing death are caused by drivers with a blood-alcohol level of over .08.
Crime rates per 100,000 people involving impaired driving dropped by 55% between 1986 and 2009, according to Statistics Canada. Fatalities resulting from impaired driving accidents also decreased in that period.
In the U.S. the federal government mandated that all states adopt a new standard reducing the legal limit from .10 to .08 in the 1990s. Resulting in a 1995 study undertaken by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicating no improvement in making highways safer from dangerous drivers.
It seems that irrespective of the remedial steps hopefully taken by responsible public-safety bodies human nature seems irreversibly stuck on "stupid".
Labels: Canada, Health, Human Relations, United States
posted by Pieface @ 6:43 PM
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