But laws aren?t the only solution to DUI problem

August 25, 2003

Laws against drunken driving in South Carolina took a sharper turn as of Aug. 18, when the legal blood-alcohol limit decrease to .08 went into effect.

Although we support efforts to combat this increasing problem, it still rankles a bit that the decrease from .10 was only brought about because the federal government threatened to withhold highway funds unless states complied. In our state, that meant we could lose $6.3 million for road improvements just this year.

That said, it’s still to the public’s advantage that drunk drivers be taken off our roads. The change can be one of the vehicles to do that.

It is also more financially detrimental to the offenders.

First-time offenders will find themselves paying a fine of $992, up $100 from the past. Second offenses can hit five figures and a third conviction can mean more than $13,000. In addition to the financial cost are jail time and being without a license to drive. If a license is revoked, mandatory completion of a program through the South Carolina Highway Patrol, a program that costs $500, is necessary to reclaim one’s license.

Add in the costs of high-risk insurance and the financial burden alone could break the bank.

But even more serious is the toll that drinking and driving takes on both those who commit the offense and those who are innocent victims of the offenders.

In 2001, South Carolina was second in the nation for the percentage of fatalities on the road that involved alcohol. In the Upstate, we had the dubious distinction of being the site of almost half the state’s fatal wrecks that year.

More recent numbers note that in 2002, nationwide almost 18,000 died in alcohol-related crashes, accounting for about 42 percent of all highway fatalities, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Teams of officers from the Highway Patrol and Anderson Police Department will be enforcing the new law, and if there are residents who don’t understand the implications, a Highway Patrol spokesman said a representative would be happy to visit any organization and explain in detail.

But there should be no need for such a detailed explanation. Is there really anyone left who doesn’t know drinking and driving is not just illegal but possibly one of the most ignorant offenses a driver can commit?

Even a 21-year-old entrepreneur in Pennsylvania knows and has come up with an invention to cut down on the number of drunken drivers on the road, one the driver can use to test his or her own limitations.

Phil LaBoon said he came up with the Legal Limit key chain in part because he had not one friend who didn’t have a DUI on his or her record. Users of the key chain, which has refills available, can conduct a breathalyzer test before even using the keys on the chain to get into their cars.

"It’s a good product," said a bar owner where Mr. LaBoon and a friend sold around 100 of the key chains a couple weekends ago. "People don’t always realize how much they’ve had," Bash owner David Santa told a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter.

Indeed, most people who might eventually end up with a DUI, or even worse, injuring themselves or someone else because they are driving impaired, are quite confident they can drive just fine and often will resent a friend who tries to tell them otherwise.

But like the long-spoken words remind us, "Friends don’t let friends drive drunk," even if taking away someone’s keys means a breach in the friendship.

So we need laws, laws that are enforced and punishments that are meted out when these laws are broken. And to do that, we certainly need more law enforcement officers on the roads to stop impaired drivers.

But more than either of these we need people behind the wheel who understand the impact their selfish act of "one more for the road" can have on someone else. That may be someone they will never have the opportunity to meet, because their idiocy has taken a life. It could be a friend who is riding with them when they fail to see a stop sign or an oncoming car, or if they lose control because they are impaired by alcohol or drugs.

A DUI can be expensive, sure. But it can also go far beyond mere money and that’s where we have to educate each other and ourselves. A jail term, even a monumental fine pale in comparison to taking a life.

And that’s the chance anyone who gets behind the wheel while impaired takes, who tries to drive when they should be calling a cab — or a friend — to keep them from making a mistake they will have to live with forever, one that no amount of money can erase.

Copyright 2003, Anderson Independent Mail. All Rights Reserved.