Cheers to keeping mellow at the bars and being smart enough to walk home. :biggrin:
Unfortunately this isn't an option for most. Many people figure since they are within walking distance, have a good system of public transportation, reasonable cabs/taxis, etc that it's that way everywhere.
Around here it would be not uncommon for the average person to be looking at $50-75 to get home, plus dealing with the $100-150+ tow charge as almost no businesses allow cars to remain overnight.
I don't believe people should get drunk and drive, but the original intent of the laws was never to stop 'drinking' and driving. The way the laws work now are it's almost impossible to have a few drinks and not be facing major fines and penalties. The sad part is most don't realize how low those thresholds really are.
I got caught up in this mess, in my class of about 200 there was no one that harmed anyone. The worst someone did was rearend a low pole when getting out from parallel parking and being boxed in.
In class you have to basically go up to the front, state how you were arrested/why, how much it's cost you so far, and if you harmed anyone how they are doing, what do you think it cost them.
The average was about $5500 and most of us had more to go. Many lost their jobs due to not being able to drive for 3 month and not being able to hire a car service to get them to and from work during that time. After that probation period you can get a work permit.
Quite a few people (maybe 6-10) were arrested coming out of a party/nightspot that they admit they were drunk to get cigarettes, a lighter, their bag out of the trunk (many were sleeping over). Most thought going in from the passenger side would indicate they were not going to drive. Still arrested with DUI. The class had about another 15-20 that just went to sleep in their cars, still arrested due the the gray area that if you have your keys in proximity to the motor vehicle you have intent to drive.
In my state we average 33 arrests per 100,000...in some states it's as high as 80-90 per 100,000. So basically in my state alone we ARREST more than half the people that DUI kills per year. It's the highest arrest rate to crime out of anything out there, violent crimes don't even make a blip. With mandatory sentencing that Judges cannot circumvent, chances are you can rape a woman or rob someone and have much less impact on your life. You'd think those would be the focus, but there is no revenue behind it. You don't see hundreds of websites out there or ads saying "stop merking peeps", "get caught merking? call 800-FREE-YOU" You do see rape sites, but mostly the focus is on date/domestic partner rape.
Worse is our roadblock system here during the holidays usually. If you are a homebody you don't even know about them. Get out a lot and travel through the downtown/city at night and expect to be stopped and corralled into a line that takes roughly 30-45 mins to get through, worst was about an hour and we missed a flight. Many times had to change movie plans. None of those times I had even been drinking.
I just don't agree with a lot of it now that I know it's not really about saving lives.