Has getting a DUI really become just "another day" type thiing?

theclemsonkid

theclemsonkid

Member
So one of the delivery guys for one of my vendors is a friend of mine outside of work. We both play in local bands, and have a lot of the same friends. He comes in today to drop some stuff off and says "Well, I finally got popped for my first DUI. I guess I had it coming since everyone else has at least one, some have two or three".

Now he is in his early to mid 40's I'm guessing. Not like some dumb kid who just turned 21. I asked him how it happened, and where he was coming from etc. Said he blew a 0.14 on the same road he had driven home on a hundred times before, sometimes "way worse than I was that night".

Maybe I am just an uptight crusader, but I CANNOT STAND (I would bold and italicize this a hundred times if I could) how a DUI has become such a common, and socially acceptable thing.

Am I the only one who realizes that thousands of people ARE KILLED every year from these things. That innocent lives are cut short because people decide to drive while drinking?

Why, oh why, has it become almost a laughing matter? Am I nuts that this bothers me this much?!?
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
a 0.14 is just over the legal limit. A person that has been drinking their entire life may never feel that buzz at all.

I say it depends on your tolerance levels, but you can't really say that one person is drunk at 0.14 and another is sober a 0.14, so we put restrictions on it.

Now, I hate it that so many people are killed in drunk driving accidents, and I take no pity on people who have driven drunk and had accidents of any kind. To get behind the wheel, knowingly intoxicated, is irresponsible.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
My X husband was a drunkard...he got busted 4Xs before they finally took his license away for good...In Illinois, he just went over the border and got a license in Wisconsin. (this was many years ago, I think Wisconsin has wised up since then) Now the drunks just drive without a license. It's only socially accepted behavior for the drunks to compare themselves to drunks.

The law has really lowered the hammer on the drinking and driving thing...the problem is that drunks...even without a license, still drink and drive. I'm with you, it makes me sick to think of all the horrible things that can happen and has happened because of drunk driving. I liken it to attempted murder, and think it should be handled as such in the courts...BEFORE they actually kill a car load of kids, or a family just minding their own business.

I say one sip of alcohol, and you get behind the wheel ... you go to jail. Don't drink and drive at all. This is the only solution to preventing the idiots that think they can drive better drunk, from making it hazardous for others on the road. Legal limit my eye...what a crock...no limit is acceptable IMO.
 
sharkysmachine

sharkysmachine

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheClemsonKid http:///t/397321/has-getting-a-dui-really-become-just-another-day-type-thiing#post_3541127
So one of the delivery guys for one of my vendors is a friend of mine outside of work. We both play in local bands, and have a lot of the same friends. He comes in today to drop some stuff off and says "Well, I finally got popped for my first DUI. I guess I had it coming since everyone else has at least one, some have two or three".

Now he is in his early to mid 40's I'm guessing. Not like some dumb kid who just turned 21. I asked him how it happened, and where he was coming from etc. Said he blew a 0.14 on the same road he had driven home on a hundred times before, sometimes "way worse than I was that night".

Maybe I am just an uptight crusader, but I CANNOT STAND (I would bold and italicize this a hundred times if I could) how a DUI has become such a common, and socially acceptable thing.

Am I the only one who realizes that thousands of people ARE KILLED every year from these things. That innocent lives are cut short because people decide to drive while drinking?

Why, oh why, has it become almost a laughing matter? Am I nuts that this bothers me this much?!?
It's a serious thing yes, but more importantly why are there so many people on the road today?
Less people = less DUIs, less accidents, pollution, traffic etc...

Per capita all bad things will rise simply due to there being too many people on the road.
Cops are promoted based on the # of arrests. A DUI is a serious offense however many arrests are false because the cops know they cannot be sued as individuals and the dept seldom gets sued. They have to find ways to generate revenue for the city. You tube is full of these videos.

So heres a idea. If someone gets a legitimate DUI and not one from the corrupt cops , they should lose their license forever and branded to prevent them from ever getting behind the wheel again.
 
L

luckykat

Guest
Quote:Originally Posted by SharkysMachine http:///t/397321/has-getting-a-dui-really-become-just-another-day-type-thiing#post_3541156
It's a serious thing yes,  but more importantly why are there so many people on the road today?
Less people = less DUIs, less accidents,  pollution, traffic etc...
 
Per capita all bad things will rise simply due to there being too many people on the road.
Cops are promoted based on the # of arrests.   A DUI is a serious offense however many arrests are false because the cops know they cannot be sued as individuals and the dept seldom gets sued.   They have to find ways to generate revenue for the city.  You tube is full of these videos. 
 
So heres a idea.  If someone gets a legitimate DUI and not one from the corrupt cops , they should lose their license forever and branded to prevent them from ever getting behind the wheel again.

Quote:Originally Posted by SharkysMachine http:///t/397321/has-getting-a-dui-really-become-just-another-day-type-thiing#post_3541156
It's a serious thing yes,  but more importantly why are there so many people on the road today?
Less people = less DUIs, less accidents,  pollution, traffic etc...
 
