Several Reasons WHY NOT to drink and drive What Other Countries Do To Drunk Drivers: Australia: The names of the drivers are sent to the local newspaper and are printed for 10 consecutive days under the heading: "He's Drunk and in Jail." (hmm Flamey, was that your name in the Perth Times I saw the other day? ) Malaysia: The driver is jailed and if he is married, his wife is jailed too. South Africa: A ten year prison sentence and the equalvent of a $10,000 dollar fine or both. Turkey: Drunken drivers are taken 20 miles from town by police and forced to walk back under escort. Norway: Three weeks in jail at hard labor, one year loss of license. Italy: Three months in jail, one year suspended license. Second offense within five years, license revoked for life. Finland and Sweden: Automatically jailed for one year of hard labor. Costa Rica: Police remove plate from car (this doesn't seem harsh..) Russia: License revoked for life. (on first offense...) England: One year suspension and a $250.00 pound fine, and jail for one year. France: Three year loss of license, one year in jail and $1000 fine. Poland: Jail, fine and forced to attend political lectures. Bulgaria: A second conviction results in execution.... El Salvador: Your first offense is your last - execution by firing squad.
LMAO! The Perth Times! Pick either The West Australian or The Sunday Times. Also I have never seen this punishment. If we drive over 0.5 we get fined and lose points on our licenses. It takes years to get them back and once you have no points, no license.
For information only ... The UK position is this: Driving/Attempting to Drive with excess alcohol (DR10) Penalty - Fine - up to Level 5 (5,000) and/or up to 6 months imprisonment Mandatory disqualification for at least 12 months for first offence Mandatory disqualification for at least 3 years for second offence within 10 years. Notes. Jail is common for repeat offenders. Additionally the drivers' licence is endorsed (marked) with the penalty code (DR##) and the endorsement remains there for 10 years. People with DR codes on their licence typically pay substantially higher insurance premiums. Vehicular homicide while under the influence carries a max 10 year jail sentence. Police can stop anyone suspected of drink-driving and require a breath test, failure (or failure instantly to comply) leads to instant arrest and a trip to the station Failing to provide a roadside breath test (Code DR70) Penalty - Fine - up to Level 3 (1,000)4 penalty points on your licence Disqualification is at the discretion of the Court Insurance is mandatory and costs around 1,000pa for a young driver of a low-powered car (for 3rd party risk/public liability only -- collision damage and theft cover depends on the car's value, 3rd party cover costs increase with the car's performance )
I think we should have a law like France's in our country. Or Canada's. At any rate I can't believe how lax we are on this. It should be a felony, and there should be much harsher punishments. Drinking and then driving is the same as taking a loaded gun and shooting it off randomly in public. You might kill someone, you might not, but what the heck, huh? Party on. Also, did you know in some states it's illegal to drink and drive but not illegal to drive stoned or high? No one's bothered to update the law in some cases. AAAAAAAAAAAAA ...
Heh. I actually meant how many people there risk drinking and driving if they know they'll be executed if caught... Because here (Canada) people all know the consequences yet we still have a rather large rate of drunks behind the wheel.
Unfortunately, we have a large number of drunk drivers around here, too. The problem with drunks is that they're real stupid. Drinking does that to you. Turns you stupid. Judgement is severely impaired and you're too stupid to know it and too stupid to think of such things as consequences. Have I said 'stupid' enough? You can't say it enough.
I don't even care about stupid. I just care about destructive. Be as stupid as you like. Just stay away from the wheel of a vehicle. Once you get behind the wheel you've become a felon already, in my book.
Unfortunately, they're too stupid to do that. I've been in more than one group outing where we had to take the keys away from an idiot who insisted he was perfectly OK for driving home when he clearly was not. Sometimes, I think, it is not so clear that someone is impaired and doesn't know it. Other times, there's no one around who cares enough to take the keys away. My point is, you can't rely on the judgement of someone who is drunk about their ability to drive because they have no judgement at all. They give no thought to consequences because they do not recognize that they are drunk. Sorry for ranting. I was once upon a time married to one of those idiots. Thank God he never hurt anyone but that was only by chance. I spent a lot of time driving him to and from work and lots of other places to keep him from getting behind the wheel but sometimes I just couldn't be there and his buddies didn't take the keys away. Oh, yes, he has a 'problem.' But he has never admitted it or sought help for it.
The reason we are so lax on this in America is because our culture has treated driving like a right, not a privledge. Yes, you can lose your lisence. Yes, you can trash your car. Does this mean you can't drive? No. I once watched an official at the Secretary of State Driver's License Office retest an elderly lady 10 times at the sight test (all failed) and the lady still got her license. Not an ID, a driver's license. That scares me.:(
Let me preface this by saying that I don't believe that lady should have been given a license. But that old lady that can't see very well doesn't scare me nearly as much as that cowboy who's snot slinging drunk. The difference is that old lady probably knows that she has bad eye sight and only drives out of "necessity" and is as cautious as she possibly can be when she's driving. That drunk cowboy on the other hand thinks he's 10 feet tall and bullet proof, he also firmly believes that he is in full control of his faculties with the reflexes of a cat, and the driving ability of a young Richard Petty. Besides when I pull in behind a car and all I can see is a pair of hands with a death grip on the steering wheel and maybe some blue hair peeping out over the head rest, I'm gonna take extra precautions. A drunk may not be as easy to spot. Ruth
Lol, that is quite true Ruth. I will agree with you on that one. My poor grandma right now, my grandpa just had a very small stroke and has lost part of his periphial vision out of his left eye. My grandma rarely drives and now she has to drive them everywhere for the time being until, hopefully, my grandpa's sight improves and goes back to normal. I can see her doing that above thing exactly like you said, but I'd rather have her on the road vs. a drunk. Of course my grandmother's sight is very good. My grandpa on the otherhand, even with his full vision he was a terrible driver...that's a toss up. Because he doesn't have the best vision he often would just "forget" to look before turning, I'm surprised that he hasn't been in a serious accident yet.
