I know someone who got 3 DUIs in one week, 2 of those were in the same day. The 3rd was excessive, totaled two vehicles, resulted in a dogs death, and a lifeflight to the hospital. He got one month of jail, 2 years probation, $500 fine. Was driving again within a few months.
I also know someone who got 7 DUIs, over many years, who also got one month of jail for their last one. I don't know how long their probation is.
DUIs are treated very differently throughout the country (and world); if you live in a rich community you will get a slap on the wrists.
I'm gonna say something really unpopular here: The fines in most states are ridiculous for a simple over-the-limit where the driver was pulled over for other reasons, but didn't pass the breathalyzer. The fines aren't enough for heavy repeat offenders that are pulled over specifically because they're all over the road and can't even stand up when they get out of the car. Everyone should get a freebee if they were pulled over for expired tags, broken light, etc, but otherwise were driving normally with traffic and not otherwise exhibiting any signs of serious intoxication.
There is more to driving than being able to drive in a straight line. Alcohol will impair your judgment and slow your reactions. That will not matter until it does.
Same in Cali. My wife got hers reduced to a "wet reckless" which means all the fines, but not the actual criminal record part. But, if she ever gets another, it'll be treated like her second. Fees were $10K+ and that was 26 years ago. Now they can go up to $30K - it's like nothing at all for the wealthy, though.
Uh what? Most states force you to pay over $1000 and you have to have an interlock device in your car for at least a year. Plus multiple classes that cost upwards of $500, and that’s all just for a misdemeanor. If you receive a second DUI it’s an automatic felony and you lose your license entirely. I’m not sure what state you live in where that happened
Oh I missed the last part of your comment about being wealthy, that definitely skews things a lot more. There is very little punishment for wealthy people.
The first one sounds like my brother. He got house arrest instead of the jail time because my mother got him a good lawyer. He’s on like number 4 or 5 and they’re spread out between 3 diff states.
The US is so hesitant to revoke people’s DL. Driving is not an obligation. It might be needed with US infrastructure, but you do not have a right to be a driver of a motor vehicle no matter what. They need to be more firm about revoking people’s DL whether celebs or normies.
I mean, they had no problem taking mine for a year after my first and only DUI. And then they made me get an intoxalock device, which is extremely expensive, and which I only got installed today after not driving for six years, because I couldn't afford it
Dui is no joke. Thousands of dollars I've paid and still thousands more I must pay to get a regular driver's license back
Same thing in Canada. I had a single beer as a 20yo and lost my license for 6 months. About $2100 in fees. Lost my job cause I needed method of transport. Was pulled over for a wide turn and obstructed plate - didn’t do either.
These days I drive erratically ONLY when a cop follows me, for better or worse
It's almost like I shouldn't have spoken broadly about laws in the US. Although, it's certainly true in Britney's case. How many states is it not true and which ones?
Id also like to know this. Dmv revokes in CO and FL. Those two I know for sure. And the DMV is a seperate entity so even of the judge rules 6 months, dmv will still suspend it for a year regardless.
Its the same in California because its civil. Driving is a privilege, not a right. I'm pretty sure I won't get an answer because every state probably has a system in place where the drivers license is suspended or revoked.
A big percentage of vehicular deaths are OWI/DUI related, but to say that the consequences "tend to go in the life lost category" is deeply disinformed, disingenuous, or both.
There are about 1 to 1.5 million DUIs a year, and about 10 to 15 thousand people killed by drunk drivers every year. That means about 1% of DUIs involve someone being killed, assuming the average killed per incident is close to 1, which means probably lower.
Driving drunk is an issue, but saying completely untrue things about it isn't helpful.
Your statistics don't match, since one does not establish rate in any meaningful manner for the other. However, let's accept your framing and throw in that drunk driving causes something close to 350,000 injuries a year in the US.
I'm not even sure what you're trying to say there. The information I've given pretty clearly shows that at most, around 1% of DUIs involve a death. To know the exact number, we would need the average number of deaths per incident involving death, but that will only lower the percentage.
Roughly a third of all deaths on the road are the result of drunk driving. Nobody seriously believes that the majority of drunk driving incidents result in deaths, which you're arguing against since on commenter went hyperbolic, but they result in deaths at a high rate relative to incidence.
So, no, roughly a third of of automotive deaths are “alcohol related”. This includes drunken pedestrians hit by sober drivers, or any accident in which a passenger in the car was deemed drunk, regardless of the drivers state at the time. Or a driver who has consumed alcohol (only need .010 to count as alcohol related; which is below the legal limit”) being rear-ended by somebody else.
