[sperry]

Originally Posted by ArthurS

I understand people don't want to loose their freedoms when it comes to driving and either do I. I guess this just hits me more towards home since I know someone who died from a drunk driver. I guess it has been fair to say that once you can no longer talk to someone that you used to talk to due to someones drunk ass, that it makes you think a little more about what you could do to try and prevent these situations.

17,500 more people may live from this action. Although it is to binding and exteme.

Okay...how bout this. What if car product companies offered a FREE alcohol tester in your car. Meaing if you are to drunk, your car would not start. This way there is no government forcing you to do it. Why wouldn't you do it then? Laziness? Because you think you will never drink and drive? Adds weight which may lessen your chance of winning at the course? ( )

Everyone has there own opinions. I just get to read, see, and deal with at least a family a year that had a run in with a drunk driver. Weather there be a death involved or not, its a scary thing to see. So if my ideas seem radical, its just because I wish it wouldn't happen.

I don't mean to belittle your loss by any means. I'm sure we all know someone who's lives have been affected by a drink driver.

My point is simply that futile government programs, like manadatory breathalizers on all cars do nothing but waste money, time, and erode the freedoms of the general public. Sure they might prevent a few deaths, but at a much greater cost in everyone else's freedom. Nick's post is a good example, you really could prevent all drunk driving deaths if you were to outlaw cars completely, right? So when you say you'd support mandatory huffers, realize that you're walking down the road towards the loss of yet more freedoms.

Now, I'm not saying there isn't a valid use for huffers, just that most people don't drink and drive, so most people shouldn't have huffers.

I will agree that drunk driving deaths should be completely preventable. People should not drive impared. The *only* reason people do it, is because people are STUPID. Especially in America, many people do not take driving seriously, they look at it as a nussance that interrupts their phone call. It's getting to the point where I can't drive for more than 10 seconds without seeing some bone-head move, or someone on their cell phone, or someone rocking to music so loud they couldn't possible hear anything else. All these people are distracted, the same way drunk drivers are distracted, just to a lesser degree. The fundamental issue with drunk driving is not that drunk people are able to start thier cars, it's that they *want* to start their cars in the first place!

So I'm proposing that mandatory breathalizers are just a band-aid for a much larger problem: Lack of respect for the road. In Europe and Japan, they have less of a problem that here in the States. Overseas, cars are much more expensive, licencing much stricter, and the general attitude of drivers is that driving is a privledge not a right. They respect the road. Hell, it took Porsche like 50 years to finally put a cup-holder in their cars, after all, you're busy driving when would you have time to drink something? Meanwhile US built mini-vans and SUVs have like 20 cupholders, DVD players, videogame systems, etc, etc, etc.

You say that over 17,500 people died in alcohol related crashes. That accounts for 41% of total auto-related deaths. I'm sure the other 59% wasn't mechanical failure, right? More than likely, the vast majority of the rest of the auto-related deaths were due to bone-headed moves by distracted drivers that don't know the limits of their cars, people speeding and tailgating, people that treat driving like a chore, not a responsibility.

We need to raise the bar for driving here in the US. You want a license, you better be 18, have several hundred dollars, and the time to take an intense driving school. Then it's off to in-car training. Put students on a closed course, teach them to drive at the car's limits, let them experience a car out of control. Get them to respect the power and energy a car traveling at 80mph has. Why do we expect the average driver to avoid a crash if they're never broken traction before, never threshold braked before, never stepped the back-end out before?

So, sure mandatory breathalizers might save some lives, but why not spend all that time and money making everyone better drivers, and actually increase freedoms for a change?