Getting fed up with drunk drivers!

[zakdingel]

The lady that was hit has died. .

Influencer dies after being hit by car outside Soho nightclub

Klaudia Zakrzewska, 32, from Essex, dies in hospital after a collision on Argyll Street in Soho.

www.bbc.co.uk

Yes very sad indeed caught that on The late news last night

 

[Wing Commander]

I sigh a sigh of despair every time someone dies as result of drink driving.
The Drink Driving laws have been with us since 1967. . . It is antisocial and thoroughly frowned upon, but people are still doing it.... and innocent people are still dying, or suffering life changing injuries.

I don't know what it will take to discourage people from driving whilst intoxicated but, personally, I don't think any punishment could be severe enough. . The arrogant swine who drive after drinking (and/or taking drugs) are beneath contempt.
Maybe 20 years minimum behind bars as a mandatory sentence for a first offender might bring peoples' minds into focus.
If we need more prisons to hold them, then let's build them...... now.

 

[Byronic]

I sigh a sigh of despair every time someone dies as result of drink driving.
The Drink Driving laws have been with us since 1967. . . It is antisocial and thoroughly frowned upon, but people are still doing it.... and innocent people are still dying, or suffering life changing injuries.

I don't know what it will take to discourage people from driving whilst intoxicated but, personally, I don't think any punishment could be severe enough. . The arrogant swine who drive after drinking (and/or taking drugs) are beneath contempt.
Maybe 20 years minimum behind bars as a mandatory sentence for a first offender might bring peoples' minds into focus.
If we need more prisons to hold them, then let's build them...... now.

Dartmoor / Princeton is currently unoccupied due to health hazards.

I cannot think of a better place to lock up some prisoners.........

 

[crissdee]

Maybe 20 years minimum behind bars as a mandatory sentence for a first offender might bring peoples' minds into focus.

The trouble with a blanket approach like that is that you get wildly disproportionate sentencing in some cases. Many years ago, a mate of mine had been sat at home all evening, and had a couple of cans of beer with his dinner. Later that evening, he realised he needed to get fuel in his car for the morning, so he nipped down the road a mile or so, filled up, and went back home. On the way back, he got stopped at random as it was "chucking out time". 20 years inside is a little harsh for that. As they said in one of the early ST:TNG episodes ,
"Where laws are absolute, there can be no justice."

 

[Gers32]

I think a good step forward would be to reduce the allowable alcohol level, effectively so that anything more than a pint or one glass of wine will see you banned. The limit in France is half the UK and is based on that one glass of wine.

Friend of ours has been caught here after a couple of glasses of champagne he had with a countryside neighbour (2 minutes down the road) to celebrate the negative result from their last cancer test. They work on a sliding scale from that half UK limit up to the full UK limit driving ban of 12 months and then longer for above that (how long I don't know). So he has been banned for 7 months and is now limited to as far as his electric bicycle will take him. His neighbour takes him shopping every week. Been a real shock for an ex-pub landlord. There isn't that much of a problem with drink driving here and I'm sure with beer in a bar costing £4 for 0.25cL (half a pint) that's something to do with it.

There is a cultural difference as well. People don't go to pubs to drink for the sake of it. They don't drink a bottle of wine dry either, just have one glass from it, push the cork back in and finish it another day.

 

[crissdee]

I think a good step forward would be to reduce the allowable alcohol level, effectively so that anything more than a pint or one glass of wine will see you banned. The limit in France is half the UK and is based on that one glass of wine.

I think it would be better to make the limit zero, then there can be no grey area about "I had a big meal to soak it up" or "I'm a big lad so it doesn't affect me so much" or "I only had (insert whatever you consider a small amount)" or "I thought I could get away with it for just going down the road".

Make the limit nothing, and you either drink, or you drive, never both.

 

[John Pembroke]

Drugs are or are becoming a bigger issue now, for £10 you can get high as a kite, Is cheaper than booze now and just as easy to get.

 

[SpookyESU]

I think it would be better to make the limit zero, then there can be no grey area about "I had a big meal to soak it up" or "I'm a big lad so it doesn't affect me so much" or "I only had (insert whatever you consider a small amount" or "I thought I could get away with it for just going down the road".

Make the limit nothing, and you either drink, or you drive, never both.

You would need a “nominal” base figure to allow for some medical conditions but in general I’d agree. Booze = no driving.
I’m teetotal (I don’t drink alcohol) so even 1 pint would make me unfit to drive. (1/2 a pint would impair my judgement but I would still pass a breath test)

A few years ago a good friend lost her husband to a drink driver (Stuart Blackwell) just before christmas day.
It destroyed their 13 year old daughter.
I’m all for the hardest possible sentences. 100 yards or 100 miles should be zero tolerance.

