Penalties for Driving Under the Influence

734 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Stricter laws to prevent drunk driving

DUIs have blindly taken lives of citizens, and the punishment for this crime does not meet its destruction. In Mississippi, the first offense of a DUI carries only a ninety-day license suspension. Drunk drivers kill people every year. If DUI punishment became stricter, and careless drunk drivers paid the full consequence of their wrongdoing, the number of people killed by drunk drivers would decrease. Some argue that if the government strengthened DUI laws, it would have an economically negative effect on a city’s social drinking aspect; however, DUI laws would have a direct effect on repeated offenders and drinkers who disregard the law. Some people argue that if stricter DUI laws existed, it will only have a negative financial effect on cities instead of stopping drunk driving. In the article, “At Issue: Drunk Driving”, the author explains how drunk driving remains an issue and what the effect of stricter DUI laws would have on social drinking in cities. The article states how people feel about tougher laws on social drinking: “Others feel that the current legal limit is adequate and stricter laws would penalize social drinking instead of actual drunk drivers” (ProQuest Staff). The author claims that if the government passed stricter DUI laws, they would not stop drunk driving more than they would hurt the city financially. However, the safety of the people inside the city should remain the priority over money. In the same article, the writer states that the safety of people in cities is being threatened. The writer gives statistical evidence that drunk driving has a direct effect on traffic death: “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 40% of total traffic deaths in the United States are due to drun... ... middle of paper ... ...ks Cited Carreon, Victoria. “The Social Consequences of Drinking and Driving.” Info Host. Pay Dirt, Web. 14, Nov. 2013. http://infohost.nmt.edu/~paydirt/j/index.php/archives/71-drinking-and-driving. Lee, Evan. “DUI: Penalties Aren’t Severe Enough For Offenders.” The News Tribune. N.p, 24 Oct. 2013, Web. 11 Nov. 2013. http://blog.thenewstribune.com/letters/2013/10/24/penalties-not-sever-enough-for-drunk-driving/. “Preventing DUI Repeat Offenders.” IgnitionInterlockDevice.org. N.p, Web. 14 Nov. 2013. http://www.ignitioninterlockdevice.org/repeatduioffenders.html. Price, Michael. “Proposed Law Would Penalize Repeat DUI Offenders.” Daily Local News. Nestogram, N.p, 11 May 2013. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. http://www.dailylocal.com/article/DL/20130511/NEWS01/130519912. ProQuest Staff. "At Issue: Drunk Driving." ProQuest LLC. 2013: n.pag. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 11 Nov 2013.

Show More
Related

  • Why Oregon Needs Sobriety Checkpoints

    920 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kanable, Rebecca. "Driving home a message: DUI is a serious crime, and prevention and enforcement efforts need improvement." Law Enforcement Technology May 2005: 18+. Business Insights: Essentials. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.

    Read More

  • The Consequences of Drinking and Driving

    533 Words  | 2 Pages

    The facts are plain and simple, that alcohol and driving do not mix. About three in every ten Americans will be involved in an alcohol related crash at some time in their lives. Every single injury and death caused by drunk driving is totally preventable. To curb this national travesty, concerned Americans need to examine the problems, the effects, and the solutions to drunk driving. First of all, America has had a problem with drunk driving since Ford perfected the assembly line. Alcoholism is a problem in and of itself, but combined with driving can have a wide range of effects. The consequences of this reckless behavior can include a first time DUI or licenses suspension; a small fender bender, or worst of all a deadly crash. Most drivers that have only one or two drinks feel fine, and assume they are in control, which is irresponsible and dangerous. Alcohol is a depressant that slows down the body's ability to react and impairs judgment. To drive well, you need to be able to have a quick reaction time to avoid accidents. Unfortunately, people continue to drink and drive. However,...

    Read More

  • The Need for Stricter Drunk Driving Laws: An outline

    877 Words  | 2 Pages

    Today, I am going to briefly review some major reasons why we need Stricter Drunk driving laws.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Tougher DUI Laws

    1087 Words  | 3 Pages

    As you can see, drunk driving can cause many tragedies on a family or just the nation in general. Many people think that if we lower the Body Alcohol Content than there wouldn’t be as many people getting injured or killed a year. The question “Should tougher DUI laws be enacted?” is yet to be answered, but maybe in there next few years we will get an

    Read More

  • America Needs Better Drunk Driving Laws

    1201 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Drink the first. Sip the second slowly. Skip the third. The speedway ends at the cemetery” (Rockne). Every day, almost 30 people in the United States die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. This amounts to one death every 48 minutes. The annual cost of alcohol related crashes totals more than 51 billion. In Recent discussions of drunk driving, a controversial issue has been whether the driving while intoxicated laws should be increased due to the amount tax payers are paying for drunk driving crashes. On the one hand. Some argue that the driving laws for driving drunk should remain the same and not change. From this perspective the laws about driving under the influence should greatly increase to be stricter, this will help decrease the death rate per year in the United States. On the other hand, however others argue that the laws about driving while drunk are already too strict and should remain unchanged. In sum, then, the issue is whether the laws about driving drunk should be greatly increased to be more effective, or remain unchanged. Because drunk driving can result in unnecessary and premature deaths, unsafe roadways, billions of dollars spent on taxpayers due to DUI’S, and losing a loved one. Drunk driving laws should be altered to be more efficient.

