There is a strong correlation between increased arrests and decreased fatalities as the assumption is more people are getting caught before killing somebody. There is also an assumption that fewer people are driving while intoxicated to avoid being arrested.
I don’t see any problem with cracking down on DUI. More power to them.
agreed lastbat. i can’t believe anyone would promote drinking and driving (dread – shame on you) as if you aren’t against drinking and driving then you are for it. Sorry but this is one issue where there is no grey.
I agree; it’s not that I don’t think DUI is a serious problem but these are the easy law enforcement activities. What I’d like to see is more traffic control, removing slow drivers from the passing lane, targeting aggressive drivers who tailgate, ticketing those who enter the roadway without yielding to oncoming traffic already on the road. And what about those who slow traffic by refusing to get into the exit lane until the last minute, chipping into the line, etc. and not waiting their turn? What about all the copper thefts going on at construction sites in PA? This has become a joke to us. Crimes of property are never deterred because the thieves know the police are out after the DUIs instead of patrolling neighborhoods or the beltways. I think DUI is a backdoor program to fund the county governments; they have probation staff and tons of resources dedicated to these programs. This just criminalizes what is actually a mental health issue….
As large fines are meant to deter drunk driving, the flip side is that is all municipalities seem to go after. There’s no money for law enforcement if they catch a burglar or speeder. The big money is in DUI while speeders and otherwise bad drivers that can’t drive sober get a pass.
Thanks MADD. Do nothing to save lives and everything to criminalize consumers of alcohol.
Since I don’t have cable I only get whatever the local station decides to put on and whatever Yahoo, MSN and Slate show for news on their front pages. That being said I have not seen anything about MADD trying to make alcohol illegal. In fact, I haven’t heard anything about MADD in a long time. That tells me that anything they are doing is either: along the same lines they’ve done for years working the DUI circuit, accomplished behind closed doors, or non-existent.
I’m all for busting criminals and going after bad drivers. DUI is just a part of the problem, but is a part that already has a lot of hype around it so is good for drawing attention.
And you can’t say busting people for DUI does nothing to save lives. There’s a strong correlation between cracking down on DUI and decreased fatalities. It’s not a panacea, but it’s part of the solution.
And busting people for DUI is better than going after the bar under a dram shop law.
I have to agree that DUI enforcement actually accomplished something but as Dread noted, that is all they go after now, since there is money in it. It is like its own little industry; nothing else gets done because DUI enforcement is much easier and develops “good” results quickly. I just want to see police enforce the rest of the criminal code. DUI enforcement is like shooting fish in a barrel…..as for MADD, they don’t have to lobby hard anymore because the police and courts are on their band wagon; no need to have pep rallies anymore, if everyone has their own pom-poms (tongue firmly in cheek):-)
Come on Stat Man. You have to admit that DUI is still a major problem in PA and Drunks kill way too many innocent people. I say law enforcement needs to continue the good job and even step it up a bit. Since your name is stat man you should know the numbers behind this issue. I call for more enforcement and tougher penalties.
I was talking to STAT MAN NOT Dread.
Besides, I highly doubt your statistics are correct and even if they are that still leaves 10% of innocent lives lost.
I guess you must be upset because you probably had some DUIs
Dread, I’m curious where you get your figure. I don’t have any myself, but it seems every time I hear about a drunk driver on the news they walk away without injury and the other guy dies. Seems being loose from the drink has its advantages in a crash.
I don’t know that we are that far apart except as I said, I want to see balanced law enforcement. We don’t stay for more than two drinks after dinner anymore because I have to drive home some 10-15 miles; I try to keep below the legal limit. What I am complaining about is that while they pay overtime for DUI enforcement, where were they when someone broke into my shed over the weekend and took my tractor for a joyride where it ended up in a farm a couple of hundred yards away; or where were they when thieves broke out a display window and stole 3 Kawasaki motorcycles and a tag-along trailer over the weekend at the car show? I’ll bet the owner of that shiny like-new 1972 Corvette felt safe when he parked his car in downtown, went to dinner and found his car was stolen in broad daylight….you’d think that the police would have been able to find that car somewhere over the next couple of days but I guess that’s not a high priority. The officer merely noted that it was no big deal because after all the owner had insurance….
OK STAT GUY I see your point. But we still need sufficient resources to catch drunk drivers. It’s prom and graduation time and each year we see a lot of alcohol related fatalities with our teens. I just wish that could be prevented more. I hope your mower wasn’t damaged.
You are correct about all the mayhem committed by those folks who won’t drink responsibly, let alone drive while impaired. The one point we all can agree on is that tough enforcement IS needed because of the repeat offenders who end up, eventually, ruining families. There has to be a middle ground, but I don’t think we’ll be able to find it until more people just follow the law. Some require stiff jail sentences. There were DUI’s when I was a kid but they were fewer;s seems more people over drink, drive too fast etc. One more thing, the mower was not damaged but there have been 4, yes 4, DUIs where the driver ran into the fence at the end of our yard; these were married women with children,some are neighbors, who missed the stop sign at a “TEE” across from our property. Of course, they must pay restitution. As you can see from this,I live within the legal limits but many cannot
More MADD propaganda. Are they now implying less death is directly attributable to the number of DUI arrests?
DUI arrests fund MADD and law enforcement? Why not claim we have a huge problem when we don’t? For the money.
15,000 x 10,000 arrestee = 150,000,000 million for the state of PA. that’s one way to balance the budget.
