{"id":541,"date":"2007-03-08T07:00:13","date_gmt":"2007-03-08T13:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php\/index.php\/2007\/03\/08\/common-sense\/"},"modified":"2007-03-08T07:00:13","modified_gmt":"2007-03-08T13:00:13","slug":"common-sense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=541","title":{"rendered":"Common Sense"},"content":{"rendered":"

Driving while intoxicated is a dumb idea.\u00a0 Don’t do it.<\/p>\n

OK.\u00a0 With that out of the way…<\/p>\n

Mothers Against Drunk Driving has become one of the third rails of national politics; like Patty Wetterling, they are deemed above criticism because of the loss (a few of) their founders suffered.<\/p>\n

And yet MADD has favored, and continues to favor, quite a few measures that are completely noxious<\/a>, on their way to a policy of national prohibition.\u00a0 Lowering the legal driving Blood Alcohol Content to .08% is one such\u00a0 measure; while any <\/em>alcohol will indeed affect one’s driving, and different drivers react differently, the vast majority\u00a0 of DUI arrests involve much higher BAC levels, and the majority of problems – accidents, etc – are caused by people who are blasted out of their minds.<\/p>\n

MADD seems to be think no punishment is too severe for drunk drivers.<\/p>\n

So one State Senator is really going against the grain<\/a> with his proposals\u00a0 to treat drunk drivers less onerously than the UN treats Serb war criminals:<\/p>\n

Leading the charge in this unlikely battle is state Sen. Ron Latz DFL-St. Louis Park. As a criminal defense attorney and former assistant attorney general, Latz has worked on both sides of the DWI issue over the years.”I want to tinker with the system to make sure it works more fairly for everyone involved and improves public safety,” he explains. “And I think that will happen if both my bills get passed.”<\/p>\n

Although all the details havent been ironed out, Latz plans to introduce a bill that will grant judges the authority to expand the use of [ignition-interlock breathlyzers] for repeat drunk drivers. Its a matter of common sense and “enlightened self-interest,” Latz says, pointing to the fact that a second DWI offense typically costs drivers their license for six months, making it harder for them to continue working or attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. “With those additional stresses, its even harder for them to become sober,” says Latz.<\/p>\n

Observers like Steve Simon think ignition interlock, which is now commonly used in other states, is unlikely to have much opposition in Minnesota. Indeed, Mothers Against Drunk Driving launched a campaign last year touting the benefits of the devices for first-time drunk drivers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So far so good.<\/p>\n

But Latzs other measure, a bill to allow convicted drunk drivers to pay their $690 license reinstatement fee in installments, faces considerably more controversy. Both the DWI Task Force and the Department of Public Safety have declared their opposition to it.<\/p>\n

But Latz says hes not trying to make it easier for drunk drivers. Instead, he says it will make the roads safer for the rest of us. He argues that many offenders, unable to muster the necessary cash, simply opt to drive without a valid license\u2014or insurance. Statistics bear out the claim. Last year, there were a record 41,000 DWI arrests in Minnesota, yet only 29,000 people shelled out reinstatement fees.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pragmatism?\u00a0 Common sense?<\/p>\n

MADD is going to hate <\/em>it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Driving while intoxicated is a dumb idea.\u00a0 Don’t do it. OK.\u00a0 With that out of the way… Mothers Against Drunk Driving has become one of the third rails of national politics; like Patty Wetterling, they are deemed above criticism because of the loss (a few of) their founders suffered. And yet MADD has favored, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crime-and-punishment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}