Drunk drivers...

[jplinville]

So, last night the wife and I are sitting on the back deck, enjoying the rain and the cooler temperatures they brought, when around 0230, we heard a loud crash across the main road. We went over to check on them after calling 911, and found a young lady, around 20-25, in a new Land Rover, in the median, hitting the only tree on that stretch. She was physically fine, thanks to the SRS, but was so drunk that she didn't even know she destroyed the front of her vehicle. My wife had to argue with her to stay seated in the car until the authorities arrived...the young lady was trashed beyond being able to walk, let alone drive.

I don't think I've ever been drinking then drive home drunk. I have always arranged for a ride, or hung around a few hours til sober before thinking of driving. Due to my actions, I've never had a DUI or an accident after drinking.

What do these idiots think they're doing?? They're putting other lives at risk. If they want to be reckless and die from their actions, fine...just don't put other lives at risk!!

[davidmash]

Until penalties become so onerous that they will force people to think twice about driving I don't think it will change. I'd like to see the vehicle confiscated, license revoked for at least a year. If you look while drunk I think it should be manslaughter at the very least. Why we give people second and third chances is beyond me.

I'd also like to see a state issued liquor ID. If you don't have one you can't drink. Anyone with a DUI can't drink in public. Host a party and give alcohol to a person with out a valid card and you are liable. In 2016, 10,000 people died in DUI related accidents. Who know how many were injured and how much property was damaged.

[barry12345]

Originally Posted by davidmash

Until penalties become so onerous that they will force people to think twice about driving I don't think it will change. I'd like to see the vehicle confiscated, license revoked for at least a year. If you look while drunk I think it should be manslaughter at the very least. Why we give people second and third chances is beyond me.

I'd also like to see a state issued liquor ID. If you don't have one you can't drink. Anyone with a DUI can't drink in public. Host a party and give alcohol to a person with out a valid card and you are liable. In 2016, 10,000 people died in DUI related accidents. Who know how many were injured and how much property was damaged.

Most things you would like to see exist in multiple Canadian provinces. Getting a dui is so expensive overall most people that drove with a drink or two stopped.

If you suspect you may be drinking a lot. Never take your car with you. In a very intoxicated state it can overcome what your original intent was. That being not to drive home.

Automatic one year suspension and a substantial fine as well. Plus greatly increased insurance costs await those caught here. Of course you car gets towed and impounded usually as well.

It does seem to have really reduced the issue. You get caught a few times and you can be banned for life from driving anywhere in the country.

Caught with no insurance is over a two thousand dollar fine. Your car is going to be towed as well. If an uninsured driver somehow still manages to drive and cause you damage. There is a fund that pays your loss.

Then they really pursue the person for the money. No money no license and collection agencies and the courts attach your wages. So uninsured drivers are a rare here. If you own a house a lien that they will force you to satisfy.

The speeding fines are so large for so little. The cruise control has become almost a constant fixture for me. They will fine you for one or two miles over now.. Is it working yet? Not that well as the practice is fairly new. So when traffic is thin stay at the limits posted.

Of course your auto insurance provider obtains that you where ticketed for speeding. Probably not the information that you were only 2 miles over. Wonderful system.

There is a highway I use occasionally. Speeding fines start very high and max out at 10K and they are well labeled on large signs. Every so many miles.

[vwnate1]

Surely I'm not the only one here who knows drunks in fact because they're too drunk to walk.......

I too wish America was harder on drunks but they're not so BE CAREFUL ! .

[t walgamuth]

Well we have come a long way in my lifetime. Back in the sixties and seventies I remember a fellow who was a well known alcoholic and a successful local business man who was in an accident where he killed another man. He got a good lawyer and did not spend a day in jail. I am not sure if he paid a fine or what but no jail time.

I remember driving home after too much to drink once. Very uncomfortable, I'll never get that wasted again. Another time coming home on a curvy road with my Mrs. on my motorcycle. Again, very uncomfortable though I was in much better shape than the other time.

Now two drinks is the limit unless the Mrs. drives and is sober.

I have way too much to lose to take such chances now.

