Originally Posted by Roche
Drunk driving shouldn't even be considered a crime.
If it's legal to listen to your radio or have screaming kids in the back seat, it should be legal to drive drunk.
You have to realize that special interest groups, namely MADD, have lobbied to bring the legal drinking limit down to .08. There's no rational reason for this, other than the fact that they picked this number out of a hat and decided that's where to draw the line.
If you do something stupid in your car while sober, there's no penalty. But turn the key while "drunk" and you go to jail.
The last thing we need in this country is more laws restricting peoples' behavior.
Bingo! You beat me to it.
The only thing I disagree with is the definition of drunk driving. I think everyone assumes that "drunk" means you are slurring your words or stumbling about. That is *not* the case for the great majority of people with a BAL of .08 (or two beers in an hour). They are no more impaired than someone fumbling with a cellphone, eating a Big Mac or screaming at their kids while driving.
The great majority of drunks killing people behind the wheel have a BAL well in excess of .15, usually much higher. Those are the folks you want off the street, not the 110lb secretary who had a glass of wine with friends after work. That is, unless you want to also take the cellphone users, etc, with her. Otherwise, it starts looking like harrasment... which is exactly what MADD is all about. They don't want you drinking *at all*.