Political News and Commentary with the Right Perspective. NAVIGATION
  • Front Page
  • News
  • Multimedia
  • Tags
  • RSS Feed


  • Advertise on RightMichigan.com


    NEWS TIPS!

    Get the RightMighigan.com toolbar!


    RightMichigan.com

    Buzz

    Who are the NERD fund donors Mr Snyder?

    Raise the curtain.

    Drunk driving demands targeted legislation


    By brandonhall, Section News
    Posted on Mon Aug 10, 2009 at 12:56:31 AM EST
    Tags: michigan legislature, secretary of state candidates, wayne kuipers (all tags)

    Heeding calls from concerned drivers, cops raced down US-31 near Holland on the morning of June 27 pursuing a severely reckless driver. Despite their heroic efforts, nineteen year old Holland resident Curtis Jacobs, training for a church bike trip, was struck when a drunk driver plowed through a red light. He later died at the hospital.

    From media coverage of him in death, Curtis was a force for being positive and helpful in his time on earth. That spirit shines in his absence through memories of friends and family as they tell their stories to various media, their heartbreak evident. I didn't know Curtis or his family. However, I haven't seemed to get the incident out of my head since reading it on my phone the day it happened.

    Full of potential, Curtis will never be able to complete the rest of his journey in life because it was inconvenient  for the drunk who killed him to make arrangements home, or be in any way responsible in the situation. According to The Holland Sentinel, the driver even admitted to a deputy he had twenty drinks! This moment must call our community to action, and subsequently, our representation in Lansing.

    Unfortunately, Curtis is one of thousands of Americans who have lost their lives because of drunk driving. The US Government says that between 15,000 and 17,000 people die a year, about 300 a week. Surely Americans wouldn't be complacent if foreign terrorists were offing 300 Americans a week! Why should our next door neighbors be any different?

    Choosing to disobey the law in such a way that recklessly endangers the public is unacceptable. Any time drunk driving could be THE time injury or death occurs. It is time for the Michigan legislature to set minimum sentence laws for all levels of drunk driving that will actually closer match the life ending capability of the offense.

    Currently, offender's face a combination of a first offense fine of $200-$500, some community service, 30 day license suspension, and the possibility of driver's responsibility fees of $2,000. It takes a third offense for a felony to kick in, and the loss of your license for at least five years.

    Though legislators will say Michigan already has tough drunk driving laws, that is not an excuse. Tell that to the heartbroken families who have suffered because of drunk driving. We can, and must do better in making it clear drunk driving is dangerous and intolerable.

    After a first offense, an ignition device should be placed on the offender's vehicle that checks the driver's blood-alcohol content before the car will start. It can also check continually while driving to avoid system abuse. This is the law in Illinois, where the computer system tracking drunk drivers ignition devices is administered by the Secretary of State's office. This allows for more accountability from the drunk driver, without having to take the offender's license away, preventing transportation to work and possibly for a family. Fees handed down to drunk drivers pay for the system to function. New Mexico's 2005 ignition lock law is credited with a double digit decrease in drunk driving

    A third offense should result in the loss of one's license forever, as well as impounding of one's vehicles. Three strikes, you're out so to speak. Also, a minimum prison sentence of five years.

    Now is the time to have the debate, just who do we want incarcerated in our costly prison system? I can think of a lot of people in the court section of the paper who get more time for far pettier crimes than many drunk drivers currently do.

    I am a strong believer in a culture of life, and this issue is just as much a part of it as abortion's monumental toll, war, whatever the issue may be. Everything we can do to make life better and to better value life works toward that effort.

    Email your State Senator and Representative about this issue. Also, email State Senator Wayne Kuipers at senwkuipers@senate.michigan.gov or call him at 1-877-kuipers.
    He is Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the perfect position to start sending a message to would be drunk drivers. Secretary of State candidates also need to share their view on this issue with the public.

    Let those who have the power to save lives know that drunk driving needs serious sentencing to closer
    match the devastation it can cause.

    Brandon Hall is a Trustee on the Grand Haven Area Public Schools Board of Education.

    < White House Confesses that "Fishy" E-Mail site is Illigal! | Dingell-Routed Rudely in Romulus >


    Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit


    Display: Sort:
    Here's an idea . . . (none / 0) (#1)
    by Kevin Rex Heine on Mon Aug 10, 2009 at 09:47:33 AM EST
    . . . since causing a death while driving drunk fits under the legal definition of "negligent homicide," how about we start prosecuting all such offenses under the murder statutes in this state?  (And no negotiating of the charges!)

    Now, I'm not advocating punishing all drunk drivers as murderers, only those who actually get someone hurt or killed as a direct result of their criminal stupidity.

    Well-written propaganda... (none / 0) (#2)
    by rdww on Mon Aug 10, 2009 at 02:22:12 PM EST
    ... but still propaganda.  
    Basing laws on "the life ending capability of the offense" sounds like the slippery slope liberals use to push ever-greater restrictions on our right to own guns.  Indeed, this MADD-inspired piece sounds very much like the "another life tragically snuffed out by lax laws" sob-story propaganda used by the anti-gunners.  And calling for more control devices in our autos sure doesn't sound like small-government conservatism to me.

    Just because... (none / 0) (#5)
    by rdww on Tue Aug 11, 2009 at 08:45:55 AM EST
    ... you feel strenuously and self-righteously about your MADD/big government propaganda makes it no less propaganda and no more "conservative."  Take it to the Oprah show.  Does the fact that the huge majority of the time, the huge majority of drunk drivers do nothing worse than drive home and sleep it off shoot a hole in your "intent" argument?  I thought not.  Yes, drunk driving correlates with more accidents.  No, it is not the same thing as automatically being in one.  If you took statistics seriously, you'd be launching a moralistic crusade against texting while driving.

    "Offenders fund the program..."
    Oh boy, do they ever.  What a swell incentive for the government to hatch evermore intrusive "self funded" programs (and ever expand the concept of an "offender.")

    Sell it somewhere else... maybe Kos.


    • hmmm by brandonhall, 08/13/2009 01:18:39 PM EST (none / 0)
      • End justifies the...etc. by rdww, 08/13/2009 03:18:26 PM EST (none / 0)
        • Wow. by brandonhall, 08/13/2009 03:41:33 PM EST (none / 0)
      • umm by brandonhall, 08/13/2009 04:17:04 PM EST (none / 0)
        • well... by brandonhall, 08/30/2009 02:19:46 AM EST (none / 0)
          • wow... by brandonhall, 08/30/2009 05:45:24 PM EST (none / 0)
    Display: Sort:

    Login

    Make a new account

    Username:
    Password:
    Tweet along with RightMichigan by
    following us on Twitter HERE!

    Poll

    Right Michigan community, does the method in this piece seem like an effective way to tackle drunk driving in these economic times?
    Yes, highly certain
    Probably
    Not sure
    Don't think so
    No

    Votes: 5
    Results | Other Polls

    Related Links

    + Also by brandonhall
    create account | faq | search