Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site burl.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!rcj From: rcj@burl.UUCP (Curtis Jackson) Newsgroups: net.legal Subject: Re: Re: DWI Crackdowns Message-ID: <796@burl.UUCP> Date: Sun, 4-Aug-85 20:00:29 EDT Article-I.D.: burl.796 Posted: Sun Aug 4 20:00:29 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 5-Aug-85 07:50:10 EDT References: <202@SCIRTP.UUCP> <378@kontron.UUCP> <586@ttidcc.UUCP> Reply-To: rcj@burl.UUCP (Curtis Jackson) Organization: AT&T Technologies, Burlington NC Lines: 50 Summary: In article <1690@mnetor.UUCP> fred@mnetor.UUCP (Fred Williams) writes: > > I was listening to the radio yesterday and some "expert" said that >studies in North America show that it is not the severity of the >punishment that deters drinking and driving, but the odds of getting >caught at it. This means that even mild or moderate penalties can >be effective if people expect there is a good chance that they will >be caught. > Do people think there is room for a citizen's patrol similar to >the neighbourhood watch program? Well, I really hate to give you this idea (I'll tell you why in a moment), but all one has to do is pick up a handy CB radio or stop at a phone booth and call the highway patrol and/or local police with a tag number and description of the car and driver, and that person will probably be history in a short period of time. I've done this (via telephone) on numerous occasions when I've seen someone weaving badly -- blatantly gone-to-Borneo, as it were. The reason I hate to mention this is that I happen to enjoy my 1 or 2 beers during my 45-minute drive home from work. Now, if I am stopped I won't get a ticket for drunken driving because I am not legally drunk by quite a bit; but I will get a ticket for having an open container in the car. You see, obeying the spirit of the law is not enough; one must obey the letter. That is why I only call in people who are drunk; not those I see hoisting a brew at the wheel. There are a lot of people who are convinced that if you have taken a single drink before or during your time at the wheel (within 4 hours before, say), that you are a drunken driver. They are, unfortunately, too often right -- the word 'single' above rarely applies. This does not mean, however, that everyone in shabby clothes in rundown New York City neighbor-hoods is necessarily a mugger -- neither does it mean that just because a lot of them are potential muggers that they should be arrested for having that potential. "Let's get those drunk drivers off the road!" "Right! Let's make sure people don't drink while driving!" "Right! Let's make sure people don't drink in their cars!" "Right! Let's make sure people who own cars don't drink!" "Right! Let's make sure people who have access to cars don't drink!" "OK, we fixed them. Now what do we do?" "Hey, you know all them computer breakins that happen all the time? Well, if we outlawed modems...." -- The MAD Programmer -- 919-228-3313 (Cornet 291) alias: Curtis Jackson ...![ ihnp4 ulysses cbosgd mgnetp ]!burl!rcj ...![ ihnp4 cbosgd akgua masscomp ]!clyde!rcj