From Ron in Lompoc: Isn’t it worth more to prevent than to punish?

I hope that you are the Susan Barich of whom I read about today in the LATimes. I want to commend you for your compassion towards the woman in whose car your son was killed. It must be extremely hard to go against everyone who says that to not enforce the law to its fullest is to encourage others to drink and drive. It is the same approach taken by those who think that the death penalty prevents murder. If these approaches to the control of human behavior actually worked, the Arab States would not still be cutting off hands and feet, people would no longer kill, rape, rob, sexually molest, or commit any of the acts we so detest. Revenge does not stop anything and it has been known that it does not bring closure.

As humans we are lazy. We always seem to have to be forced to do that which is in our own best interest. The technology has been around for years to keep an intoxicated person from driving and yet these devices are only installed as a last resort. They should be present on every vehicle. The reason they are not is varied. Auto manufacturers say it would cost too much and slow the sales of cars. They said the same thing about the seat belt and the air bag. People say it is a violation of their rights as if killing someone while driving intoxicated is not a violation of their right to live. And there is the ever present megalithic Alcohol Industry that realizes these devices would cut into the amount of profit they make. Last, but not least are the nay sayers who that people would just disable the devices and drive drunk anyway. Yes, just as there are people who manage to break every law and others who will make money off of providing a way to disable these devices. That is human nature. But isn’t it worth more to prevent than to punish?

It would please me to hear that you and the people who have contacted you in favor of your position had decided to work on legislation that would make the breathalyzers mandatory equipment on every vehicle. MADD is about revenge. See if you can convince them to help back you.

I am sorry for your loss. But it appears to me that you, unlike many others who have suffered like you, will turn this into something positive. It is people like you who give positive proof of the compassionate nature of our species and gives meaning to our existence.

Best regards,
Ron Ranft
Lompoc, Ca.

Cudos for Thousand Oaks High School! Thanks, Eric Smith

I am a 17 year old senior at Thousand Oaks High School.

Weeks ago, the juniors and seniors at TOHS participated in a program called “Every 15 Minutes”. It is designed to help teach teenagers about the dangers of driking and driving. Every 15 minutes (starting at 7:00 a.m. and going until 11:00 a.m.), a student was called out of class over the intercom, saying they had been “killed” by a drunk driver.

There was also a mock car accident in front of the school, in which a drunk driver hit a car with four TOHS students inside. I was the driver of the car that was struck, and was pronounced Dead On Arrival.

Everyone who participated in the program later shared their feelings at a retreat later that night. We couldn’t use out cell phones to talk to any of our friends/family. The next day, there was a mock funeral where we shared letters we had written to our families.

This experienced changed my life forever as my friends and I became much closer. Concerning Mrs. Barich’s issue about her son, I am on both sides of the fence. I believe the driver should be punished for her horrible mistake. But I also feel compassion for her. I believe that having her help encourage people not to drink and drive would help solve the problem rather than punishing her and causing more pain and anger.

