And what about the culture where drinking and driving is, in many states, acceptable? Why isn't there a dramatic and meaningful campaign to demonstrate that there is really only zero-tolerance to drink-driving that is acceptable?
States have been cracking down on drunk driving for the past decade or two. If there ever was a culture where drinking and driving was "acceptable" on a state level it has long since disappeared.
If you don't mind me asking, where do you currently live (you're clearly from the Queen's domain) and, if it isn't in the US, how did you get this idea that the US doesn't take drinking and driving seriously?
Look at my other post in this threads to see where I'm coming from, but - I don't think these things work well. Probably statistics prove me wrong. On the other hand, statistics prove me wrong every time I complain about Harry Potter.
Is a morbid/overly scary scene really going to reach the people that are (for all I know) most vulnerable to 'drink driving' (Never heard that combination before, not a native speaker, copying here)? I'd set a good bet on 'no way'. It's either 'stupid' (You know.. You can do it better. You are a GOOD driver) or 'lecturing' (Thank you. YES, I know that it is bad. YES, I will be careful).
In Germany we used to have things like that for speeding. You're on a street without speed limit, but the road sign shows a lone guy, looking at a black framed picture of his family, subtitled 'Don't go too fast' or something.
I failed to see any reaction among the people that passed by to that and I know that I don't like trying to play with emotions/wasn't vulnerable to these things. Still, we have thousands of those, in wild varieties (small girls without her parents seem to be the rage right now).
In the uk at least, there was a large amount of misinformation and bad knowledge about the real effects, what happens at one drink/two drinks, etc. It's also a case of- it's so horrific, that unless it happens to affect you directly, you tend to ignore it- it's too much to take in.
I think these campaigns were incredibly effective at reminding everyone that zero-tolerance is the only safe option, and that the results are catastrophic.
Remember, it's as much about reminding normal/decent people to take their more vulnerable friend's keys away from them before they do something stupid. Peer pressure is a strong motivator not to do it again. :)
While I do think the UK PSAs are probably very effective, I don't think it necessarily holds that the countries with the most shocking PSAs are the ones with the smallest drink-driving problems.
I don't have any data to back it up, but I do remember seeing statistics which showed that, after the successful PSA campaigns in the 90s, the UK had to start seriously considering the effect of the road quality as contributory to accidents.
Reading between the lines:
a: car manufacturers make safer cars
b: driving education is both better than it ever has been, and one of the best in the world (but there's still some to go! see scandinavia's skid pan training and such for ALL drivers!)
c: driver error is a lot smaller than it used to be.
Yes, there are still those who will drink and drive. I think we need to go thru one or two more generations before this is essentially eradicated. But the gulf of difference between the UK and US attitude to this is astounding.
I lived in the UK for the first 27 years of my life. Admitting to drinking and driving there, in my experience, elicited very strongly-voiced disapproval. And not just from some particular demographic - it was universal.
I moved to California in 2003. The day I went to WaMu to open a US bank account, the teller was annoyed it was raining, because she was going out drinking that night and would have to drive back "buzzed and in the rain" from SF to Mountain View. I was shocked, but unfortunately I can't say it's been an isolated occurrence here.
I live in the UK also, and while it is disapproved very strongly by lots of people, there are still plenty of people that drink drive. Amongst some generations, and within certain public houses, you'll find it's done on a nightly basis.
I live in New York, where the average driving skill is one of the poorest i've ever had to be around in the western world.
I know that states are 'cracking down'. But till you see some of the PSAs that the UK and European countries have issued to 'crack down' on drink driving, you'll note that there's simply no question as to the laissez-faire approach to drink-driving in this country.
Whilst attorneys can still advertise quite so blatantly to help you 'get off' your DUI/DWI convictions, without any social consequence, and where major motion pictures make light of it (Bad Teacher recently features a scene where Cameron Diaz's character suggests it's ok to drive home as she's only "Buzzed"), it's CLEAR that the attitude here is inadequate.
To be clearer: there's now a healthy social stigma in the UK to go out and drink and drive; friends will forcibly remove you from your keys if you've been drinking - and it's ok. The punishment is also more significant, where drink driving is considered dangerous driving - not a misdemeanor or less.
And most importantly (which somewhat counters my arguments-- but only tangentially) much of the US land mass is a single, lonely road from a bar to your house. When you don't see another car for ages, it might seem ok to drive home when you've had a bit too much - what can go wrong, you might run off the road and take a nap?
