Public Service Announcements, radio commercials, tv commercials, and art imitating life are not tools that will prevent a person from drinking and driving.
This blog is coming at an appropriate time of a hightened number of drunk drivers on the road, ruining all the fun and making the roads dangerous for the average celebrator who would like to be able to drive home from an evening meal at Grandma's house - without being clipped and killed by Johnny Bing Drinker.
At 2 pm this afternoon we drove past 2 so-slow-they-must-be-drunk drivers and 1 guy peeing in the middle of a two lane street, on a hill, in broad daylight, with cars zipping by. Want to know how many cop cars we drove past from St. John's to Spainyards Bay? ZERO. A big fat zero.
Also, driving from the movie theatre and around the outskirts of the city, looking at Christmas lights, straight through the Downtown on a Saturday night - ZERO cop cars (with the exception of the Paddy Wagon sitting on Duckworth which is always there).
THE ONLY WAY to make drunk drivers stop driving drunk - is to patrol.
To put them straight in jail.
None of this, suspended license (they can just get a cab).
No revoked licenses (again - cab or bus)
THREE times you can drive drunk before you are put in jail! Just think of the ratio of people who are out there driving around on strike one! Or driving without a licenses!!! (because if you are driving drunk - you are surely stupid enough to drive without a license - I mean - they are both breaking the law).
You can't threaten these people with stories of injuries of others (they are too self-absorbed and selfish for that). You can't threaten these people with stories of committing their own death (they don't feel as though they are in any harm - or wouldn't be doing it in the first place - proven by the self absorption that was mentioned above).
You need to threaten their living life - you need to patrol like mad and put them straight in jail. Hence, losing their job, their girlfriend or boyfriend, friends (if they are against drunk driving), home (if they are renting - due to missed payement from being in jail - and lack of payment because of lost job). Punish them in a way that matters.
Threaten their very life as they know it. Then - when they are considering saving the money of getting a cab home there will be no contest.
And do it like wildfire - get out there and arrest dozens of them in a weekend and broadcast their names and the number of catches all over the local news.
Because, lets face it. There will always be people out there pushing the limits, acting irresponsibly. But the goal of the police force ought to be to limit the number of people who are inflicting their lack of responsibility onto us.
The innocent.
The smart.
The fed-up.
When a normal person's holiday plans include making procautions for drunk drivers - things need to change.
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