I’m sorry, but this whole drunk driving McCarthyism has gotten out of hand. The drunks who are dangerous are the guys who have a .200 BAL at ten in the morning. Hard core alcoholics… and those folks are completely immune to this form of social control.
I have never gotten a DUI, but I have certainly driven while legally drunk. At the same time, where’s the evidence that some arbitrary BAL, like 0.8 or 1.0, is prima facie evidence that someone cannot operate a vehicle? I’ll take a 21 yo with a BAL of 0.8 over a stone sober 80 yo! How many 20 year olds with a couple of beers in ‘em have run their cars through an open air market lately?
I like Germany’s system. The BAL is irrelevant. What matters are the coordination/performance tests that the cops put you through. If you can pass those, you’re functional enough to drive. Isn’t that what matters, rather than some arbitrary lab test?
Our DUI laws are going to slowly turn into a new form of Prohibition, mark my words. We’re dealing with people who have no sense of proportion. If 0.8 is good, why isn’t 0.6 better?
