They mean well. I am referring to those that have the power to change and help our communities.
The thought process generally is if we say the punishment for drinking and driving is a ticket and the suspension of the drivers license and/or insurance, the offender can’t drive so there will not be any more drinking and driving issues.
To someone who obeys the laws it makes perfect sense. The punishment of having privileges taken away will stop them from driving. How do I get to and from work/school is a good question that deters most. Who will take care of or provide for my family if I can’t get to work? Or, wow, going anywhere for the next few weeks or months means having to bum rides from friends or family. Just those thoughts alone will stop most responsible people.
Unfortunately those rules don’t mean a whole lot to the people they were written for. Drive without a license? No problem! Drive without insurance? No problem! Continue to drive with a beer between their legs? No problem! In fact, they are semi intoxicated standing before the person/panel that just took away their license. Most likely they have a cold one waiting for them in the car that they drove to court. They will get into it and drive to the store for their next 6 pack laughing at their ‘punishment’.
Now, let’s get serious and find ways to deter them from continuing their lifestyle. Everyone makes mistakes and have misjudgments of their actions. The multiple offenders are not having mistakes.
The first time caught gets the standard ticket. The second time if within 6 months gets a higher priced ticket and mandatory community time at a homeless shelter, emergency room, police station or firehouse, and mandatory finger prints are taken. The fingerprints taken are electronically submitted to all stores, bars and any place that sells alcohol.
Currently stores or other places verify IDs for those who may be underage and that system doesn’t work since buying counterfeit Ids can be done on the internet. The multiple offenders have fingerprints on file for alcohol abuse and are charged a fee when buying alcohol. The money law abiding citizens have to pay to keep offenders in jail can be offset by the fee, or to help the families left behind when offenders hurt or kill innocent people, or help fund programs for those who seriously want to stop drinking.
Something different needs to be done to deter the offenders before they become multiple offenders because the system we have now is failing.