Should there be tiered penalties for drunk driving?
Like instead of treating the person who had a beer or two too many and blows a point .09 on the way home from a party the same as some drunk who blows three times the legal limit at 11am, you would instead have staggered penalties that got progressively worse.
The limit of .08 is not based on anecdotal evidence. It is based on the results of many studies with thousands of test subjects. There is a very specific reason that .08 is the cutoff. That is because at a .08, the effects impact driving. It doesn’t matter if ’some guy we know’ can drink a six-pack and do parkour without faceplanting. That’s anecdotal. For the mass majority of humans, .08 is too high for driving.
As for tiering the penalties, that sort of takes care of itself. Most people who blow 3 times the legal limit at 11am get arrested for more than just weaving. Usually, they have hit somebody or something. Sometimes they will fight with the arresting officer. Lack of cooperation tends to kick in at these higher BAC rates.
That said, there *is* some tiering in some states. Ever heard of an “aggravated DUI”? Blowing twice the legal limit in many states WILL yield stiffer penalties.
Mr. Turner – Drunk Driver or Misunderstood?