Per capita all bad things will rise simply due to there being too many people on the road.
Cops are promoted based on the # of arrests.   A DUI is a serious offense however many arrests are false because the cops know they cannot be sued as individuals and the dept seldom gets sued.   They have to find ways to generate revenue for the city.  You tube is full of these videos. 
 
So heres a idea.  If someone gets a legitimate DUI and not one from the corrupt cops , they should lose their license forever and branded to prevent them from ever getting behind the wheel again.
 
reefraff

reefraff

Active Member
Snake, .14 is nearly double the legal limit. And it's DUI as in Driving Under the Influence, not drunk driving and ANYONE is under the influence at .14.
 
silverado61

silverado61

Well-Known Member
1- If your "Friend" has a CDL license, he's lost that endorsement forever.
2- It's 0.01 for CDL holders.
When I was just a kid we got hit by a drunk driver. My Grandmother, Dad and little Brother were killed in that wreck. There were six people in our car. Half of them died on impact. The steering wheel crushed my Dads chest. The total impact was at a rate of 132 mph. The drunks car actually flipped over backwards and settled 150ft away from the point of impact. Our car spun around three times and settled 100ft from the point of impact. That's 250ft apart from each vehicle. At 8yrs old, I had to climb past my Dad, past all the blood, through the windshield to go get help. The impact stopped the clock at 11:58 pm on New Years Eve. How's that for a Happy New Year?
Twenty two years ago I received my CDL endorsement on my license. That's the last day I ever touched alcohol. It's just not worth losing your licence over. Let alone killing innocent people.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by silverado61 http:///t/397321/has-getting-a-dui-really-become-just-another-day-type-thiing#post_3541196
1- If your "Friend" has a CDL license, he's lost that endorsement forever.
2- It's 0.01 for CDL holders.
When I was just a kid we got hit by a drunk driver. My Grandmother, Dad and little Brother were killed in that wreck. There were six people in our car. Half of them died on impact. The steering wheel crushed my Dads chest. The total impact was at a rate of 132 mph. The drunks car actually flipped over backwards and settled 150ft away from the point of impact. Our car spun around three times and settled 100ft from the point of impact. That's 250ft apart from each vehicle. At 8yrs old, I had to climb past my Dad, past all the blood, through the windshield to go get help. The impact stopped the clock at 11:58 pm on New Years Eve. How's that for a Happy New Year?
Twenty two years ago I received my CDL endorsement on my license. That's the last day I ever touched alcohol. It's just not worth losing your licence over. Let alone killing innocent people.


I'm so, so sorry...what an awful experience at such a young age. {{{HUG}}}
 
reefraff

reefraff

Active Member
Damn, Silverado. That sucks.

I lucked out. The idiot who head oned me caught the front left corner of the truck so it turned me to the left instead of stopping me (I was doing about 65). Unfortunately to the left there was an 18 foot deep bar ditch and I was still going fast enough that that truck launched and landed head on into the far bank. That left a mark LOL!

I got really lucky. I got folded, spindled and mutilated but those who saw the wreck figured I was dead.
 
silverado61

silverado61

Well-Known Member
That's was forty five years ago but I still remember every detail like it was yesterday. What it all boils down to is, I have no pity for drunk drivers.
 
silverado61

silverado61

Well-Known Member
Wow! This thread came to a grinding halt. No pun intended. I figured this one would catch like wild fire just like some of the others.
No more comments on clemsons thread?
 
silverado61

silverado61

Well-Known Member
Snake, .14 is nearly double the legal limit. And it's DUI as in Driving Under the Influence, not drunk driving and ANYONE is under the influence at .14.
I don't know what state your from but in Illinois, 0.04 is the legal limit so that's almost 4 time over the limit.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by silverado61 http:///t/397321/has-getting-a-dui-really-become-just-another-day-type-thiing#post_3541416
Wow! This thread came to a grinding halt. No pun intended. I figured this one would catch like wild fire just like some of the others.
No more comments on clemsons thread?


When a thread causes our cyber family members to remember horrible tragedies like it happened yesterday, it kind of makes us stop and think...and let some of what we may have said go. Two of you have experienced great harm and pain already at the hands of a drunk driver.... we don't really need to rehash it. Drunks driving cause great harm, and they don't belong on the road.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
They're pretty hard on the DUIs here and the punishment seems wildly subjective. We had a guy who was subcontracting with us a couple of years ago that is doing 15 years in the slammer for his 3rd one. No accidents but I keep hearing about people on the news getting popped for 4ths and 5this.
Every Friday night the local news plasters the mugshots from all of the DUIs busted throughout the week all over tv. Calls them out by name, posts their picture, even tells you their charge and or sentence.
 
reefraff

reefraff

Active Member
Back in the day (70's and 80's) a family friend got 9 dui's in about an 13 year stretch. Never did real jail time or lost his license. Shortly after they moved to a new house that was across the street from the civic center the drunken fool got lost in the parking lot and asked a couple cops that were there how to get out of the lot. His lawyer got him off that one... It cost them a lot of money until he wised up and quit drinking but dam! Other than fines the worst he ever got was a restriction on his license.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Yeah it's changed up quite a bit with everyone addopting the zero tolerance laws.
I think frequency within a certain time period plays a roll on the severity of the sentence.
 
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