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LisaM

Driving Drunk

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There is a coworker here trying to tell me it's ok to drive drurk as long as you don't kill anyone.

Now let me share with you he is a nerd to the tee and has never been drunk.

He says he could drive really really careful and it would be ok. I am shocked by this.

He says the statics can't be all that bad. He claims there are probably a million people who drive drunk and never hurt anyone.

Really though how can they have stats on those whe have driven drunk and never hurt anyone and how many times.

I think it is horrible for him to say it's ok as long as nothing happens. I told him you cannot predict the future.

*sigh*

So he goes and finds this http://www.mises.org/story/2343

*sigh*

~ Lisa
~ Do you Rigminder?

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Tell him to go play Russian Roulette and it will be ok as long as the bullet isn't in the important chamber. He can pull the trigger really careful like.:D

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

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Whoever wrote that isn't particularily smart or well informed.

The federal govenment does not mandate that the legal limit should be 0.08 or any other figure. States are 100% completely free to choose their own legal limit.

The way the federal government gets states to follow the 0.08 law is that if a states legal limit is not 0.08 (used to be 0.10), they do not receive any federal funding for highways/roads.

But that's beside the point...no one should drive while drunk. Not sure what the level should be, but you have to draw a line in the sand somewhere. I guess I'd rather have it be errored on the side of caution when it comes to this than the other way around.

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Tell him to go talk to the parent of kids that have been hit by drunk drivers >:(



My idea is MUCH more fun to watch . . . I mean how often do you get to see that live?
I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

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I even tried saying "and what if one of YOUR kids got hit by a drurk driver".

But his take on it is that so many people do it and the percentage of accidents is probably low compared that it's ok as long as something doesn't happen.

~ Lisa
~ Do you Rigminder?

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Tell him to go play Russian Roulette and it will be ok as long as the bullet isn't in the important chamber. He can pull the trigger really careful like.:D



I told him that.

He says if there were a million blanks he might try it.

Now he is trying to tell me jumping from a plane is like playing russian roulette. This could be a long conversation.

~ Lisa
~ Do you Rigminder?

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Tell him to go play Russian Roulette and it will be ok as long as the bullet isn't in the important chamber. He can pull the trigger really careful like.:D



I told him that.

He says if there were a million blanks he might try it.

Now he is trying to tell me jumping from a plane is like playing russian roulette. This could be a long conversation.


It is like Russian Roulette, there's just a hundred thousand or so blanks. Maybe more if you include blind stupid luck where someone can have a double total mal and still live.

People with no background in statistics or higher level math shouldn't be allowed to make comparisons like this. Ever.
A waddling elephant seal is the cutest thing in the entire world.
-TJ

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I disagree with your coworker, but I agree with the gist of that article and have felt this way for years. I think a crime should require a victim. Now if someone is clearly trashed, I think it would be reasonable to charge them with "reckless endangerment" to protect potential victims, or something like that, but an arbitrary, very low number that doesn't take into account individual tolerances, traffic conditions, etc? Not so much. And I also think the highway extortion thing the feds have taken to using with the seatbelt law, maximum speed limits, drinking age, and now DUI level goes against the concept of state's rights. Ideally, people should be free to move to states where laws match their own perceptions, and that's impossible when the federal government uses funding as a means of making them all the same.

Blues,
Dave
"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

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Here's what you do. Dare him to get drunk and get behind the wheel of his car. Tell him you'll watch his back to make sure he doesn't do anything bad. Meanwhile, just before he gets to his car, call the police behind his back saying you've got a suspected drunk driver on the road. Watch them bust his ass.

Now maybe he'll think twice. Maybe not, but at least he'll get a taste of jail, and maybe even some prison love. :D

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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Playing Devil's Advocate here however - how many hypocrites are out there? Its been shown in multiple studies that talking on a cell phone while driving (even hands-free) is about as dangerous as driving at a level of .08? How many people think that everyone should be tossed in jail for talking on the cell phone while driving - even if they don't cause an accident?

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Driving Drunk is Never OK and one of the most stupid things anyone can do.

That said.. "Technically" drunk mean a BAC of .08. For the VAST majority of people in the world, That means 2 Beers. I know very few people that would be Drunk after 2 Beers (Yes, there are some that don’t drink that would feel the effects but MOST people are capable of driving safely after 2 Beers even though if they were to be pulled over they would be going to jail for DUI/DWI.

