Driving under the Influence of alcohol can have huge consequences, among them are, legal, emotional, and financial, possible loss of your job, not to mention the embarassment of being locked up over nite (or longer) in a nasty jail cell. Alcohol is a factor in traffic accidents if you believe what the insurance industry, and MADD say.
The definition of drunk driving is consistent throughout the United States. Every state defines impairment as driving with a blood alcohol content at or above 0.08. The penalties have increased for drinking and driving due to constant political lobbying by political groups such as MADD, the Insurance industry, and trial lawyers. For repeat offenders, the effects can truly be devastating, and can lead to even more problems.
Many state legislatures have passed laws requiring mandatory, serious prison time for repeat DUI convictions, in general, this is the third conviction, and is considered a felony, creating additional problems, like getting a job. The fines have gotten larger, the length of license suspension has been made longer, and getting a “hardship” license just to go back and forth to work is getting more difficult, and in some states this provision is just not possible. In many states, after a felony conviction, drivers licenses are permanently revoked.
The statistics vary wildly across the Internet, and there is no doubt that this is a serious problem, but even the state of California's statistics show that fatalities, and accidents have been decreasing since 1986(1), which is sure to be a direct effect of enforcement, education, and awareness.
So, why do we have such a big push to increase penalties, fines, cost of rehabilitation programs, and revocations if the problem is diminishing? I don't have answers, but I do have some notions and opinions. Plain and simply; its the money generated by the fines (revenue) for the government, the increased premiums for the Insurance industry, the guaranteed income for the industry of mandatory treatment programs, and the income of trial lawyers, who stand to gain the most. Lobbying from all these groups on this subject is constant and contributions from the lobbyists, is public record.
Lets have some rational conversation about all this stuff, you are encouraged to express your opinion here, but there are some simple ground rules;
(1)
http://www.adp.cahwnet.gov/FactSheet...Statistics.pdf
Document dated October 2002
www.adp.ca.gov