Persons who consume alcoholic beverages and then attempt to operate a motor vehicle are a significant problem in society today. Of the more than 50,000 highway fatalities which occur each year, half or more are associated with an intoxicated driver. And, sadly, many times it is not the drunk driven who is killed as the result of his or her actions behind the wheel.
Some states have, or are now considering, a "zero tolerance" approach to under-aged drunk drivers. In such instances, any level of alcohol in the person's bloodstream subjects that person to the revocation of driving privileges for one or more years. But this is not a severe enough penalty, even for adult drunk drivers.
Judicial attitudes toward drunk driving vary from court to court, from state to state; there needs to be more uniformity in dealing with drunk drivers. While the economic penalty of a few days in jail and/or a fine of a few hundred dollars may be satisfactory in some cases, something more substantial, more meaningful needs to be applied in every case.
If it were in my power to do so, I would confiscate the motor vehicle which was being driven by an intoxicated person. That vehicle would then be sold at auction as is the property (cars, boats, homes, etc.) of drug dealers under federal law. The money raised could be given to the families of victims of drunk driving accidents and fund anti-drunk driving campaigns. If a person knew his $30,000+ car, paid for or not, would be taken away if he or she was caught driving intoxicated, there might be fewer drunk drivers on the road.
The civil strife in the former Yugoslavia, in large part the religious-ethnic intolerance of one group for another (Serbs against Croats, Christians against Muslims), is appalling. Thousands of innocent men, women, and children have fallen victim to the indiscriminate sniper attacks and bombardment of non-military targets. Beyond this are deaths due to starvat...