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Are Drunk Driving Laws Too Lenient?

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Are Drunk Driving Laws too Lenient?
Roberta Williams
BCOM/275
July 22, 2014
Facilitator: Terrice Watson

3 family members, 1 other man killed in high-speed, head-on car crash on Southwest Side
Chicago police investigating whether alcohol was involved
Three of the men killed were family, lived together and, for the last 11 years, worked together at McCormick Place.
Otis Thomas labored at the convention center for 25 years, and he helped get jobs there for his son Otis Jolliff and the younger man's cousin Theodore Jolliff, both 28. (Mitchum, R and Kridel K, 2008)
I see the image every day of my life; the three caskets lined up head to foot. My brother lay lifeless between his son and his nephew; the son of his identical twin brother. Lives so entwined because identical twin brothers had one son each by two sisters, so here lies husband, fathers, sons, brother, grandfather, uncles, nephews, first cousins and an unimaginable pain of a family so rooted in love and relationships that was torn asunder by a drunk driver. Fathers and sons so close, they even worked together. One twin decided he would get someone else going his way to drop him off. That decision saved his life. The other three headed the same way and a drunk driver barely under the legal age for alcohol killed all three of these beloved men and died himself that fateful night.
Do I feel that drunk driving laws are too lenient? Hell yes!!! I do, but statistics of nationwide fatalities and accidents and the sentences for convicted drunk drivers prove it. Drinking is a free will act, and therefore should be considered every bit as much a crime as a pre-meditated murder where someone picks up a gun or knife and goes out and kills someone after deliberating over it. A drunk driver made the choice to drink more than the legal limit for alcohol, then get behind the wheel of a car and drive so if he is involved in an accident, aren’t his circumstances pre-meditated and deliberate?
The penalties for drunk driving are a joke. I had a friend that was a repeated DUI offender. His license was revoked and his state ID card showed he was not to operate a motor vehicle in big bold red letters. However, he continued to drive and received several tickets within a period of 2 years. Tickets for speeding, he was in an automobile accident (thank GOD, no one was hurt) and smelled of alcohol when the police arrived. He was given a ticket after the accident and sent on his way. A couple of the other tickets he received were the same thing. He was given a citation and then allowed to drive away with the officers KNOWING, he did not have a valid drivers’ license. No arrest, no jail time. Go get a lawyer, pay your fines and that’s it!
Now, if this same man had been involved in a fatal collision with a politicians’ family member, a lawyers wife, a police officers’ child, a newscasters’ husband; then everyone would be in an uproar as to why this man was behind the wheel of a car. They would then say, why didn’t they do something about him. Why wasn’t he arrested with his extensive record of offenses? Why wasn’t he in jail or why hasn’t he served time?
Until it rests at your doorstep, it is not a real problem. However, ask the family members that are trying to rebuild their lives years later. Ask them what the holidays are like with their loved ones gone. Ask them will they ever stop releasing balloons on their loved ones birthdays or posting new/old pictures from the photo albums on Facebook. While it is true that drunk driving fatalities have decreased in the last 10 years, more stringent laws are necessary to continue to drive these numbers lower.
We need to unite in one voice, one purpose to let our politicians know we want more laws enacted and enforced to stop the needless crimes from having “one too many”. If others could stay in the shoes of the family members for just a few moments and feel the enormity and overwhelming pain, perhaps they would reconsider their deliberate act. If a device could be invented that would allow them to feel that type of anguished pain, maybe a different outcome would be the result. If a video could play EVERY time they got behind the wheel of a vehicle and they could see the impact of their decision, just maybe it would make just one have a different outlook. For those whose lives are forever changed by this selfish, needless act, continue the good fight to make a difference. Maybe one day, it really will…

REFERENCES
Mitchum, R and Kridel, K.. (2008, March 20). 3 family members, 1 other man killed in high- speed, head-on car crash on Southwest Side. Retrieved July 22, 2014 from chicagotribune.com website: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2008-03-20/news/0803191198_1_head-on-oncoming-car-fatal-crash

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