I’ve been contemplating writing an essay about our drinking culture in the United States for some time now, just not knowing what specifically I wanted to address. What is most important to me? What would other members deem worth debate? What about our drinking culture, history, laws and flaws do we need to address?
As a substance abuse counselor working mostly with DUI offenders, a subject has come up on many occasion in group and in my individuals appointments with clients: Police Check Points.
Still there? Follow me to the juicey parts…..
The statistics for drunk driving deaths with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.08 or over for 1982 in Illinois–where I reside–was 53%. In 2005, it decreased to 35%. This is a good thing! Why the decrease? What changed?
Sobriety Check Points
First of all, what is a sobriety check point?
Sobriety checkpoint: law enforcement evaluates drivers for signs of alcohol or drug impairment at certain points on the roadway. Vehicles are stopped in a specific sequence, such as every other vehicle or every fourth, fifth or sixth vehicle. Sobriety checkpoints must display warning signs to motorists. Police must have a reason to believe the driver stopped at a checkpoint has been drinking before a breath test can be conducted.
info supplied by Mothers Against Drunk Drivers
The CDC (Center For Disease Control) has resources claiming a decrease of 22% of fatal crashes due to the use of sobriety check points.
This issue is huge for individuals who have lost loved ones to a drunk drivers. The emotional toll it takes on a family is gut-wrenching.
My cousin died in a single motorcycle accident in 1987. He was 25 years old and he was very drunk.
Luckily, he did not kill anyone else, but watching my aunt and uncle decide which organs to donate is not something I will soon forget. To be honest, I don’t think they realized how bad the situation was, as I’m sure that if they knew he was drinking that heavily, they would’ve told him to check into a sobriety recovery home, like Odyssey Sober Living – if you’re interested in ODYSSEY SOBER LIVING, you can find their website here. It was still heartbreaking, but I just wish that he’d spoken up about his problem sooner so that we could help him. I don’t want anyone else to have to live through what we have.
Even having experienced this, I, as a progressive have a difficult time reconciling check points and my individual rights when there is another tool available–Saturation Patrol. This is defined by law enforcement watching and observing for moving violations, aggressive driving, and the such–you know, what the police are suppose to do anyway.
I understand that some of my clients are bent on focusing their lot in treatment to be an outside evil, like the police and court system, but it is hard for me to come to terms with this procedure.
Alcohol causes distorted thinking; distortions in judgement, perception, emotional control, alertness, concentration, coodination and good reaction time. AND because of this distorted thinking, people many times believe they are “just fine” to drive, when in fact, they are very impaired. Think of how many times as individuals we have driven drunk, but just didn’t get stopped? How many of these times do you think we should’ve been stopped because we were a danger to ourselves and to others? I wonder whether some people wish that they had a DUI police check from an anonymous tip to stop them from driving any further. I doubt that many people had this thought cross their mind but checks like these could help to save a life. It could even be yours.
How many times did you thank God when you pulled into the driveway?
As progressives, how do we reconcile this? Let’s debate.
Keep in mind: I do understand this can be a very emotional subject for some and the majority of people in America polled want these checkpoints. So, breathe before you type. Debate please; don’t attack.
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I have some clients to see.
Peace.
and was fortunate enough to have been stopped before causing any injury — I urge you to keep the matter out in the open for discussion.
Our culture is framed around use of alcohol, and your term “aggressive driving” could be applied to many circumstances beyond “on the road.”
If we’d give half the attention to alcohol use that we give to smoking, injury to others by “aggressive driving” physically and emotionally would plummet.
I’ve been fortunate enough to live the last 22 years without consuming alcohol, a life-altering choice — in more ways than one. I like the life-alterations far, far more than even “one little drink.”
“Aggressive driving” through life hurts others.
Thank you for this diary, and I hope many, many others join in.
and if the guy next to me is a little giggly and slightly off kilter I just don’t care. Particularly if he has a good joke to share. Too much self transit and wasteful transit in this country, and then before your know it we have inebriated transit. How about if the guy usually driving all of us is on the clock?
and never got caught. I will never forget, however, shakily checking the grill of my car for signs of blood in the mornings, after driving home in a total blackout the night before. My silent friends and family, and the police who never stopped me for what had to be erratic driving, did me no favor at all, as I very nearly died from my untreated addiction. (26 yrs clean now)
Given the numbers of alcohol/drug impaired drivers on the roads, and the numbers of lives they claim and/or ruin, I come down in favor of intensive saturation patrols and sobriety checkpoints, at the risk of infringing on legal drivers rights.
couple of decades with MADD leading the charge to restrict drunk driving by placing restrictions on everyone. Such restrictions may decrease drunk driving, but at what cost? Thanks for bringing the topic up.
Here’s a sugestion: Legalize dope. While the term “aggressive pot head” may not be a complete oxymorong, it’s close.
OK, there were no cars when the constitution got written, so driving isn’t in there. But is driving a right?
I can’t drive because of eyesight and visual perceptual problems. In my opinion, far too many people are given licenses who should not be. You should have to be able to drive really *well* to be given a license.
If you drive dangerously, you should lose your license, whether that driving is dangerous due to age, substance use, visual problems, or whatever.
My brother is a recovering alcoholic and cocaine addict. He drove better drunk than my father does sober.
…I don’t want checkpoints.
From the perspective of those still acceptable to the larger system, I suppose it’s a no brainer — stop and check, great idea! From those outside the system — way too visibly queer, way too black, or simply with a history that puts them in the database (happily not me, but there but for the grace of the goddess…) it hardly bears discussion either. The cops aren’t your friend, and your survival is an extended bet on their practicality of mind and enforcement priorities for the evening.
Like many things in modern America, this seems a faux debate, visualized completely differently by those who remain acceptable to and priviledged within the system, and those who are no longer (or were never) acceptable. I’m not sure what one should end up talking about, because the terms from each perspective are completely different…
there is a designated driver.
My step-son was killed by a drunk driver. The driver was arrest, then released on his recognizance ~ although he had no form documentation as to who he was except a fraudulent drivers license. Police believe he went back to Mexico or maybe just changed to a new stolen drivers license.
Interestingly, my only anger is at (1) the drunk driver for driving, and (2) for the police knowingly releasing the driver.
Never was much of a drinker, and driving after drinking…probably not since the early 1980’s. Interesting topic. I’d be cautious about condemning those that do socially drink or lumping them with habitual drunk drivers.
Answer that question when asked by a cop.
No matter what the answer actually is.
You have the right to remain silent…use it.