 

[Aimless]

I think it would be better to make the limit zero, then there can be no grey area about "I had a big meal to soak it up" or "I'm a big lad so it doesn't affect me so much" or "I only had (insert whatever you consider a small amount)" or "I thought I could get away with it for just going down the road".

Make the limit nothing, and you either drink, or you drive, never both.

This is the stance in some countries. Though, there is something to be said about the capability of some drivers, even when fully sober.

The overall standard of driving is already appalling and is then being further affected by drinks, drugs, and mobile phones. We already have laws banning all these behaviours, but the lack of routine investigation, enforcement, and significant punishment makes it "worth the risk".

 

[Wing Commander]

To all those who say it's okay to nip out for just a short journey whilst over the limit, I expect you would modify your views if you have ever been devastated by the affects of drink drivers.

It's a life choice to get drunk or to poison yourself with drugs.... Just don't expect any sympathy if you drive immediately afterwards.
You can't be slightly guilty any more than someone can be only slightly dead.

An intoxicated driver might be sober in a few hours. . . The innocent people they kill stay dead forever.
Get them all off the road before they destroy other people's lives.

 

[Byronic]

To all those who say it's okay to nip out for just a short journey whilst over the limit, I expect you would modify your views if you have ever been devastated by the affects of drink drivers.

It's a life choice to get drunk or to poison yourself with drugs.... Just don't expect any sympathy if you drive immediately afterwards.
You can't be slightly guilty any more than someone can be only slightly dead.

An intoxicated driver might be sober in a few hours. . . The innocent people they kill stay dead forever.
Get them all off the road before they destroy other people's lives.

Absolutely right!

Especially this bit
"Get them all off the road before they destroy other people's lives."

There is never, ever under any circumstances at all a valid reason to Drink and Drive but not to be prosecuted.

Many, if not most, collisions etc occur within a couple of miles radius of home.

The second your tyres touch a public road then you are subject to the full force of the Law - and rightly so.

No excuses or exceptions at all, ever.

 

[Bighit]

The trouble with a blanket approach like that is that you get wildly disproportionate sentencing in some cases. Many years ago, a mate of mine had been sat at home all evening, and had a couple of cans of beer with his dinner. Later that evening, he realised he needed to get fuel in his car for the morning, so he nipped down the road a mile or so, filled up, and went back home. On the way back, he got stopped at random as it was "chucking out time". 20 years inside is a little harsh for that. As they said in one of the early ST:TNG episodes ,
"Where laws are absolute, there can be no justice."

Actions have consequence's and they chose to drive after drinking and got caught so they deserved the ban if one was given .

What was to stop him filling up the next morning ?

I doubt we will ever see a zero tolerance as some are saying should happen as some people produce alcohol in their body eve if they never drink any at all.

Auto Brewery Syndrome does affect some people

https://news.sky.com/story/belgian-brewer-whose-body-produces-its-own-alcohol-cleared-of-drink-driving-13121342

Diabetics can suffer from it also.

Auto-brewery syndrome (ABS), or gut fermentation syndrome, is a rare condition where the body produces alcohol (ethanol) through excessive fermentation of carbohydrates in the gastrointestinal tract, often due to an overgrowth of fungi (such as Candida or Saccharomyces) or bacteria in the gut. It is primarily caused by gut microbiome imbalances (dysbiosis) linked to underlying conditions like diabetes, obesity, Crohn's disease, or recent, prolonged antibiotic use

 

[Byronic]

The trouble with a blanket approach like that is that you get wildly disproportionate sentencing in some cases. Many years ago, a mate of mine had been sat at home all evening, and had a couple of cans of beer with his dinner. Later that evening, he realised he needed to get fuel in his car for the morning, so he nipped down the road a mile or so, filled up, and went back home. On the way back, he got stopped at random as it was "chucking out time". 20 years inside is a little harsh for that. As they said in one of the early ST:TNG episodes ,
"Where laws are absolute, there can be no justice."

Nobody is advocating '20 years inside" AFAIK.

Your mate was driving on a public road after consuming excessive alcohol, presumably?
In which case he is rightly subject to the same Laws as everyone else.

If he has set off on a 100 mile journey or a single mile up the road the offence and penalties are he same.
Rightly so.

Never any excuses at all.
Simple, really.

 

[crissdee]

Nobody is advocating '20 years inside" AFAIK.

@Wing Commander was proposing exactly that in post #102.

I wasn't suggesting that my mate hadn't broken the law, or didn't deserve to get punished, just that 20 years inside would be an overly harsh sentence for it. Iirc, he got a six month ban, which seemed appropriate.