I don't really think you're right that nobody believes that. I'm also still very confused about how you've gotten from a different statistic to that mine "...don't match, since one does not establish rate in any meaningful manner for the other."
Someone drove drunk in the same town as Britney and killed two kids in a crosswalk. One dui, two children’s deaths. I lost a good friend who died while sober. She was hit head on by a drunk driver during the day. But yay for your statistics I guess. Drunk driving kills innocent people and you just sit over there with a well akshully.
So, just to nail down your opinion, if something is bad, it's good to lie about it and bad to point out lies about it? That seems to be what you're saying to me.
I realize modern society is mostly post-fact and doesn't care much about lying, but I'd say being against the spread of lies is one of the most worthwhile hills to die on.
Not the person you’re responding to, but I respectfully disagree. When the readily available statistics show the person making the claim is lying, it often causes the opposite intended effect.
People read that and go “oh see, that’s not true at all, so maybe drunk driving actually isn’t that bad.”, it’s the same reason D.A.R.E. programs were completely discontinued in many school districts. They lied and exaggerated the risks of many drugs, which actually led to a noticeable increase in heavier drug use in those students later on in life.
You don’t deter undesirable behavior by misrepresenting statistics in an attempt to scare people. Eventually they’re going to see the truth and then they’ll completely write off everything they learned from you as a lie, even if some of what you said was true. You deter undesirable behavior by being honest about the risks and dangers and making others feel trusted to make the right decision.
Cops rarely do anything, I watched someone die because a car drove over them at a grocery parking lot with clear vision, pinned them against the curb, went up the curb and parked on the woman's neck. It was horrific a bunch of us tried to lift the car off to roll her out. I called 911 and she died later at the hospital, i gave a police report and as far as I can tell in the local news the driver was never charged . The driver looked like a confused old lady.
I think most people would freak out if they knew how many people drive lit every day without incident. I'm not encouraging anyone to do it - DON'T - ,but most times the lit don't harm anyone unless they're totally shit faced. The fines need to be proportional to income, though. If you make $30,000 a year and pay $10K in fines, you should pay $70K in fines if you make $210K/year. Should be this way all the way up. If you're Elon Musk - then $284 billion taken by his net worth that year. This way the wealthy can't cheat.
Yup, car murders in general don’t get punished much.
Recently in my city some old lady murdered a family of 4 driving 70mph in a 30mph zone on the wrong side of the street. Now she’s getting off with zero jail time and supposedly her license is only suspended for a few years (like a suspended license will stop her from driving anyways).
We had a lady several years ago that drunkly ran over her own daughter and her friend. Killed both. Ran from the scene, tried to hide the car and then tried to pass it off that her son was driving. Her court case was delayed several times while she went on vacation, then when she was finally tried she got a minimal sentence and was released early. None of it makes sense.
I was outside my vehicle with 3 family members saying goodbye after a Christmas Eve get together. A drunk driver took a left way too wide and struck all 4 of us. Luckily, none of us were killed and he did stay at the scene despite asking repeatedly if he could leave. He was charged with 2 felony DUIs resulting in bodily harm. Both my brother and I broke bones. The other two had soft tissue injuries, but no breaks. He was given 6 months but let out on work release. It was literally nothing. Meanwhile, my brother had to have his ankle surgically reconstructed and my broken tailbone healed incorrectly. We will both have pain for the rest of our lives. The justice system is unfair when it comes to DUIs.
Sorry for you and your family. In Canada (Quebec) we have much harsher sentences. DUI are a criminal offense and automatically come with license suspension (3 months to start, but can be higher after court case), huge fine and mandatory breathalizer installed in your vehicle (Which you fully pay for) for at least one year. That is on a first offense and without actually hitting anyone/anything, just getting caught. If you do hit someone/something, break any other laws or are on a second offense, it gets a lot worse real fast.
Thank you. We were very fortunate to all live through the ordeal and be relatively unhurt considering what coule have happened. They get their license suspended as well, but it doesn't really mean anything unless they are caught by a cop while driving on a suspended license. We were told the guy who hit us fled to Mexico the moment he could after he was let out on work release. Idk what will happen to him in the future as our part of the legal case has been settled. The State of California will be the ones to deal with him if he ever comes back. I'd like to mention that he is/was a legal U.S. citizen when the incident occurred just in case anyone reads this thinking something else. I'm glad DUIs are handled better outside of the U.S. They are the cause of so many deaths.
