Drunk Driving & DUI Laws

There are more people driving, more people drinking, and more people driving drunk than ever before. The questions still remain whether DUI laws in various states are too severe, and, at the same time, whether those arrested for DUI who can afford aggressive, high-priced lawyers can get away with it, while poorer drivers lose their licenses, and maybe their jobs, in addition to having their car insurance rates sky-rocket.

"Alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes kill someone every 30 minutes and non-fatally injure someone every two minutes" (MADD 2003 1). MADD statistics also reveal that "during 2001, 17,448 people in the U.S. died in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, representing 41% of all traffic-related deaths" (MADD 2003 1).

While newspaper headlines usually write about famous personalities arrested for drunk driving (Diana Ross, Nick Nolte, Sean Penn, among others) it is the ordinary citizens who suffer the most. At the same time, intoxicated drivers' arrests are increasing: "Approximately 1.5 million drivers were arrested in 2000 for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. That's just over 1% of the estimated 120 million or more episodes of impaired driving that occur among U.S. adults each year" (MADD 2003 1).

Of course, statistics may well be misleading. The question is whether these "drunk" drivers committed some sort of accident that may be totally unrelated to their drinking. There are many who feel some of the DUI arrests

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tates. In Utah, for example, the complicated DUI problem "is in the area of data collection�(but now there is in place a law) toward collecting important DUI-related facts and making the information accessible" (Kinkead 2003 1). Existing law and data banks aside, drunk driving is a moral issue as well. Much of the public feels that drinking should not be considered a sin, or against the law, except in the case of under-age drinking. However,. Where the moral dilemma comes in is whether someone who has been drinking should be allowed to drive, even if his driving may not result in an accident. There are those who argue that some of the problems or incidents may have nothing to do with alcohol, but driving errors that anyone might make, such as rolling though a stop sign, or even making an illegal left turn. In fact, there are even legal experts who are adamant in their belief that an accident that caused a fatality or injury may not be related to alcohol. Of course, these are DEFENSE lawyers venting their opinions. However, let's get back to the under0-age drinking problem, which has spilled over into accidents- many fatal to another driver, pedestrian, or driver and passengers themselves. According to MADD (2003) "youn

Category: Government - D