From Eric Jung

Eric is a friend of ours from Bear Valley. He has some ideas to share.Dear Susan,I don’t blog and I couldn’t figure out how to sign in so I’m just sending you a few brief thoughts.Sweden has the right attitude. Swedes are raised to be horrified when someone even thinks about driving drunk. It started with a law, if I understand it correctly, so it was a top-down solution, rather than a grass-roots movement demanding the law. I favor such a top-down solution. In a country that actually was able to pass Prohibition for a while, it shouldn’t be so hard to pass a law that anyone caught driving drunk automatically loses their right to drive ever again and has their car impounded and sold to defray the costs of alcohol-related accidents. It has to be made absolutely unthinkable that anyone would ever consider driving drunk, so unthinkable that anyone acting like they’re about to do it is immediately treated like the worst kind of pariah, is knocked down by their friends and has their keys taken away, violently if necessary.Despite lip service to “Drink Responsibly”, we all know that, starting from junior high school, Americans consider it cool to get drunk. “Man, was I hammered last night, you shoulda seen me, haw haw haw.” I don’t believe that any education campaign will ever change this attitude. I think it will take legislation of the severest kind. Drive drunk, lose your driver’s license and your car. Forever. No appeal. We’ll start out with a growing army of non-drivers who have to depend on their friends and neighbors or public transportation to get to work. Taxi and bus companies will benefit. After a generation or so, people will grow up knowing that driving drunk is just not part of life, and the numbers of non-drivers will shrink.I like the Breath-O-Meter attached to the ignition. Someone on the Web will sell Beat the Breath-O-Meter kits, guaranteed, though.I could go on and on. I believe that the tendency to drink and even to be able to enjoy alcohol has a large genetic component. My family seems not to have the drunk gene. None of my blood relatives is particularly fond of alcohol. I have never seen either of my parents drunk. It’s been at least five years since I was legally drunk. I just don’t care. So I have little sympathy for people who consider getting drunk an essential or cool part of life. I know very few people whose company I enjoy more when they’re drunk – usually quite the opposite.Truly Yours,Eric JungSo, Eric, what would YOU recommend?SusanI think Jessica should have to do lots of community service divided into two parts.First, she should have to visit hospitals and the homes of people whose lives have been wrecked by drunk driving. She should be made to memorize statistics on the numbers of lives wrecked by drunk driving. Then she should have to go to high schools and make presentations including an account of her own experience, accounts of her visits with the wrecked, and a recitation of the statistics.Yes, loss of driving privileges is very serious. Some people would have to get a different job and maybe move to another town. It is the very seriousness of the thing that will make it effective in the long run. After we go through a generation or two of people who don’t get it until it happens to them, I would expect that society’s attitude will shift to make it a much rarer occurrence. The fact that it is more convenient to get around Sweden doesn’t change a thing for me. We’re too dependent on the automobile as it is. If these penalties for drunk driving are passed, it might be one small step toward better public transportation and better city planning to minimize the need for cars.EJI think your top-down concepts in tandem with education, advertising (Friends don’t let friends drive drunk), alcohol marketing (disposable breathalizers with every purchase) can go a long way in changing the culture.Eric:Thanks for your thoughts. At this point, we don’t even KNOW when we are illegal. I’ve started using the breathalizer I bought at Costco years ago and just put away. I just want to check out where I am in relation to the legal limits, and what .023 feels like versus .05. If we got into the habit of using these tools on a regular basis, we could begin to take responsibility for ourselves and our friends, which is where we really need to get to.Susan

Another Creative Option: Alcohol Breath Dectection on Campus

Today at lunch Alan and I were talking about ways to promote getting home safely. He suggested that the campus book stores sell alcohol breath detection devices. Make it convenient for students to stay safe. Again, it’s very much about the message we are sending as a University or College.

“We want our students to be safe. You’re not safe if you’re drinking and driving.” I still like the tag line: Friends don’t let friends drive drunk.

It gives your friends “permission” to give you a hard time if you are thinking about drinking and driving.

Creative Options: Breath Alcohol Detector

Let’s articulate some creative options for how to get home safely. I’d start with promoting the use of breathalizers and other alcohol detection methods.

Magic wand: every six pack of beer, every keg, every bottle of booze comes with breath alcohol detectors (http://www.tests-shop.com/category24).

“It is easy to use and fast – just break internal capsule, shake, and blow hard into the test cylinder of Breath Alcohol Detector for a few seconds. Then read the color change of the chemical crystals in 2 minutes or less!

“Breath Alcohol Detector is available in 5 BAC levels for a complete range of sensitivity: .10%, .08%, .05%, .04% and .02% (for zero tolerance testing)”

If this site sells them retail for a package of 6 for $16 ($2.67), you can bet Anheiser-Bush can buy them in bulk for pennies. And so can Stolie, and so can Canadian Club and so can Jose Cuervo.

Think about the message we would be sending. Let’s permeate the culture, not with zero tolerance for drinking and socializing, but with zero tolerance for letting our friends drive drunk.