Sorry to sound a little harsh here, and let me preclude this my saying I am truly sorry and upset to hear of your teamate's untimely demise in such awful circumstances.
R.I.P. Beau.
Solving drunk driving has nothing to do with the Bars though. They responsibly serve drinks to paying patrons. They cannot be responsible for the hundreds of customers that come to them, nor how they choose to leave, unless laws are passed that permit bar owners to detain inebriated clientele if they attempt to drive, which I believe most people would view as impinging on their civil rights.
The problem with drunk drivers in the USA is that the system is too lenient on them. First offense here seems to carry very little penalty unless you actually kill or maim someone. 3 month ban (in serious cases) with the option to reduce this by AA classes, and driving school, very little jail time and minimal (i.e. $1000-ish fines) is not a sufficient deterrent to stop people doing it, and certainly not enough to keep people from reoffending. I recall a prominent WRS member here who was seriously injured by a drunk driver, not on his first offence, but his third!!!
There is no reason at all that a person previously convicted of drunk driving once, should be allowed not only a second, but a third chance, no matter if you've Paris Hilton's money or not.
Have a search for drink driving penalties around the world, and ask yourself if this country has a sufficient deterrent to stop people from doing it?
If I recall correctly, Bolivia & Poland are 2 of the world's strictest anti-drink driving sentences for first offenders. Imagine their penalties here! Would that make you think twice, rather than the lenient "slap on the wrist" in the US?
Even in my home country, first offence for drink drivers is an automatic, no-questions-asked 12 month ban + fines & possible jail time. And thus people are much more careful about what they drink before they drive, even in the liberal and much more widespread pub & drinking culture in Britain. I'm not saying folks never drink & drive, but compared to here it's a lot less prevalent, and most people with either opt to not drink at all or have 1 beer, wine or shot and no more if they know they have to drive home afterwards. It's just not worth the risk!
from 80mg.org.uk website
Penalties
For any offence of driving or attempting to drive while over the prescribed alcohol limit, there is a mandatory minimum sentence of one year's disqualification. This can only be waived in very exceptional circumstances, such as if the offence was committed in response to a medical emergency, or if the offender would be completely unable to earn a living. A first offender will also receive a fine, typically around £300 - £400, although fines can be below £100 for offenders of limited means.
Magistrates have the power to impose longer periods of disqualification and are increasingly making use of this - in some cases 18-month bans have been imposed for BACs below 120 mg. The maximum sentence that can be imposed for driving with excess alcohol is a fine of £5,000, and a 6-month prison sentence, something that is not as widely appreciated as it should be.
If an offender has committed a second offence within a ten-year period, or has a BAC over 2.5 times the legal limit (i.e. 200 mg or above), they will be classed as a "high-risk offender". They will receive a three-year minimum mandatory period of disqualification, and before they can drive again will be required to satisfy a doctor - at their own expense - that they do not have an ongoing alcohol problem.
The penalties for refusing a breath or blood test at the police station are identical to those for a "standard" offence. However, the courts are likely to impose penalties well above the minimum for this offence - often a ban of eighteen months or two years - as refusal can clearly be used to conceal a very high blood-alcohol level.
There are also various charges relating to being "in charge" of a vehicle, but not driving or attempting to drive it. These do not carry mandatory disqualification, although the penalties can still be severe, typically 10 penalty points. The police often take a very broad view of attempting to drive - for example a man who had left his car in a pub car park, had too much to drink, and decided to retrieve his briefcase from the boot before phoning for a cab home, was convicted of attempting to drive, and disqualified.
You should be aware that if your car is parked in the street, you are committing an offence if you even so much as touch it while over the drink-drive limit. You should certainly not, for example, help to push it away from blocking a driveway.
There's no ambiguity, such as walking a line or reciting the alphabet backwards, in most other countries. You blow in the machine if you're pulled over and 30s later there's a verdict. Fail and you're off to the police station to do a confirmatory test, and if you refuse, well, it's described in the quote above.
Which in essence is a great thing! 👍
Again, I'm sorry if this seems harsh, but you owe it to Beau, to make sure that this drunk driver (if he survived the accident too) never drives again. 💡
Make it known that it won't be tolerated, by harsher sentencing, and that "one for the road" mentality
will have to become a thing of the past. 👍
And in doing so the roads become safer for everybody.