But this doesn't apply in mountainous regions, or other places where you have to have your wits about you because the terrain isn't a wide, open plain.
and it certainly doesn't hold true when you're near/on Long Island (for example, as I see stories like this at least ONCE A MONTH), where you 'accidentally' get on the expressway the wrong way, and ram some innocent family's car.
[ and as an aside, to reinforce my signage point: off-ramps have "WRONG WAY" signed on the back of the exit-info signs. So that you know you're going the wrong way, if the angle of the ram and the difficulty you'll have experienced in entering it wasn't enough. Why there isn't the tire bursting heavy-duty spikes on off-ramps is totally beyond me. ]
how did you get this idea that the US doesn't take drinking and driving seriously?
As a US citizen I will observe, I have found far too many don't take it seriously. Additionally, it is sometimes hard to believe our government takes it seriously. Just a year or two ago there was a lady killed on her scooter in SF by a drunk driver. Turns out it was that driver's 3rd conviction of drunk driving, and 2nd or 3rd vehicular homicide while drunk.
Anecdotes aside, compare the punishments for DUI's in the USA to the rest of the world. I think you'll find they are comparatively more lenient than you might suspect.
Comparing the punishment for a first offense DUI in my state (Colorado [1]) to the UK [2]:
Format will be Punishment: CO/UK
License suspended for: 9 months/12-36 months, depending on BAC
Fine: $600-$1000/£0-£5000 (apparently £300-£400 is typical due to how the UK hands out fines with their band system [3])
Jailtime: Minimum 5 days, maximum 1 year/Depends on BAC but none is pretty standard until you get to a .276 and then it's 3 months to 6 months standard
Community service: 48-96 hours/Depends on BAC, but none is standard until you get to a .207 BAC
It looks to me as though my state (which is not indicative of the United States) takes drunk driving much more seriously. This isn't even considering the fact that a DWAI can be given out to a driver that blows a .05 (the UK requires a .08) at the officer's discretion. DWAI penalties are similar to DUI penalties. Note also that it is mandatory for you to disclose any alcohol related driving offenses when you apply for a job in Colorado so it isn't like you can hide behind something being a misdemeanor vs a felony.
Whilst I don't have stats on hand, it's FAR more likely in your state for a plea bargain than in the UK, since that's the way each legal system is structured.
So, in the UK, you can pretty much guarantee you're going to be in trouble. In the US, there's a reasonable chance you'll get off.
That completely changes the risk balance judgement you make before you go and drink-drive. (obviously that's speculation, but I think it's a reasonable statement).
Let me give you a data point as well. I don't feel that it can harm me here - if you judge me by this I couldn't care less and everyone close to me knows about it. I'm not afraid of sharing it.
I'm in my early thirties but a couple (6? 8? I'd need to look it up) years ago I did what no one wants to confess doing: I was at a student party, roughly 20km away from home. I had a lot of beer (too much) and, after a (subjective) long chill-out time with a friend (no alcohol, just watching series, talking, etc.) I convinced myself that I was able to drive home.
To this date I claim that the intentions were good: The following morning a renowned speaker was talking at the place where I studied and I wanted to be there. But - first of all intentions don't matter in this case and then I don't trust myself with this reasoning. At that time I might've been convinced of this 'need' and probably I repeated it after that night so often that it just seems to be true. Is it? I cannot tell.
I drove home, in a car that I bought a month ago (used, but on a lease). Mind you, this is the German Autobahn, but I wasn't speeding. Probably in the range of 120-140 km/h. I crashed my car. To this day no one knows (and the only person that _could_ explain it is writing these lines) what happened, the best explanation after some serious steps back, mentally, is that I just fell asleep for a second. I touched the middle guard railing (if the dictionary provides me with the right word), reacted poorly (..) and crashed into the right one, two times. Came to a standstill. I was alone in the car, the (2-lane) road was empty at that hour (4am? 5am?). I was fine - and incredibly lucky.
A truck driver stopped and asked me if I was okay and repeatedly, to make sure that I actually make sense, if someone is still in the car. Then he called the police, as it is the law. They took the wrecked car, brought me into a police station, did a multitude of tests (reaction, pupils etc. pp) and took blood. I'm not sure if they took my driving license at that point already, but I think they did. Afterwards they sent me home (I took a bus with my last money).
