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I think you are totally wrong here if anything our DUI laws as a nation have gotten out of hand. When you are giving people DUI's for sleeping booze off in their car or getting shit out their trunk things have gone too far. I know quite a few people who got DUI's without ever starting and driving their vehicles. What we need to do is stop wasting time and resources on DUI Checkpoints infringing on citizens rights because MADD screamed at congress long and hard enough. If those same resources were used to patrol the roads and catch wreckless drivers we would be better off. When you commit a crime and alcohol is involved hammer them to the wall. If you are behind the wheel drunk and have yet to actually committ a crime or be observed committing one I dont feel it is just to charge someone. When you are driving wreckless, or breaking other laws I am all for it. IMO DUI checkpoints are unconstitutional harassment of citizens due to law makers willing to infringe on civil liberties to appease reactionalist constituents.

I'm gonna have to agree with Snow on this one. I'm sure Rainman can remember the days when once you got to base, you were "safe". The cops at the gate would stop you and make you walk to your house/dorm. Your supervisor was called, and you got a good 'ol wood shed whooping for being stupid the next day. I'm not saying this was right, but that's the way it was. I think anyone caught operating a motor vehicle while impaired should be hung by the balls/labia and then made to clean the tomb stones of every person who was ever killed by a drunk driver with a toothbrush. His whole point was that the random checks, road blocks, arrests for opening your trunk thing has gotten way out of hand. We as a country have given way too much latitude to law enforcement to deal with the DUI problem. It falls in the same area as listening devices and the John Birch Society era of rules. I had a friend of mine who got "busted" for getting a rain coat out of his trunk to give to his girlfriend so they could stand outside and get a cab home. He is still a 1LT after three years, and will remain a co-pilot for the foreseeable future with no chance of upgrade. Is this right? I sure as hell don't think so. The example at the beginning of this post was from the days when the USAF took care of its own. We can't change the world and stop the cops from arresting guys sleeping in their cars, but we can take care of our own problems internally without losing good people to a "Zero Tolerance" standard that gives no room for the assinine or constitutionally questionable laws that society deems "appropriate".

Jesus, you guys are once again forgeting that more sober people kill people on the highway than drunk people. Also, many accidents caused buy what MADD says are drunk people (>.1) probably would have gotten in the same accident if they were sober. Sometimes shit happens on the road drunk or not. If that were not true sober pepople would never get in accidents. "Oh, but your reaction time is reduced when you are drunk!" So what, maybee he had no time to react so a reduced reaction time makes no difference. So, I am DUI on highway. If you want to do the speed limit, get the fuck out of my way!

I absolutely agree with you here, in this case. Just thinking to the future though, the system we have in place is clearly not a strong enough deterrent. The goal shouldn't be to say, ok as long as nobody dies, your DUI is not that bad. It should not be left up to luck in that you get to skate if you don't kill or hurt anyone. Maybe we need to have stated consequences in place that are much harsher than the "punishment" we have now. Honestly, how often do people get busted their very first time they drove drunk...not very often. Our weak ass stance on this issue fosters an attitude that you can survive a DUI. Fuck that, too many innocent people are killed every year because of drunk drivers. I say we make it very blunt, a DUI results in immediate separation and loss of all pay and benefits; in addition to the normal course of civilian law that will be carried out. I have friends that have gotten DUIs, and a lot of them don't really give a shit because the outcome really wasn't all that bad. Well...let's make the outcome that bad, and see if people actually start caring.