tronvillain

To deter people from driving drunk, we make doing so a crime regardless of whether it results in harm in a specific instance.

99Percent

Sakpo: While there may be no intent to actively go out and kill somebody driving while intoxicated does show a reckless disregard for the lives of other people out on the roads.

The problem is that drinking impairs the ability to judge whether you are actually to drunk to drive to begin with. So what starts out as a simple drinking session can turn out to be a very fatal accident, without any intent whatsoever.

I think that in the U.S. drunk driving is a very grave problem because the country as adopted the car as its main mode of transportation and is accustomed to using the car like second nature. Heavy subsidy from the government to promote highway building does not help.

Samsa

Whenever someone's operating a machine/device, or performing a procedure, in which misjudgement could cause death or injury to others, I sure as hell want there to be laws against that person deliberately impairing themselves. Be it drink, lack of sleep, drugs, or anything else.

Preventing accidents by hauling drunks of the road is far better than waiting till they crash, then having to clean up the mess. Many civic rights are worth fighting for. The right to drive while plastered doesn't sound like one of them.

Slartibartfast

Samsa -

I assume you also want people driving while talking on the cellphone off the road, as well as those driving while eating, those distracted by kids fighting in the back, etc?

To all: Why should punishment have a deterrent value? Is it not more fair to the criminal to solely punish the crime?

zamboniavenger

I believe it's really very simple. To prevent innocent people from being killed.

ohwilleke

Drunk driving should be illegal because it provides police with a tool to prevent accidents which are likely to happen (compared to uninebriated driving) before they actually do happen.

Having an accident is not criminally illegal. Even if the accident is your fault and you are merely careless, causing a death while driving carelessly is a mere traffic offense in most states with minor penalties. Reckless driving causing death, in contrast, is vehicular homicide wiht serious penalties. Drunk driving laws provide an easy way to determine if a driver were merely careless, or actually reckless, with a conclusive presumption that driving while drunk is inherently reckless -- a useful thing to know since many accidents do not have any witnesses other than the driver at fault, which makes it hard to prove reckless driving.

Deteurrent and punishment values are so hard to distingish that it is futile to even try to do. Certainly, deducting points from a license clearly does have useful deteurrent value.

tronvillain

Slartibartfast:
What? We made drunk driving a crime, so the criminal is only being punished for the crime. Still, is this really a difficult concept for you? You don't think deterrence is a good thing?

Sakpo

Nobody is forced to drink alcohol, people should make alternate transportation plans if they're going to be drinking. If they're not sure they're sober they shouldn't be driving. "I was drunk" is no excuse for drunk driving. I agree that the car culture is a problem, but it doesn't absolve individual responsibility.

Samsa

Yes, drivers who use cellphones or eat while driving should be taken off the road. They're deliberately hampering their ability to drive.

Children fighting in the back is incidental, much like being momentarily blinded by a sneeze. Unexpected impairments don't deserve censure.

If a society wishes to prevent criminal acts, rather than simply dealing with each one as they occur, then deterrence is justified.

Kachana

Yes. Recently a guy in England fell asleep at the wheel, careered down a bank onto a railway line, and caused the deaths of 10 people on a train. The jury were convinced that he knew he was very tired when he set out on the journey (he'd had only a couple of hours sleep) and now he is serving a 5 year prison sentence. He was RESPONSIBLE for the deaths in as far as he was driving in a knowledgeably very impaired state of mind.