I have my own personal view on the topic of DWI and I was wondering what others of you felt about it. Doesn't really matter one way or another; just curious if you think I'm weird. (OK I know I am weird but humor me
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Let me preface this topic by saying that ... I am not talking about REALLY drunk here. I am talking about legal limits and if there is no accident and no one is hurt. I am talking about someone telling you that someone else is DWI or you stop a guy for something else and smell alcohol on him or similar. Obviously if there is an accident, injury, or a guy weaving and driving on the shoulder or similar then he is DWI.
I feel that it is a joke. My rule for DWI was not meters or sensors. I would pull the guy over and ask him a few questions. Who he is, what kind of car this was, where was he, where was he coming from, etc... If he answered me and seemed as alert as any other shmo on the street then he was not drunk. If he looked at me like I had three heads and told me he was Betsy Ross coming back from planet Zatar in the Nebula system then he was drunk and he went to jail.
In my opinion DWI is like speeding; for revenue only. If we REALLY want to stop speeding we would. But we don't. We like the money it brings in for catching the occasional speeder. Ever sit in a radio car with radar on pointed at a highway? Not even one car goes by doing the actual speed limit or less. NO ONE is obeying that law. And what do we do about it? Nothing really. We give every third person going WAY over a tag. This shows me that we really don't expect anyone to go the speed limit or less. We expect them to break the law and we will simply catch an occasional violator and "tax" them. Because that is really what it is; a speeding tax not a fine. You can drive as fast as you want as long as you pay the speed tax when you get caught.
Same with drinking and driving. There is practically no one who hasn't had a beer with a buddy and driven home. If we really wanted to seriously do something about DWI we would stop putting parking lots at bars, have LEO's stationed at bars testing people at random that came out of bars and got into cars, have meters in cars to stop the engine from starting if the driver is intox, etc...
But we don't. Why? Because as with speeding there are just too many people breaking that law. If we really tested people at random how many senators, judges, congressmen, lawyers, doctors, etc... would get dragged in? Too many. So we grab the occasional guy that takes it too far and bang him with some fines or should I call it a drinking & driving tax
Don't get me wrong here. I am not saying that DWI is not a bad thing. It does indeed cause many deaths each year. What I am saying is that the govt really doesn't care. If they did there are things they could do to stop it and they don't because by the standards set too many people are doing it. Much like with speeding. Example: If the speedlimit is 65 and everyone is driving 75 no one seems to care. Why? Because even though we all know that it is breaking the law it is only breaking a little bit. Little enough that we all do it really.
Drinking same thing. If someone has a beer or two but drives "fine" then no one really cares even though he is breaking the law probably since is probably over the legal limit. Why does no one care? Because he is only breaking the law a little. So little that every one does it. It is not until someone can't say their name or hits something that it becomes a big deal.

Let me preface this topic by saying that ... I am not talking about REALLY drunk here. I am talking about legal limits and if there is no accident and no one is hurt. I am talking about someone telling you that someone else is DWI or you stop a guy for something else and smell alcohol on him or similar. Obviously if there is an accident, injury, or a guy weaving and driving on the shoulder or similar then he is DWI.
I feel that it is a joke. My rule for DWI was not meters or sensors. I would pull the guy over and ask him a few questions. Who he is, what kind of car this was, where was he, where was he coming from, etc... If he answered me and seemed as alert as any other shmo on the street then he was not drunk. If he looked at me like I had three heads and told me he was Betsy Ross coming back from planet Zatar in the Nebula system then he was drunk and he went to jail.
In my opinion DWI is like speeding; for revenue only. If we REALLY want to stop speeding we would. But we don't. We like the money it brings in for catching the occasional speeder. Ever sit in a radio car with radar on pointed at a highway? Not even one car goes by doing the actual speed limit or less. NO ONE is obeying that law. And what do we do about it? Nothing really. We give every third person going WAY over a tag. This shows me that we really don't expect anyone to go the speed limit or less. We expect them to break the law and we will simply catch an occasional violator and "tax" them. Because that is really what it is; a speeding tax not a fine. You can drive as fast as you want as long as you pay the speed tax when you get caught.
Same with drinking and driving. There is practically no one who hasn't had a beer with a buddy and driven home. If we really wanted to seriously do something about DWI we would stop putting parking lots at bars, have LEO's stationed at bars testing people at random that came out of bars and got into cars, have meters in cars to stop the engine from starting if the driver is intox, etc...
But we don't. Why? Because as with speeding there are just too many people breaking that law. If we really tested people at random how many senators, judges, congressmen, lawyers, doctors, etc... would get dragged in? Too many. So we grab the occasional guy that takes it too far and bang him with some fines or should I call it a drinking & driving tax

Don't get me wrong here. I am not saying that DWI is not a bad thing. It does indeed cause many deaths each year. What I am saying is that the govt really doesn't care. If they did there are things they could do to stop it and they don't because by the standards set too many people are doing it. Much like with speeding. Example: If the speedlimit is 65 and everyone is driving 75 no one seems to care. Why? Because even though we all know that it is breaking the law it is only breaking a little bit. Little enough that we all do it really.
Drinking same thing. If someone has a beer or two but drives "fine" then no one really cares even though he is breaking the law probably since is probably over the legal limit. Why does no one care? Because he is only breaking the law a little. So little that every one does it. It is not until someone can't say their name or hits something that it becomes a big deal.
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