Advocacy & Safety - DUI Penalties Around the World ...

Compare the different punishments for driving under the influence of alcohol around the world:

Drunk Driving Penalties in other Countries (http://webpages.charter.net/ricknet/duilaws.htm)

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090604/NEWS01/906040362/Hawaii+man+sentenced+to+5+years+after+13th+conviction+for+DUI

El Salvador
Your first offense is your last---execution by firing squad :eek:


maybe we're too soft

Dayum! :EEK!:

One thing that definitely is illustrated, though, in looking at that first link, is how immaturely the US handles drunk driving and responsible drinking in its laws. The other thing of note is that in a lot of those countries, the drinking age is either much lower or non-existent.

It is a definite fallacy that all of a sudden at some age that "responsible drinking" happens. The sum of the teaching seems to be "don't do it until you're 21" and then "have at it all you want".

I'll let George Carlin tell the rest (from "State Prison Farms"):


Alright, next group: Drug addicts and alcoholics. Not all of them, don't get nervous. Just the ones who are making life difficult for at least one other person. And we're not going to bother first offenders. People deserve a chance to clean up. Everyone will get... twelve chances to clean up. Alright, fifteen! Fifteen! that's fine, and that's it, if you can't make it in fifteen tries, off you go *fwit* to Colorado!


I definitely have encountered a couple of cases where they acknowledge their drinking convictions were up to around a dozen, and still they were out there behind the wheel...

Delivery guy who works in this area got a DUI last May and this guy is still driving all around town delivering flowers, dude said he drives 300 miles a day. He got some kind of special license back in november but he never stopped driving between the time he got the dui and the time he got the special license. still I didnt think they would let him drive a delivery van for a florist after he got a dui /open ccontainer

In England, your license is suspended for a year and you get a year in prison. How many people drive while they are in prison anyway?

Sorry gonna have call bullspit on the El Salvador punishment. I think that list is bogus.

Sorry gonna have call bullspit on the El Salvador punishment. I think that list is bogus.

me too.

Source: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/research/pub/DWIothercountries/dwiothercountries.html#_Toc449518803

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For a BAC level of .12 to .149, a possible 20-50 days imprisonment in addition to fine and license suspension. Sentence may be conditional according to the circumstances. Length of imprisonment increases with BAC level.


For BAC level between .03 and .10, licenses may be revoked for 2 to 12 months depending on the circumstances and the BAC level. Above .10, a minimum 12 months and a maximum 36 months loss of license. If BAC level is greater than .10, imprisonment for 1 to 2 months.


Finland & Sweden
Automatic jail for one year of hard labor

hard labor???

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Disqualification of the driving license is a possibility for all BAC levels above .05. (No other punishment for first offense)


Norway
Three weeks in jail at hard labor, one year loss of license.

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Fine of up to 5,000 pounds ($8,005.00 US). The average is 300 pounds ($480.30 US).

Suspension of license is possible, though rare for first offense.

Imprisonment for up to 6 months is possible, though rare for first offense.


England
One year suspension and a $250.00 fine and jail for one year

Wow, so the fine was understated. But still, bogus.

So we have a few of the penalties around the world listed, and one severe, final one. Are we doing this to criticize US and state laws, focus a target audience that for the most part doesn't exist (twice actually, if you count drunken drivers who don't bicycle much and drunken cyclists who probably don't last very long in traffic) or to spread awareness about being careful around persons who would be, at best highly unpredictable anyway?

What is the ultimate purpose of this listing? My best venture is that OF COURSE we should do all we can to stop drunk driving and other altering states that make it dangerous, call police, keep them away from operation of vehicles, see them through treatment, all prudent steps that we can Activism at it's best.

If, on the other hand, it crumbles into a symposium of horror stories and a litany of crying for justice then we fail to create change. We will just sit there shooting the breeze, shouting about how some bum got off.

A&S is about promoting safe attitudes and practices to those who ride and those who are on the road with us, all of us. Knowing that a drunk in Managua on Monday will be buried on Saturday does nothing to stop DUIs in America. ALL of A&S should follow this form, not erupt into a big argument all the time. We are the guiding beacon to those who enter our forums for the first time and we need to be seen as champions of bicycling for life.

