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Sheesh. When you have a justice sytsem that wont even lock folk up who are rapists/killers/etc, how the hell dyou expect them to do something as sensible as locking upo drunk drivers? Having said that, they do doit but only if they are repeat ofenders (like 4 or 5 times a year!)

8O

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Don't see why they can't be locked up for a substantial period of time. Getting in a car and driving it after having a drink is exactly the same to me as someone who heads out carrying a loaded weapon. You might not intend to hurt anyone, but the likelihood is that you will.

 

To save any confusion though, make the limit zero.

 

Apologies if this offends anyone, but it's a subject I feel very strongly about.

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You can get in car breathalysers for a very low price. I think everyone should have one.

Where do you get them Mario?

I think everyone should have them too. That would weed out the sort of folk Peerie Bryan is speaking about who are accidently over the limit on a one off occasion. Then they could seriously up the penalty.

 

Reason I said that is I was shopping for xmas pressies and saw this:

http://

http://www.boysstuff.co.uk/product.asp?id=11982

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There is of course another side to all this. Alternatives to drink driving. More late night transport, cheaper taxis, more good local watering holes. As part of an overall strategy towards safer drinking.

 

An incentive to have a designated driver for a night out - if you are the said driver you could have free nonalcoholic drinks. I know soft drinks don't cost all that much, but you know how people like to get something for nothing!

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A lot of these fines are paid in installments anyway aren't they. Paying a tenner a month isn't a life changing punishment.

 

Conviscate and crush the vehicle, give them a big fine and lock them up. AND after they are released after half their sentence, give the some community service.

 

Sound excessive? Possibly. I can't think of anything less to include besides putting them in the stocks on the market cross, but people aren't put off by the current sentences...

 

Doesnt sound excessive to me but i am not convinced it would deter anyone either. Obvioulsy this is a tough one with no easy answers and i dont claim to know any of them. The blatently obvious first step is to change the law regarding the amount you can legally drink! No amount should be ok. I have heard about these home test kits spoken about above as well but why dont you hear about them more often? This sort of things should be fee on every bar. On its own it wont change anything but its a mulitude of these sort of ideas that we need to put into practise rather than going for the longer sentences and crushing cars approach IMO

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The blatently obvious first step is to change the law regarding the amount you can legally drink! No amount should be ok.

 

Exactly, the legal limit is very low already and so a total ban would remove the whole: 'I thought I would be fine just having a couple.' misconception that so many delude themselves with. If your going to take the car, just don't drink - simple.

 

This of course only applies to those who wish to stay within the law and act responsibly. This doesn't apply to the people who just see the drink driver laws as nanny state party pooping and will quite happily have a stomach full and still drive home.

 

Half hour after it happened this weekend, someone told me of a young woman who had decided to go home early from a drinking establishment. She only lived half a mile down the road, but that didn't stop her (and nobody less stopped her either) from staggering out to her car and driving home - she made it without incident, apparently. :evil: These type of people aren't going to be interested in buying home alcohol test kits (not that they are much sense anyway - they need calibrating and therefore aren't accurate for long) because they know and don't care that they are well over the limit.

 

Anybody have any better ideas for prevention rather than punishing the offenders. :?: :?: :?: Incentives for designated drivers and buses at closing times are good ideas if someone will fund them.

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The blatently obvious first step is to change the law regarding the amount you can legally drink!

 

There needs to be some tolerance. Wouldn't be fair to ban someone for eating an over-ripe fruit one day, or swallowing a little mouthwash by accident.

 

Having said that, the current limit seems way above any such natural tolerance.

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The blatently obvious first step is to change the law regarding the amount you can legally drink! No amount should be ok.

 

Exactly, the legal limit is very low already and so a total ban would remove the whole: 'I thought I would be fine just having a couple.' misconception that so many delude themselves with. If your going to take the car, just don't drink - simple.

 

I agree with this to a fashion, but it is a difficult one to implement. For instance - some medicines have small amounts of alcohol in them..so do mouthwashes, breath freshners etc...

 

If there was a 0% limit then we would all be be liable to prosecution after one liquer chocolate.

 

The 'day after' a night out would be a no-no as well (which is no bad thing in essence)...you would need to leave a minimum of 24 hours just to be on the safeside even if you had only been out for a couple of pints...you couldn't be 100% sure that every last trace of alcohol was out of your system. Everybody's metabolism is different so some people still might have traces 48+ hours after a night out... (I'm not condoning anybody driving the next day after a night out drinking by the way)

 

I cant imagine having tiny traces of alcohol in your system will mean you are a dangerous driver. You are probably more of a danger if you are driving with a bad cold or have not been getting enough sleep.

 

I notice the Police have changed their message over the last few years....before, they used to speak about safe limits but these days they advise not drinking anything if you are going to drive... I think this is a reasonable approach seeing as they are not directly responsible for setting the limits. I think the limit is fine the way it is...its the publics perception of what they can get away with needs to be addressed.

 

The idea of owning your own breathalizer is a great idea but you would have to be sure that it was working properly and was accurately calibrated.

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There's a list of European driving alcohol limits on Wikipedia (about half way down the page) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_under_the_influence

 

And the most worrying thing of all was the USA limit of 0.04% for aircraft pilots. Not clear if that means for flying or for pilots when driving but it is slightly odd if they are subject to a lower limit than many car drivers.

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Drink driving in Shetland is a social ill.

 

I have actually heard people who were caught and banned who seriously believe that they are being hard done by. The old chestnut "can dey no go an catch real criminals" etc is oft heard in Shetland.

 

Kill yourself by all means, I kill of a few grey cells each Saturday night, but when you get behind a car wheel you could very easily kill someone else.

 

Caught once, two years of the road, twice and complete 10 year ban and thrice, jail them!

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I have actually heard people who were caught and banned who seriously believe that they are being hard done by. The old chestnut "can dey no go an catch real criminals" etc is oft heard in Shetland.

 

Indeed. I heard someone from the Ness complaining that he should be exempt as he lived in Da Ness as the bus service did not run early/late enough for his job.

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I can imagine the problem is either lack of bus service, or the people out in the sticks that want to go out at christmas and enjoy themselves, have to drive... I am sure that they could get someone to give them a lift or get a taxi or something....

 

Risking your own life and the lives of others is just sheer stupidity and all for a drink.. just isnt worth it...

 

A lot of people in shetland will rely on their own transport for work and shopping, especially if they dont live on a bus route etc... it would be stupid to jepordize that to get "mortal" with their mates in the pub...

 

My friends and I have always did a "driving rota system", whereby we all took turns not drinking and acting as the "taxi"....

 

You know it makes sense! :wink:

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