I got a trial for this incident with the result that the judge said I did a mightily bad mistake but he saw now reason to claim that I did this intentional (it's a huge difference if you are (grossly) negligent or found to do something intentional/on purpose).
Result:
- I was alive, well, no one was harmed. Luck!
- I lost my driving license for 10 month. I needed to do prove my physical ability again to regain it afterwards. I didn't need to do (something that you get if you are a not a first time offender, have a bad record or cross over a line of blood alcohol) a psychological test to check if I'd ever be allowed to drive again. Do you have something similar over there?
- I lost my 'new' used car, so I had debts worth a couple thousand EUR for a car that was gone
- I was sentenced to a fine of 30 days, my income was set to be 50 EUR -> 1500 EUR (my real income at that time was 500 EUR/month, I don't get the numbers)
- My insurance refused to pay the (still not sure about the word) guarding rails. These innocent looking metal things are awfully expensive and added another couple of thousand EUR to my debt.
- I got some (4? 5?) points in our central register in Germany. You're allowed to have at max 18 points, but you get issues before (a forced 'reeducation'/driving course at 14 for example) before you lose your license. Points 'awarded' for stuff like this have a prolonged lifetime. Usually points are 'gone' after two years, unless you get new ones. These were set for 5 years, because of alcohol.
Needless to say, this was a hard (but maybe cheap - I just had to pay some money and no one was hurt) lesson. For the crappy idea of going home at night, drunk, after a party, I payed probably a sum that surpassed 5 digits, and I wasn't a victim. I _knew_ my mistake - and everyone around me as well. So - you're the idiot that realized it far too late..
Suffice to say: I won't repeat that. Funny enough I'm now in a country where this again seems to be more ~lenient~ or at least very common. I know, I'll never try it again.
The reason for this lengthy post: As you can certainly guess I have a strong feeling about this topic. Whatever you _think_ you can do after a couple of drinks doesn't matter. IF you crash (and the risk is higher than you think) you pay so much more. Even if you are drunk _and_ innocent, you lose. Don't do it! It's not worth the risk.
If you still think 'Hey, but I'm fine. I know how my body reacts.': The doctor that the police waked up to check me (just a minor embarrassment during the night, I'm still sorry for her as well though) wrote in her report that I showed no typical signs of alcohol abuse: Reaction time was okay, pupils reacted ok, I was calm (albeit shocked) and reasonable. If you think this is makes you able to drive, think again.
And - I love to drive. Still. And before I left Germany I used to drive fast, the last couple of years. I'd say I'm an experienced driver on our streets without speed limit. That doesn't help though.
Amen. And sorry for the long post..
(A disclaimer that I should've put into the post from the start: I downvoted the 'automatic cars' claim and upvoted the veto. Even with this experience I don't think that this is a solution. We could find a multitude of different things that you shouldn't handle carelessly, drunk or without care (and, you know, I could bring up an Amendment here, for one), but 'It can be used to cause harm, don't use it' is usually not a solution. Probably never is.)
So, driving while drunk is pretty dumb, but I wanna bring up the other elephant in your post that nobody ever seems to mention:
Drowsy driving.
Staying awake for 18 hours is the equivalent of a BAC of 0.05, roughly 2 drinks. That's waking up at 8 AM for work and driving home at a party at 2 AM, something that most of us have probably done. Staying awake for 24 hours is the equivalent of a BAC of 0.10, almost 5 drinks.
Perhaps because my friends all know that you shouldn't drive drunk, many more of them have crashed their cars due to falling asleep at the wheel than due to intoxication. It's just as dangerous, yet gets far less publicity.
In the United States, penalties for drunk driving vary by state. Wikipedia says that in California first-offense drunk driving is a misdemeanor crime, and one of the penalties can be a four-month driver license suspension. Since public transportation is inadequate in much of the country, many states offer an "occupational license" during a suspension that allows a person to drive to/from work. Likewise due to inadequate alternate transportation options, many drivers with suspended licenses violate the law and drive anyway; the penalties for this are often not very high.
States have been cracking down on drunk driving for the past decade or two. If there ever was a culture where drinking and driving was "acceptable" on a state level it has long since disappeared.
If you don't mind me asking, where do you currently live (you're clearly from the Queen's domain) and, if it isn't in the US, how did you get this idea that the US doesn't take drinking and driving seriously?