11 ms·

Not to end up on the same side as the anti-taxation guy, but: If I go drive 50mph through a 30mph residential street while I'm talking on my cell phone with on

Not to end up on the same side as the anti-taxation guy, but: If I go drive 50mph through a 30mph residential street while I'm talking on my cell phone with one hand, eating a cheeseburger with the other, and steering with my knees, I'll get charged with speeding and pay a ~$130 fine. If I go drive 25mph through a 30mph residential street with both hands on the wheel and my eyes on the road but I've had two glasses of wine, I'll be assessed ~$1k in "administrative penalties". If I've had three glasses of wine, it's $10k just to plead guilty and avoid all the lawyer's fees. That's life-ruining money for a lot of people. Drive through a stop sign? $220. Stop at a stop sign and proceed when safe to do so, but had three glasses of wine? $10k. Is driving after a few drinks really something like 50x more dangerous than blowing through a stop sign at speed? I agree that "let the drunks drive around until they hit someone" isn't necessarily the best solution, but you have to admit that the way we're dealing with it is nonsensical.

kbenson 11y ago
Part of the problem is the nature of alcohol, and how it changes perception. Alcohol, by it's nature, makes you less able to correctly assess your own state of mind. We punish drunk driving to help counteract this effect, to change the question from just whether you are capable of driving safely to additionally whether you will get in trouble even if you can, This is useful since your opinion of your ability will most likely be inflated, so we as a society have adopted rules that reduce the influence of ability in the positive decision process. Now, I agree that the punishment has gotten out of hand. That's likely because it didn't have the impact it was hoped it would have, and so the punishment has been slowly ratcheted up over the decades to try to counteract this. That's an unfortunate side effect, and worth its own conversation as I agree it can literally ruin people's lives, but I think it's a distinct issue from whether drunk driving should be punished at all. > Is driving after a few drinks really something like 50x more dangerous than blowing through a stop sign at speed? I'm not sure, but in whatever calculations we make about this, we need to keep in mind a few additional points when considering driving while intoxicated. First, intoxication does not cease when the problem situation starts. That is, a distracted person may notice a pending accident too late to prevent it, but they still have a chance, under full control of their faculties, to try to mitigate the problem. Second, a driver distracted through their own fault may alter that behavior at any point, while an intoxicated person cannot (a person distracted from outside stimuli is not something you can really guard against).

kbenson 11y ago

Part of the problem is the nature of alcohol, and how it changes perception. Alcohol, by it's nature, makes you less able to correctly assess your own state of mind. We punish drunk driving to help counteract this effect, to change the question from just whether you are capable of driving safely to additionally whether you will get in trouble even if you can, This is useful since your opinion of your ability will most likely be inflated, so we as a society have adopted rules that reduce the influence of ability in the positive decision process. Now, I agree that the punishment has gotten out of hand. That's likely because it didn't have the impact it was hoped it would have, and so the punishment has been slowly ratcheted up over the decades to try to counteract this. That's an unfortunate side effect, and worth its own conversation as I agree it can literally ruin people's lives, but I think it's a distinct issue from whether drunk driving should be punished at all. > Is driving after a few drinks really something like 50x more dangerous than blowing through a stop sign at speed? I'm not sure, but in whatever calculations we make about this, we need to keep in mind a few additional points when considering driving while intoxicated. First, intoxication does not cease when the problem situation starts. That is, a distracted person may notice a pending accident too late to prevent it, but they still have a chance, under full control of their faculties, to try to mitigate the problem. Second, a driver distracted through their own fault may alter that behavior at any point, while an intoxicated person cannot (a person distracted from outside stimuli is not something you can really guard against).