EPTHave you ever almost Died? - Page 11
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Blondy Alchy
14 Posts
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DarkYoDA
United States1347 Posts
I was already unconscious and saw myself blackout, the next thing I know is I'm alive. Apparently the doctor injected something to revive me. I was attacked by a swarm of rather poisonous bees and one of them stung me at the temple. Life is precious... | ||
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Flaccid
8929 Posts
Drinking and driving is a lucrative business. This is why it is governed by some of the most backwards and yet uncontested laws in our respective countries. Now, before you think I'm condoning this behaviour, know that I am not. But I do believe there are a lot of stupid things people do while driving and yet drinking is the only thing that seems to get people up on their soapboxes to preach. What do you think causes more accidents, fatigue or drinking? I'll give you a hint, it's not drinking and yet how often do people on these forums attack someone who willingly drives tired? How about cellphone? Eating? Girls putting on their makeup on the highway? These are all things that need to change but never will if people don't realize that drinking and driving isn't the only problem going on. But that's hard to do when it has been demonized to the extent that all other poor habits pale in comparison. Drinking and driving laws and public perception have gotten to this point largely through the efforts of the lobbyist group MADD. In fact, the laws are borderline (if not completely) unconstitutional. If memory serves me correctly, drinking and driving is one of the only (if the only) criminal situation with a presumption of guilt. It is up to the defendent to prove his innocence. It is also the only conviction in which a person can face jail time but is not given the right to a trial by a jury of his peers. If this were the case for any other law, I imagine people would be up in arms - but this is drinking and driving and people who drink and drive are inherently evil. http://www.duiblog.com/2005/05/09/the-dui-exception-to-the-constitution/ http://www.duiblog.com/2004/10/31/dui-and-the-disappearing-right-to-a-jury-trial/ This demonization takes place largely due to the misleading nature of alcohol statistics. You need to understand the differences between 'caused' and 'related'. If you have half a beer after work today and crash your car on the way home you just became an alcohol-related statistic. Forget that you were completely sober - if there was 0.01% alcohol level in your blood then you may as well have been shit-gun loaded as far as the statistics are concerned. Hell, even if you register no alcohol and the officer's judgement places you as intoxicated, you are still involved in an alcohol-related accident. Truth be known, we are simply being lied to and its again through the involvement of MADD http://www.duiblog.com/2004/10/23/a-closer-look-at-dui-fatality-statistics/ I wonder what percentage of police manpower is spent on patroling the roads and handing out tickets. I bet the numbers would be disgusting. But traffic enforcement is a lucrative business and drunk driving arrests pile large sums of money into local goverments. As it stands, this along with the power of the lobbyists prevents any sort of realistic drunk driving laws from being established. Would it make sense to roll the legal limit back to a value which actually indicates intoxication? Sure, but this will be seen as a way to kill more kids and it'll cost the government revenue. As it stands, the laws are so, so messed up that there is absolutely no hope for any sort of common sense. You can murder someone and be caught with a knife in your hand and still have a better chance of getting off than some poor chump who gave the cops a reason to believe he had a beer or two. Even if this reason is that the cop hadn't met his drunk driving arrest quota for the month. http://www.duiblog.com/2005/05/11/dui-roadblocks-for-fun-and-profit/ http://www.duiblog.com/2007/10/10/inside-edition-documents-dui-quotas-across-us/ Anyways, at the risk of rambling on any further I'm going to pull the hand brake on this post. My whole purpose is that people maybe look into the facts and real issues here as opposed to mouth-breathing like so many zealots do. If you take the time to follow the links I have provided and do some of your own independent research, I have no doubt you'll come to the conclusion that it's not nearly as black and white as you've been led to believe. | ||
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Nickisonfire
United States440 Posts
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