Russia
License revoked for life

So all of Russia is driving without a license?

So all of Russia is driving without a license?:thumb:

Unfortunately here in Wisconsin, you do not serve any jailtime until your fifth conviction. You just have to pay some fines. Isn't that really stupid? I think we need to lower it, the second time convicted should be when they face jailtime. Once, could be a mistake, twice is just proof they haven't learned their lesson.

The state of Victoria, Australia, has some pretty strong laws.

http://www.trafficlaw.com.au/drink.driving/drink.driving.penalties.html

We also have random testing (for 30+ years) for alcohol and now for certain drugs.

Sorry gonna have call bullspit on the El Salvador punishment. I think that list is bogus.

When I went to traffic school last year, during one of the classes, we learned about the various punishments for drunk driving in other countries. I don't think the information was bogus. There were at least two countries that have the death penalty for the first offense.

According to the main site page, this was last updated in '99. So, it might have been accurate back then, who knows? I seriously doubt it's still accurate.

There is NEVER a need to drink and drive, so why not have the death penalty?

There is NEVER a need to drink and drive, so why not have the death penalty?

It can be argued there is NEVER a need to speed, NEVER a need to run red lights, NEVER a need to not come to a complete stop at a stop sign, etc.

Should we kill everyone who breaks a law when there is NEVER a need to do so?

It can be argued there is NEVER a need to speed, NEVER a need to run red lights, NEVER a need to not come to a complete stop at a stop sign, etc.

Should we kill everyone who breaks a law when there is NEVER a need to do so?

cuts way down on repeat offenders...

In the U.S. we have made a fair bit of progress against drunk drivers, thanks largely to the efforts of MADD and similar organizations. The problem here in California is that because the prisons are full and the state is broke, there is a great deal of pressure to release certain types of "less dangerous" offenders early. The advantage of incarceration is that the repeat drunk drivers at least don't drive while behind (steel) bars.

___
A termite walks into a saloon and asks, "Is the bar tender here?"

All MADD has done is increase the drinking age to 21 and lowered BAC. Not much of a success when you look at all the binge drinking by highschool and college kids.

I like France and Polands. but make it MADD lectures and suspended sentence for 3 years and if you drive with revoked license then you go to jail.


France
Three year loss of license, one year in jail and a $1000.00 fine
Poland
Jail, fine and forced to attend political lectures

The US already has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world, and Florida has one of the highest incarceration rate in the US. The US is one of the few nations with a death penalty. Florida has a mandatory minimum 10 days in jail for a second DUI. There are hundreds of people in prison in Florida (people go to prison, as opposed to jail, when they get a sentence longer than one year) for felony DUI. There also are hundreds in prison for felony driving with a suspended license. Yet everyday people still commit those crimes.

Arguing for increasingly harsh penalties for most crimes in nonsense, because in most cases it simply does not work. Preventing crime should be the goal, not dealing with it's aftermath. Yes, I know, if the guy is in prison he won't commit anymore crimes. But preventing the crime in the first place is better for the taxpayer, the victim, and the defendant. So how do you prevent DUI? Better public transit. Better alcohol rehab. Better driver's education. Alcohol interlock systems in cars. Probably twenty things other than more and longer prison time.

We are too soft as a society. Individuals who cannot function in society without destroying it should be removed permanently and cheaply. So what if it isn't their fault that their head is screwed up? Doesn't change the fact that they are a burden on society and that I pay taxes to house and feed them.

We are too soft as a society. Individuals who cannot function in society without destroying it should be removed permanently and cheaply. So what if it isn't their fault that their head is screwed up? Doesn't change the fact that they are a burden on society and that I pay taxes to house and feed them.

So how are we going to judge someone too mentally handicapped to function in society without destroying it?

How are we going to remove these people from society permanently and cheaply?

When I went to traffic school last year, during one of the classes, we learned about the various punishments for drunk driving in other countries. I don't think the information was bogus. There were at least two countries that have the death penalty for the first offense.

http://www.snopes.com/history/american/pricepaid.asp

^that exact article was passed out in my high school government class as fact, despite the fact that half of it is misleading or wrong.

Did anyone see my above post? I seriously doubt it was accurate even in 1999; the laws from the NHTSA article i quoted are as of 2000.