[vwnate1]

I'm Scots - Irish so my family had drunks in it, I hate drunks .

I remember when officer Friendly would follow you home as long as you only drove 5MPH or so.....

I've lost so many to drunk drivers & drug related collisions, I just hate it .

[INSIDIOUS]

Originally Posted by vwnate1

Surely I'm not the only one here who knows drunks in fact because they're too drunk to walk.......

I too wish America was harder on drunks but they're not so BE CAREFUL ! .

Drinking when you wrote that?

[vwnate1]

Obviously not ~ are you defending drunk drivers ? .

[barry12345]

Zero tolerance here. You blow any indication of drinking on the breathalyzer. Or they smell it. Today it is pretty much their job if they let you drive away. Not even a one drink limit is left now. When you reflect upon it this whole newer scenario is good.

About fifty percent of fatalities once involved people that had been drinking. Today that percentage would be reduced to some extent. As Tom stated we have too much to lose by risking it.

He was already very lucky. Being intoxicated on a motorcycle can cause real issues with your senses pertaining to balance.

I drove intoxicated once and never again. I found myself making a left hand turn from the wrong lane on the highway. I recognized the error right away. Fortunatly there was no traffic around that evening. Never again I promised myself. I was probably about 19 or 20. A promise to myself I actually kept. Unlike those at the New years.

Yet when I was a kid a lot of people where out drinking on the weekends and driving. I suspect unless there was an accident there was no enforcement.

We still have periodic roadblock type setups to check drivers. I do not think they are very productive anymore at catching people drinking. So expired safety inspections and people that have missed their plate renewals. Or no proof of insurance. Or for some reason do not have a current drivers license still make them cost effective. I probably hit them twice on average each year.

If nothing else a good reminder to keep all your paperwork current. Lack of an insurance document or current drivers license . You will get towed and stranded. Sometimes they might let another current licensed driver drive. Or come and get the car. You get the fine or fines of course.

I have seen people that drive so bad they should not be allowed to drive. I questioned one once. The answer I got was they really did not care if they hurt someone. That was what their insurance was for. Unfortunatly it was a relative of mine.

At 77 I have to watch myself as carefully as I can. I do not want to continue driving once I feel incapable. Of course I fear not recognizing it.

Here it is a doctors responsibility by law to also inform the department of motor vehicles. If a person has reached that stage. In their opinion. I approve of this also. I am all too aware of how tough it will be not to have a drivers license. At the same time I have no wish to hurt anyone.

Too many people still get old and too self centered otherwise. Or half out of their minds. So far I feel fit to drive and do many things fortunately. For the last couple of years other than in fast moving streams of traffic on a highway. I drive the speed limits almost religiously.

For what it is worth I have never been in a real self created car or truck accident. That amounts to just not being in the wrong place at the right time possibly. An insurance carrier many decades ago. Told me that a guy with your background. Of predominance in your types of sports. For some reason seem not to get involved in car accidents.

Such has been the case other than being rear ended on a highway once. I have been driving for 61 years so far. In high risk areas like Toronto and with our heavy truck. Total driven milage I have no ideal but above average I strongly suspect. Drove in anything until perhaps 5 years ago. Since then if conditions are bad I just do not bother going.

Perhaps some things worth learning. If you do not know how to identify a white out. Try to have people explain this to you if you live where it does snow. From my perspective it is a fairly well defined curtain. In otherwise clear air ahead of you usually unless it is also snowing at the same time. The ones where it is not snowing have the potential of being the worse by far. Basically snow blowing off a hill usually.

You do not want to enter it. How hard can it rain? You cannot really see the hood ornament on a large truck clearly. . On a car your windshield wipers may go. They are physically weaker by design on a car.

For both conditions get well off the road as soon as possible. There will be others out there especially in large trucks at speed still in many cases. In the day these were the guys trying to keep on time for about five dollars an hour. They run enormous risks.

If you get into a whiteout. Keep feeling for the edge of the road gravel. most cars ahead of you are probably off the road. You cannot stop. The risk is high. Just less if you keep moving. Most will not get through one lasting a mile or two. In a true whiteout there really is absolutely no visablity.

