Monday, May 1, 2006

Throw Away the Key

While we're tracking down twelve million illegal immigrants with angry talk about kicking them out of the country or just shooting them at the border, let's do something about removing drunk drivers from the roads. Not just overnight or for a few months -- but for real and for good. 

Don't just put mangled cars on the lawns outside high schools during prom week. Or interview the presidents of MADD and SADD.  Assign special drunk license plates and driver's licenses to convicted souses. So everybody can watch for them. Especially the police.

How about finally making these creeps accountable for killing people when they're impaired? GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL. Or in a new twist on community service, let them be crash dummies for a day.

I also think blood tests should be mandatory for everyone involved in any accident because nobody thinks twice about driving no matter what's in their systems. Above the legal limit for alcohol, you're automatically under house arrest and your license is revoked for five years.

I'm not just talking about drunks, either, but people with seizure disorders or people on prescription pain medication. Unfortunately, most of us think that impaired only means stuff like marijuana and alcohol. I think Levitra could even be a distraction. Or being too tired. Book 'em Dano.

But let's get the drunks first. Especially when they're repeat offenders like the terrible story of the twenty year old Arizona kid who has had seven traffic infractions in four years, three of which were DUI's. You have to be a serial stupid driver to have that kind of record.

After this past weekend that doofus should now become the poster child for raising the age for a driver's license to twenty-one. Or, in some cases, twenty-five.


This kid, who lives in student housing and was driving a Mustang -- no doubt a gift from Mom and Dad -- ran a redlight. Young people think traffic lights are there to stop other people, not them. There seems to be an entire generation of youths who consider a stoplight merely a suggestion. Stop if you're in the mood.

But on this occasion, the eighth time this addle-brained dope screwed up while driving, he killed somebody.  And not just anybody. A beloved motorcycle cop. The first police officer on his force to die in the line of duty in eight-six years. 

Drunk as a skunk, maybe even high, and in broad daylight, this kid was so out of it he impaled the motorcycle with the front grill of his car, where it exploded and burned.

After the crash, which had sent the police officer flying from his motorcycle and left him dying on the road, this young drunk and his passenger both ran away from the scene of the accident.

I keep calling the kid a drunk based on his DUI's. But some judge already agrees because he mandated AA as part of one of an earlier plea bargain which put this waste of life back on the road.

There is a rule of thumb, according to a relative of mine in AA, that if you've been arrested for two DUI's you are an alcoholic. In case you're counting.

He didn't even bother to check to see how badly the officer was hurt. Apparently he and his friend were absent when the gene for good character got handed out.

I hope that this young person who has been given multiple free passes through his short but sorry life finally has to be accountable for his depraved disregard for others. So far he's only received a slap on the wrist. Unfortunately, I wouldn't expect much more this time either. Unless killing a police officer means something for once.

The irony of the officer's tragic and completely unnecessary death is twofold. He died going to work as part of a DUI detail getting drunks off the road. And tonight is the night of a special program held each year in Arizona to remember fallen police officers.

There won't be a dry eye in the state.


10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Boy you got this one right. I was so sadden by the officers death. The idiot (Falhman)  that did this and RAN.............unbelievable, but TRUE. The tv station went to the house he lived in and interviewed his "friends" and another idiot was eating a sandwich talking to the tv lady and then slammed the door, when he got cornered in his lies.   This will be very interesting to follow because maricopa county is pretty darn strict will DUI's.  I guess this time he will not be able to buy his way out.  (dead man walking!)               Anne

Anonymous said...

I certainly agree with you on drunk drivers.  They have it far to easy here in Britain too, they should be punished whether there`s an `accident` or not.  A car in their hands is a dangerous weapon!

Sandra xxx

Anonymous said...

Mrs. L
What a sad tale this is, indeed.  I agree with you on getting these people off our roads permanently.  This kid should have to do some jail time for his thoughtless and irresponsible actions, in my opinion.
Sam

Anonymous said...

How sad is that :(  I totally agree that they are too lenient on drunk drivers.  While in Florida last month, I was on the way back from picking up my son from school as I glanced in the rearview mirror to see a vehicle rolling over and over.  I turned around and went back while calling 911.  Another driver managed to pull him out of the vehicle, and he had a 9 inch gash from forehead to the back of his skull.  His brain was visible :(  As I was instructing them to apply pressure, I just couldn't get over the overwhelming scent of alcohol.  He was absolutely plastered.  After the police FINALLY showed up, my son and I were picking up papers strewn everywhere, and I found an inmate release printout showing he had been released from the county jail not even a week prior.  When we got back to mom's, I started digging on the net, and found that he had been arrested for a DUI.  And not even a week later, he's in the middle of the road near death.  Think maybe he'll learn this time?  Who knows :(  Needless to say, my son learned a vital lesson first hand...DON'T drink and drive.  Thank God no one else was hurt by his stupidity, this time at least.

Nicole

Anonymous said...

Half of the department wants him to rot in jail for the rest of his life, serving as a spermicidal deposit slot to the abberent prison population. The other half want him to be released back into the general population where the the "rampant effects of random urban violence" can take effect. A third group, comprised mostly of a couple hundred Chicago Italians from the same neighborhood as the Nitty's and the Bonnano's and a handful of former friends and police officers (now civilians) don't give a shit, because they just waiting.

It's a big fucking desert.

Services are Friday.

Anonymous said...

AMEN.

Anonymous said...

Words just fail me on this tragedy. Cars can be made that won't start for people who are over the legal limit. Why aren't they mandatory?

xoxo

Anonymous said...

Everytime I see this guy on TV, I want to see him go down from gunshot wounds fired from just offscreen.

Having read Remo's comment, I think I like the "big fucking desert" option better.
Anna

Anonymous said...

Oh yes.. I agree .. get the drunks off the damn road.. I almost wasnt here one time when someone didnt even brake and ran a red light at.. like 60 mph.. If my fiancee hadnt paused when we had the green light to make the turn off the hwy onto the main road.. this car would have t -boned myself , him and my future step daughter.. luckily my fiancee paused so when she came flying and hit us .. she hit our bumper.. and thank god we were in a big truck.. otherwise.. we wouldnt be around.. they were supposedly on their way to an xmas party.. and drunk as skunks.. all four of them.. they stood there dressed in elf costumes when they got out of the car.. it was wierd..and I was angry at them.. I was like what are you some kind of morons.. driving like this?! You know what they said.. oh give us a break please.. it's Christmas.. I was like are you kidding me? friggin idiots..More like the Christmas that almost wasn't.. Mel

http://journals.aol.com/myheartsaysso2/WhereTheHeartIs/

Anonymous said...

I've got a better solution.  Here in Tennessee, one of the states issuing "driving certificates" to undocumented folks I suggest this.  When you catch an illegal immigrant and a drunk driver......switch their documentation and send the drunk driver back to a foreign country like Mexico, Canada, or Miami.

:)

Chris
http://inanethoughtsandinsaneramblings.blogspot.com/