    Read More

  • Drunk Driving

    1405 Words  | 3 Pages

    Drunk driving is a problem that we hear about every day and it is something that effects everyone, but it only becomes real when it affects us directly. What we don’t know is when a problem like drunk driving will become “real” for us. Drunk driving is an issue that has taken a toll on our country and should be stopped. Drunk driving has been an increasing problem for many years. It effects not only the driver but all of society. The good thing is there are many ways the percentage of drunk drivers can be reduced. Although many people believe drunk driving doesn't affect them because they don't drink and drive, it is something that affects the whole community.

    Read More

  • The National Minimum Drinking Age

    1858 Words  | 4 Pages

    In 1984 the national government raised the drinking age from eighteen to twenty-one with the intention of lowering the number of deaths that resulted from drunk driving. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act enforced this change by informing states that if they did not comply they would face a reduction in highway funds under the Federal Aid Act. Upon the ratification of the law the number of traffic fatalities among 18 to 20 year olds dropped thirteen percent. If the minimum legal drinking age were to be changed for eighteen year olds the United States could see a significant n...

    Read More

  • Drunk Driving Essay

    1323 Words  | 3 Pages

    There is knocking at a door late at night, and there a policeman standing at the door with information that a family member was in an accident that involved a drunk driver. This is one of those things people hear and believe that it will not happen, but it happens every day. Every 40 minutes, someone in the U.S. is killed by a drunk driver and in 2008, in Montana, 40 percent of all traffic fatalities involved DUIs (“Drunk Driving” 1). Drunk Driving affects everyone and people in Montana should look at what other states do to find ways to make the laws tougher and more enforced.

    Read More

  • DUI Offenders

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Hearing Set for California Bill Aimed at Changing Current DUI Laws.” 24-7 Press Release. N. p., 16 April 2013. Web. 5 Dec. 2013.

    Read More

  • The Drinking Age Should NOT Be Lowered

    1018 Words  | 3 Pages

    MADD - Mothers Against Drunk Driving. (2013). Retrieved 9 24, 2014, from MADD - Mothers Against Drunk Driving: http://www.madd.org

    Read More

  • Persuasive Speech: Do NOT Drink and Drive

    1890 Words  | 4 Pages

    Main Point I: I’d like to start off by talking about the penalties of drinking and driving. Did you know that drunk driving is the nation’s most frequently committed violent crime? A chronic drunk driver is a person who has driven over 1,000 times before being caught. They do not respond to social pressures, law enforcement, and the messages that have been combined to reform the drinking and driving behavior of our society.

    Read More

  • Impaired Driving Essay

    1423 Words  | 3 Pages

    Impaired driving is a major issue in our society and is an issue that can easily be preventable unlike many other legal issues. The punishment of impaired driving is barely considered when impaired drivers operates a vehicle while under the influence. It is seen as lenient and study shows that it is a conviction that is repeated multiple times. In order to avoid all of these issues and to fill in the flaws of our government system, the punishments regarding the accused’s conviction of crimes related to impaired driving should be far stricter than the current punishments in order to completely stop impaired driving within our flawed

    Read More

  • We Need Stricter Laws for Drunk Driving (DUI)

    2242 Words  | 5 Pages

    There is a need for the introduction and implementation of new drunk driving laws by the legislature, because presently the united States drunk driving laws are too lenient. The continuous rate of drunken driving fatalities makes a case that the united States drunk driving laws are too lenient and makes a call for stricter laws. According to Valenti “countries with strict drunk driving penalties have a far lower incidence of accidents than the United States (1). The United States being a first world country is weak in enforcing strict punishment for drunk drivers. Valenti is emphasizing on the fact that the united States need to improve their present laws and be firm in enforcing these new laws. There is a need for the United States to improve on their severity of its drunk driving penalties just the way the other part of the world have done and this is giving them a reduced rate of drunk driving fatalities. The claim of the leniency of the United States drunk driving laws is further stated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), this is a prominent body when it comes to the issue of drunken driving fatalities. It claims that the drunken driving laws are severe enough. “Despite great strides in awareness, education and enforcement in the last two decades the United States still has one of the most lenient drunken driving standards in the world”. (NHTSA of existing laws. There is a need for stricter laws to be introduced as the United States ranks behind the world when it comes to effort to combat drunk driving and more efforts need to be put in place by the implementation of harsher laws so as to reduce the high rate of repeat offenders and first time offenders.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Drinking And Driving

    832 Words  | 2 Pages

    Driving under the influence is one of the most common and dangerous situations in which anyone can be or be placed. Drinking and driving is a serious offence that can cause someone to be physically harm or even killed. Not only are you putting yourself at risk but you are also risking the lives of passengers in the car as well as any other car and occupants sharing the road with you. Many people believe that increasing fines for drunk driving offenders will play a compelling role in cutting down the occurrences of driving under the influence. However, while harsher DUI laws will look effective on paper, they will not make a significant step in the fight against drunk driving. Although there is a law enforced for drinking and driving in the

    Read More

  • Drinking And Driving

    1270 Words  | 3 Pages

    The growing awareness of alcohol hazards has made people more cautious of their drinking habits, particularly young adults. At present young adults have the highest prevalence of alcohol consumption than any other age group. They also drink more heavily, experience more negative consequences, and engage in more harmful activities, specifically drunk driving. Although surveys have documented a decline in recent years, consumption rates remain highest from late teen years to the late twenties (Johnston1-3). Despite the long-term decline since 1982 in alcohol related traffic deaths, a 4 percent increase occurred between 1994 and 1995 among young adults age 21 and over (Hingson 4). As alcohol-impaired driving persists, legal and community initiatives intervene to help reduce the problem, as well as, continuing research on possible solutions.

    Read More

More about Penalties for Driving Under the Influence

Open Document