Interesting Read about DUI laws.

I brought this issue up around a year ago...and some people got very passionate about it, reaaal quick. Many have known people who have died at the hands of a drunk driver...and it gets very personal for them. I humbly submit the following opinions:

1. Dui checkpoints (in addition to being intrusive) are generally not that effective. WIBW TV here in Topeka did a story on this a few weeks ago...they listed the manpower and and money spent on the latest checkpoint, which resulted in one arrest...then they had a guy come on with some statistics about how poorly they do...and how much better police would do if they just 'patrolled'. I found it interesting; and, it confirmed what I already suspected.

2. Local governements have turned this into a revenue stream. First, they get special grant money to conduct the checkpoints. Think about that...the police need extra money to be on the lookut for DUI's? More importantly, if local governments were really serious, there would not be a possibility a DIVERSION.

My neighbor (who I don't get along with) was arrested for dui around 18 months ago. Shawnee County has free access to public court records on-line, so I could track his progress. First of all, this is his 4th DUI. Its only listed as his 3rd, because of a diversion...so his record has two 'Second DUI' offenses'. His current case took over a year to weave through the courts, with him able to delay things at many points in the process. Eventally, he served 72 hours in jail and 90 days on house arrest. And, BTW, house arrest didn't seem to slow him down any. He got caught once (in a bar) violating the house arrest, and the only thing that happened to him was he was told to go back on house arrest. He had an ankle bracelet; but, the monitoring of those is not as intense as you would think. Oh, and he also paid a hell of alot of money to Shawnee County.

He's off house arrest now, still drives his car, so probably still has his license...and I ran into him at the treasurer's office registering a car, which I think requires a valid license. Do I think he will drink and drive again? Well, the empty beer cans have re-appeared on our gravel road. He's an obvious menace; but, he ground his way through the system...and he's back.

So, no I don't think the checkpoints are a good idea. Besides being ineffective, I think I told the story of being stopped and detained at one before, when I was very young...hadn't had a drink in days or possibly weeks...I was just young, in a mule corridor, and was sporting plates from many states away...so the checkpoint was a pretext to interogate me. Some people's response (last time it sure was) will be "tough shit, you should be willing to give up some of your time to save lives"....but it just doesn't compute, when I see how poorly a job local governements do at actually keeping repeat offenders off the road. Sure, they can nail a guy at a checkpoint (as long as they get grant money to do it), but they show no interest at all in finishing the process.

Therefore, I think it is a worthwhile discussion to ask whether or not checkpoints are effective and necessary.

Just my humble opinion.

Several years ago the police had a DUI checkpoint on 435 after a Monday night game and cause a traffice jam that lasted for hours. I think they only netted two or three arrests for DUI while causing a major inconvience for thousands.

http://www.mojohd.com/mojoseries/thr...view/hong_kong

If you build a skyscraper with bars on every floor...it's impossible to drive drunk while bar hopping.

If you have a public transportation system...you can drink BEFORE, TO, AT, and coming home FROM the bar. Not only does this obsolete drunk driving, but it improves the drinking experience.

IMO, DUI laws try to solve a hardware problem by changing software. Change the infrastructure! It can be done. If you just try to change 100% of people's minds, you'll always fail.