The older system was .08 to .10 was officers discression with .10 or higher Mandatory DUI. I think that is a much better system than Mandatory DUI at .08

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I disagree with your coworker, but I agree with the gist of that article and have felt this way for years. I think a crime should require a victim.



Yikes. So if I point a gun at your head, pull the trigger, and the bullet happens to be a dud, then I shouldn't be punished?

Just because somebody THINKS they can drive after "a few beers" doesn't mean they actually can. It's not the normal, driving down the road, stopping for the stop signs kind of driving that suffers first. It doesn't take much alcohol at all to see a real change in a persons reaction time. It's those fractions of a second that can mean the difference between life and death for you and everyone else on the road.

Elvisio "it ain't worth the risk" Rodriguez

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Tell him to go play Russian Roulette and it will be ok as long as the bullet isn't in the important chamber. He can pull the trigger really careful like.:D



I told him that.

He says if there were a million blanks he might try it.

Now he is trying to tell me jumping from a plane is like playing russian roulette. This could be a long conversation.


Just call him an idiot and walk away - you can't convince the those that do not want to be convinced, or teach those that refuse to learn, what the difference between right and wrong is.
I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

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Tell him to go play Russian Roulette and it will be ok as long as the bullet isn't in the important chamber. He can pull the trigger really careful like.:D



I told him that.

He says if there were a million blanks he might try it.

Now he is trying to tell me jumping from a plane is like playing russian roulette. This could be a long conversation.


Just call him an idiot and walk away - you can't convince the those that do not want to be convinced, or teach those that refuse to learn, what the difference between right and wrong is.


Now where's that picture from the Special Olympics which says something like "you're still retarded". It would describe him aptly. :P
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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Driving Drunk is Never OK and one of the most stupid things anyone can do.

That said.. "Technically" drunk mean a BAC of .08. For the VAST majority of people in the world, That means 2 Beers. I know very few people that would be Drunk after 2 Beers (Yes, there are some that don’t drink that would feel the effects but MOST people are capable of driving safely after 2 Beers even though if they were to be pulled over they would be going to jail for DUI/DWI.

The older system was .08 to .10 was officers discression with .10 or higher Mandatory DUI. I think that is a much better system than Mandatory DUI at .08



see, but a POLITICIAN can point at the new law and say that since .08 is lower than .10, then he's doing something more to stop drunk driving.

It doesn't matter that in the real world, lowering the limit from .10 to .08 doesn't do jack shit to reduce accidents. It's the IMAGE that's important.

Most drunk driving accidents are caused by people with way over .10. All this will do is clog the courts by targeting social drinkers.
Speed Racer
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Tell him to go play Russian Roulette and it will be ok as long as the bullet isn't in the important chamber. He can pull the trigger really careful like.:D



I told him that.

He says if there were a million blanks he might try it.

Now he is trying to tell me jumping from a plane is like playing russian roulette. This could be a long conversation.


Just call him an idiot and walk away - you can't convince the those that do not want to be convinced, or teach those that refuse to learn, what the difference between right and wrong is.


Now where's that picture from the Special Olympics which says something like "you're still retarded". It would describe him aptly. :P


You might hurt his feelings though.[:/]
I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

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I disagree with your coworker, but I agree with the gist of that article and have felt this way for years. I think a crime should require a victim.



Yikes. So if I point a gun at your head, pull the trigger, and the bullet happens to be a dud, then I shouldn't be punished?



No, that would be attempted murder, with me as the victim. You would have made a conscious action that could reasonably be expected to kill someone. Swerving into oncoming traffic while drunk might be similar, but merely driving down the road while obeying all traffic laws is quite different.

Blues,
Dave
"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

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Tell him to go talk to the parent of kids that have been hit by drunk drivers



Or just have him talk to me. Let me tell him how my life has never been the same since my sister was killed by a drunk driver. Thinking of her every day and knowing she's gone and i can't talk to her or see her beautiful smile again.

___________________________________________
meow

I get a Mike hug! I get a Mike hug!

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Driving Drunk is Never OK and one of the most stupid things anyone can do.

That said.. "Technically" drunk mean a BAC of .08. For the VAST majority of people in the world, That means 2 Beers.



Two beers will get a 180 pound guy to .04%; getting to .08 would take four beers in a row.

2 beers will get lighter people to the .05% driving-while-ability-impaired charge in Colorado.

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