There is a strong correlation between increased arrests and decreased fatalities as the assumption is more people are getting caught before killing somebody. There is also an assumption that fewer people are driving while intoxicated to avoid being arrested.
I don’t see any problem with cracking down on DUI. More power to them.
agreed lastbat. i can’t believe anyone would promote drinking and driving (dread – shame on you) as if you aren’t against drinking and driving then you are for it. Sorry but this is one issue where there is no grey.
I agree; it’s not that I don’t think DUI is a serious problem but these are the easy law enforcement activities. What I’d like to see is more traffic control, removing slow drivers from the passing lane, targeting aggressive drivers who tailgate, ticketing those who enter the roadway without yielding to oncoming traffic already on the road. And what about those who slow traffic by refusing to get into the exit lane until the last minute, chipping into the line, etc. and not waiting their turn? What about all the copper thefts going on at construction sites in PA? This has become a joke to us. Crimes of property are never deterred because the thieves know the police are out after the DUIs instead of patrolling neighborhoods or the beltways. I think DUI is a backdoor program to fund the county governments; they have probation staff and tons of resources dedicated to these programs. This just criminalizes what is actually a mental health issue….
As large fines are meant to deter drunk driving, the flip side is that is all municipalities seem to go after. There’s no money for law enforcement if they catch a burglar or speeder. The big money is in DUI while speeders and otherwise bad drivers that can’t drive sober get a pass.
Thanks MADD. Do nothing to save lives and everything to criminalize consumers of alcohol.
MADD will not stop until all alcohol is banned.
Since I don’t have cable I only get whatever the local station decides to put on and whatever Yahoo, MSN and Slate show for news on their front pages. That being said I have not seen anything about MADD trying to make alcohol illegal. In fact, I haven’t heard anything about MADD in a long time. That tells me that anything they are doing is either: along the same lines they’ve done for years working the DUI circuit, accomplished behind closed doors, or non-existent.
I’m all for busting criminals and going after bad drivers. DUI is just a part of the problem, but is a part that already has a lot of hype around it so is good for drawing attention.
And you can’t say busting people for DUI does nothing to save lives. There’s a strong correlation between cracking down on DUI and decreased fatalities. It’s not a panacea, but it’s part of the solution.
And busting people for DUI is better than going after the bar under a dram shop law.
I have to agree that DUI enforcement actually accomplished something but as Dread noted, that is all they go after now, since there is money in it. It is like its own little industry; nothing else gets done because DUI enforcement is much easier and develops “good” results quickly. I just want to see police enforce the rest of the criminal code. DUI enforcement is like shooting fish in a barrel…..as for MADD, they don’t have to lobby hard anymore because the police and courts are on their band wagon; no need to have pep rallies anymore, if everyone has their own pom-poms (tongue firmly in cheek):-)
Come on Stat Man. You have to admit that DUI is still a major problem in PA and Drunks kill way too many innocent people. I say law enforcement needs to continue the good job and even step it up a bit. Since your name is stat man you should know the numbers behind this issue. I call for more enforcement and tougher penalties.
Am I way off. Over 90% of the time, the drunk kills himself with no harm to innocent people. Call it culling of the herd.
Here’s an interesting video on how many “innocent” lives were impacted in Ohio.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR6w0cnYdIE
It helps to read the stats correctly, well not the way MADD wants you to read them.
I was talking to STAT MAN NOT Dread.
Besides, I highly doubt your statistics are correct and even if they are that still leaves 10% of innocent lives lost.
I guess you must be upset because you probably had some DUIs
Dread, I’m curious where you get your figure. I don’t have any myself, but it seems every time I hear about a drunk driver on the news they walk away without injury and the other guy dies. Seems being loose from the drink has its advantages in a crash.
Just wondering.
I don’t know that we are that far apart except as I said, I want to see balanced law enforcement. We don’t stay for more than two drinks after dinner anymore because I have to drive home some 10-15 miles; I try to keep below the legal limit. What I am complaining about is that while they pay overtime for DUI enforcement, where were they when someone broke into my shed over the weekend and took my tractor for a joyride where it ended up in a farm a couple of hundred yards away; or where were they when thieves broke out a display window and stole 3 Kawasaki motorcycles and a tag-along trailer over the weekend at the car show? I’ll bet the owner of that shiny like-new 1972 Corvette felt safe when he parked his car in downtown, went to dinner and found his car was stolen in broad daylight….you’d think that the police would have been able to find that car somewhere over the next couple of days but I guess that’s not a high priority. The officer merely noted that it was no big deal because after all the owner had insurance….
OK STAT GUY I see your point. But we still need sufficient resources to catch drunk drivers. It’s prom and graduation time and each year we see a lot of alcohol related fatalities with our teens. I just wish that could be prevented more. I hope your mower wasn’t damaged.
You are correct about all the mayhem committed by those folks who won’t drink responsibly, let alone drive while impaired. The one point we all can agree on is that tough enforcement IS needed because of the repeat offenders who end up, eventually, ruining families. There has to be a middle ground, but I don’t think we’ll be able to find it until more people just follow the law. Some require stiff jail sentences. There were DUI’s when I was a kid but they were fewer;s seems more people over drink, drive too fast etc. One more thing, the mower was not damaged but there have been 4, yes 4, DUIs where the driver ran into the fence at the end of our yard; these were married women with children,some are neighbors, who missed the stop sign at a “TEE” across from our property. Of course, they must pay restitution. As you can see from this,I live within the legal limits but many cannot