The stupidity of Drunk Driving Laws
Created | Updated Nov 17, 2003
I stumbled across yet another broken beer bottle on the sidewalk and started thinking...
It seems so damned idiotic that to buy alcohol you need a driver's license, although it is illegal to drive and drink. Yet given basic human nature, it's easy to assume that if someone buys a single, ice-cold beer, as soon as they are in their car or truck, that beer is gonna be opened and a few slips (or gulps) are gone before the driver leaves the store's parking lot! And of course, once that beer is empty, the bottle or can is out the window, since Texas has a no-open-container law. This means it is against the law to have an opened container of any alcohol in your moving vehicle. This includes liquor bottles with a broken seal. This makes me wish for drunk driving laws here like I've heard about in Germany: If you're caught driving drunk, then your license is cancelled permanently! No probation, no six-months or one-year suspension, permanently! The state could even issue a special ID for all these former drivers, stamped with "no driving" across it, just like we already do for "under 18" and "under 21" (the ages in Texas for buying tobacco and alcohol, respectively). As the law stands now, there isn't even a "three strikes" law for repeat offenses of drunk driving. In the news sometimes, there is a case where a drunk driver is reported to have had several prior convictions, and was still allowed to drive "for employment reasons." Apparently work was at a bar! If you find these drunk driving laws as idiotic as I do, I suggest you contact your Legislator to change the laws.
It seems so damned idiotic that to buy alcohol you need a driver's license, although it is illegal to drive and drink. Yet given basic human nature, it's easy to assume that if someone buys a single, ice-cold beer, as soon as they are in their car or truck, that beer is gonna be opened and a few slips (or gulps) are gone before the driver leaves the store's parking lot! And of course, once that beer is empty, the bottle or can is out the window, since Texas has a no-open-container law. This means it is against the law to have an opened container of any alcohol in your moving vehicle. This includes liquor bottles with a broken seal. This makes me wish for drunk driving laws here like I've heard about in Germany: If you're caught driving drunk, then your license is cancelled permanently! No probation, no six-months or one-year suspension, permanently! The state could even issue a special ID for all these former drivers, stamped with "no driving" across it, just like we already do for "under 18" and "under 21" (the ages in Texas for buying tobacco and alcohol, respectively). As the law stands now, there isn't even a "three strikes" law for repeat offenses of drunk driving. In the news sometimes, there is a case where a drunk driver is reported to have had several prior convictions, and was still allowed to drive "for employment reasons." Apparently work was at a bar! If you find these drunk driving laws as idiotic as I do, I suggest you contact your Legislator to change the laws.