Do not assume the intensity of the rain is even comparable to what it is in some areas. Where we live it never gets that heavy. It gets bad of course but never like I have experience a couple of times while far away.

It has been almost like solid water falling a couple of times. I barely saw a slight glow in unbeiievable heavy rain and used it once. It was a cutoff from the main highway that was extremely well lit. Is what it turned out to be. I had already substantially dropped off speed as I was basically seeing nothing. These things are the creators of massive car pileups at times as well. That slight glow could have been a mass pileup burning. Whatever it was it was better than nothing.

I think the majority of drivers will never experience either of these two conditions. That is a good thing. Even just knowing they exist at the same time might save you.

[1971 250/8]

Age 18, first car, bar hopping with a buddy of mine until 1 A.M. when we decided to drive 40 miles to the biggest city, a favorite place to go. Drunk as hell, I turned onto a "street" behind a greyhound bus station and got the frame hung up on the railroad tracks which activated the crossing guard and red flashing lights. In our drunken brilliance, we walked into the bus station to urinate, called a tow truck, and hit the candy machine for a few rolls of CERTS... knowing cops would be waiting for us.
In my best acting performance ever... I calmly told the officer I was new to the area (lie #1) and had driven to the bus station to pick up my buddy (lie #2), complaining that the "road" was dark I had no idea it was train tracks (lie #3)... and "no officer, we haven't been drinking" (lie #4) and that I had called a tow truck (that single act of sanity may have saved our asses, or mine for sure). Must have been oscar worthy as he let us go after the truck freed my car.
Still drunker than a sailor, I couldn't find my way out of a familiar place, so we parked and went to sleep. When the sun woke us up we were 1/2 block from the freeway entrance.

I never drove fully snockered again, just half snockered. I figured if I could recall that experience totally wasted, well driving half wasted is something I could manage and do well. We each have different tolerances, and mine allows me to safely drive after 2 or 3 beers.

[davidmash]

Originally Posted by 1971 250/8

Age 18, first car, bar hopping with a buddy of mine until 1 A.M. when we decided to drive 40 miles to the biggest city, a favorite place to go. Drunk as hell, I turned onto a "street" behind a greyhound bus station and got the frame hung up on the railroad tracks which activated the crossing guard and red flashing lights. In our drunken brilliance, we walked into the bus station to urinate, called a tow truck, and hit the candy machine for a few rolls of CERTS... knowing cops would be waiting for us.
In my best acting performance ever... I calmly told the officer I was new to the area (lie #1) and had driven to the bus station to pick up my buddy (lie #2), complaining that the "road" was dark I had no idea it was train tracks (lie #3)... and "no officer, we haven't been drinking" (lie #4) and that I had called a tow truck (that single act of sanity may have saved our asses, or mine for sure). Must have been oscar worthy as he let us go after the truck freed my car.
Still drunker than a sailor, I couldn't find my way out of a familiar place, so we parked and went to sleep. When the sun woke us up we were 1/2 block from the freeway entrance.

I never drove fully snockered again, just half snockered. I figured if I could recall that experience totally wasted, well driving half wasted is something I could manage and do well. We each have different tolerances, and mine allows me to safely drive after 2 or 3 beers.

I'm willing to bet your senses are affected, far more than you think they are. When each fraction of a second can make the difference between life and death, any impairment can cost someone their life.

[oldsinner111]

I had 2 back in the day.Everytime I went to long beach,I'd go to the farm near magic mountain. Now pot always made me slow done,and be careful. 2 benzedrine,one joint,plus cofee,ready for one hour commute to work,and KLOS

[INSIDIOUS]

Originally Posted by vwnate1

Obviously not ~ are you defending drunk drivers ? .

You might want to take another slice at that. check out your post I quoted. read it slowly & carefully and think. You're welcome.

[vwnate1]

I took another look at it and you're way off base, that's O.K. as long as you're paying attention .

[oldsinner111]

I quit, all that mess march 15th 1985. Thinking the other day,how I use to handle stress,and sadness.Not once after my daughters passing in 2015 did I get,or want to drink.
I don't miss hangovers