The American Beverage Institute, a restaurant trade association that represents more than 290 restaurants in Virginia alone, believes a new law requiring all first-time DUI offenders to install a Breathalyzer in their vehicle goes too far.
The association has lobbied against such laws on the national level and in Virginia and a number of other states, saying it punishes anyone who has had "one sip" over the legal limit.
Gov. Bob McDonnell . It goes into effect July 1. Currently, installing ignition locks is a punishment in Virginia reserved for repeat offenders or first-time convictions where a person's blood alcohol content, or BAC, is higher than 0.15. The state's legal limit is 0.08.
Citing data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the American Beverage Institute stated in a recent news release that the average blood alcohol content in a fatal car crash is 0.19, more than twice the legal limit.
“A 120 pound woman can reach the 0.08% BAC level by having two glasses of wine in two hours," the association's managing director, Sarah Longwell, stated in the news release. "Should she receive the same punishment as someone with a 0.19% BAC level or multiple offenses?"
The new law will cost Virginia more than $10.6 million annually to enforce, according to the restaurant association.
The group believes Mothers Against Drunk Driving, or MADD, has launched a national campaign to make Breathalyzers come installed in every vehicle as standard equipment.
Such a move would effectively eliminate "the ability to have a glass of wine with dinner, a beer at a ball game, or a champagne toast at a wedding and drive home," according to the American Beverage Institute.
Major correction to this misleading statement: by official estimates, about 1/3 of highway deaths are RELATED to alcohol. Not CAUSED. So about 10,000 deaths per year are related - that means every single fatal wreck where a trace of alcohol was present is counted as related. So: guy texting on a windy road who had a lite beer two hours prior = related. The actual number of fatal crashes where alcohol was a determining factor is a much smaller number. Drunk driving deaths (the actual causal number) is a far smaller problem it's portrayed to be by the MADD crowd. Again - for those who don't read carefully - I'm not saying that drunk driving is not a problem. I'm saying that it's a far smaller problem than you all think it is. And more Draconian laws are not the answer. Also, about the disproportional outrage: Two beers and driving? I'm outraged! Texting and driving? I wish you wouldn't do that.
Plus if you have all of those symptoms at .07 (what, about 2-3 lite beers?) you're a complete dink and you really shouldn't drink at all, driving or not.
My wife gets migraines and sometimes I have to take her to the hospital. If she'd been in the car with me when that guy rolled up with that bass pounding, I'm not sure I could've kept her in the car. I love loud music too, but that crap is nothing short of an "aural" assault.
Have you ever been convicted of a 1st offense DUI for having a drink or two responsibly? Let me educate you. Here's the breakdown for not being in an accident and stupidly cooperating with law enforcement about drinking;pulled over for interstate speeding 10 over the limit. Lawyer fees $750-$6000. I had the $6000 variety plus $3500 for the appeal. An additional $2500 to hire a third attorney to protect my professional license. Total fine losing appeal $511. The breakdown is $250 for the fine, $100 DUI fee, $10 Crimes Against children fee, $10 Security Fee, $80 Misdomeanor fee, $61 appeal fee. Your license is suspended for 1 year. I qualified for a restricted license that Virginia DMV reissued to me for $220. Before I was eligible for the reissuance, I had to complete a 10 week Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program that cost $350 and drive to the course 1 and half hours away from my residence because the local facility only held the course 2 nights a week and had a waiting list 1 month out from the actual conviction. Let me add, July 1st instituted mandatory interlock ignition requirements for 1st time offenders in Virginia regardless of BAC. That's on my car for 6 months and the rental is $80.90/month. I say per month because the user is required to return to the facility every 28 days during the 6 month period for maintenance and system download. Added this up yet? I'm age 45 with prior minor traffic tickets;no accidents.I am now a criminal.Tougher laws? Screw u.
Re: Jim Daniels. The HSUS is a deceptive group that masquerades as a normal, animal-welfare group when it is in fact a radical organization much more akin to PETA and other such groups. People deserve to know the truth and HSUS deserves to be ridiculed and brought into the light. Maybe this will strike a chord in your tiny mind: HSUS only donates about 1% of their yearly revenues to actual animal shelters. HSUS took money from Michael Vick in exchange for helping him repair his public image, a scumbag who not only was involved in dog-fighting but by his own hand tortured and killed a number his own dogs. Any respectable animal-welfare organization would utterly nothing to with him but HSUS is not respectable, they are radicals.