Regular Guy, I do understand your pain in this and do feel bad for you...but of course you must realize that plenty of people are killed by drunk drivers who are nice people and are driving that way for the first time in their lives...and, as it turns out in some cases, the last.
Thank you for your concern Bumfie but I have never been convicted of DUI nor is any court case pending. But thanks for the thought. In my last post I spoke of the danger of preconceived notions affecting how we legislate. I would prefer if anyone in this discussion who makes a conclusive statement back that up with facts, verifiable statistics or the like. The only way I will come to realize that “plenty” of people are killed by drunk drivers who driving that way for the first time in their lives is when I see the stats, real stats, not stats born of junk science. When we make statements about people just on a gut feeling we risk doing people an injustice both in our opinion or through legislation.
So what is your big & personnal, ruined your life story? Got none? I didn't think you did. Keep driving sloshed. Keep driving just buzzed.
The first time offender is an offender who was not caught before. I know it, they know it, we know it, you know it.
Two things Mike, it isn't about nor does it have to be about me. As for what I know, what you think you know, or what you think everyone knows, how can anyone defend against a statement like that. I guess it simply is because someone says so and who are we to question it?
Just a comment on this, I believe that a criminal record for life can ruin the life of a young person looking to start a career in many professions, (e.g. education, nursing, etc.). Just seems to be a bit over the top for a first time offender who has harmed no one nor who has ever driven drunk before in his/her life.No one's life is ruined. Except, of course, the life of someone who is killed by a drunk driver, or has a child or spouse or parent killed by one.
This whole discussion, for me, is not about the blame. It's about what you refer to as “the price”. I had hoped I had made that clear. Is the price appropriate? When placed in context in our criminal justice system and compared with other transgressions, the penalties involved here for the first time offender are way over the top. They have not been set in the normal course of things, nor have they been set by something called “the system.” Powerful Special Interest Groups influencing legislators have worked behind the scenes and with slick marketing campaigns out front, to meet their own agendas of influencing public perception and implementing their own ideas as to what penalties should be. Is it that easy to arrest the workings of reason and astuteness in Canadians that they can be influenced to buy into this stuff? Apparently so!Who is forcing anybody to drink and drive? You want to have 4-5 beers in a few hours and drive? It's your problem. You choose to be irresponsible, you better be ready to pay the price. It doesn't matter if you do it one or 10 times, it's the same thing: you are impaired enough to be dangerous. That is enough to make you suffer the consequences if you get cought. At .08 most peoples start to become dangerous so, changing it to .1 or .12 would be ridiculous.
But, all things considered, I'll say this much. Can we at least agree on one point that is glaringly obvious? The ignition Interlock Device which can ask for a rolling retest, randomly (and that includes in the middle of rush hour traffic in the left lane of the 40) is a safety hazard as dangerous if not more dangerous than the use of a cell phone under the same circumstances. Further that the fact that, the Quebec government states on its website that the Ignition Interlock Device is only needed to start the vehicle, is a major omission for which they themselves are responsible (Funny there are no penalties for that one!). And if we want to talk about killed or maimed, I want to be there when the mother of a dead child shows up to ask what jackass mandated the use of the device which caused the death of her child. How will that “jackass pay?” Well don't hold your breath.
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