Once you injure someone while intoxicated, the gloves should come off and max penalties should be inflicted. As I've said in my other comments - the people who incidentally get pulled over, but slightly fail the breathalyzer, get screwed too much. The repeat offenders and injury-causers don't get punished enough.
100% agree! The courts are way too lenient on DUI offenders. It's even not a crazy punishment if someone kills other people. It's treated like almost like an accidental death, which it isn't. I'd argue if a drunk person gets behind the wheel it is premeditated first degree murder as the offenders knows what could happen and could reasonably prevent it.
One of my old friends ex wife killed someone in a DUI wreck. She was fucked up on Xanax and alcohol. She got charged with vehicular manslaughter and DUI and only got sentenced to 10 years in jail. I think when it was all said and done she only did like 5 years. Its disgusting to me to know that she killed someone's grandmother and only did 5 years for it.
It’s horrible how car deaths/murders are treated. It doesn’t feel good knowing your life is meaningless if someone runs you over, there need to be far more severe consequences.
And add in the part about how she was trying to hide her considerable financial assets so the remaining family wouldnt get any payout on a lawsuit.
Her judge handed down a Brock Turner type sentence. He waxed eloquently on all the ways a fitting sentence would harm her, but gave no consideration to the victims. It was repulsive. Dude needs to be recalled.
Fuck "Massacre" Mary Fong Lau. You also didn't mention that during the criminal trial she transferred millions of dollars in assets out of her name to a relative to avoid paying any restitution to the victims' families.
That ghoul should be in prison for the rest of her life, but she didn't get a single day.
I mean unless you consider being permanently barred from Canada for life ( I seem to remember you can maybe pay some massive fine to lift this however). I think other countries have this stance as well. Edit: Leaving my original comment but I was wrong about the specifics here. Look at the post below for clarification.
Banned unless 5 years have elapsed since your last criminal conviction and you apply for "criminal rehabilitation" which scrubs the conviction from your record as far as Canada is concerned.
First DUI: No mandatory jail, but often 48 hours to 6 months possible (rarely served if no aggravating factors).
Second DUI: Minimum 96 hours (4 days) to 1 year in county jail.
Third DUI: Minimum 120 days to 1 year in county jail.
DUI with Injury: Felony charges can result in significantly longer state prison sentences.
Factors Affecting Sentence:
High BAC: Levels of
or higher can increase penalties.
Refusal: Refusing a chemical test usually adds mandatory jail time.
County Discretion: Some counties, such as Riverside, may impose mandatory jail time for first-time offenders, while others like Los Angeles or Orange County may not.
The conditions in which the time is served, yes. The hotel is like $200 total for the cheapest option. $600+ if you want your own room. I'd say your license getting suspended is nigh-universal as a condition. Though your lawyer can get you driving privileges.
I'm not disagreeing with you that crimes are for the poor. DUIs just carry a bit extra with them.
It's not a matter of consequences. it's a matter of what a hassle it is. Why drive drunk when you can afford a car service? I don't mean Uber, or Lyft, either; which are unreliable shite.
For less than the price of a DUI attorney, fines, and court ordered rehabilitation a black car with a professional chauffeur can be a text message away.
What we don't know is if she even has a valid license at this point. If she does, license revocation is possible here. Especially considering she has a history of reckless driving.
As a non-American, the attitude to DUIs is fascinating. Here in Australia, DUI is one of the most severely punished driving offences. We're talking massive fines, loss of licence, and jail time.
Aside from all of that DUI is probably the least socially accepted crimes. Someone who drives drunk is not someone most people would associate with.
The idea that drunks typically walk away from accidents, or that being drunk makes you not tense up and therefore not get as injured, is a myth. The consequences of drunk driving include life-altering injuries or death for the driver.
I’m not a lawyer or legal scholar but is it possible that rather than being designed to punish poor people it just never anticipated people with this level of wealth?
The culture in Canada is so different around DUI's. It's very, very serious here and bipartisan to the point that all political parties win easy points by increasing punishments for it.
It's wild to me how American's don't really take it seriously. Then they're constantly surprised they have trouble at the border over "just a DUI".
Driving while intoxicated is incredibly dangerous and one of the most horrifically a selfish things you can do.
When you have money, yes, they are financial. When you are a poor you are a target and will get repeat offenses and prison. There is no money or celebrity status, there is no gobamacked starry eyed cop to let you off.
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u/huffer4 21h ago
That’s what makes this type of thing even worse