You can reduce nearly any action of consequence to sound trivial in this way. "Changing some bits," "writing some words," "rearranging a few atoms." It doesn't add much understanding.
I was listening to a podcast recently where a guy was joking about how felony Duis don't matter in the US. He said his company wanted to hire this girl but they said they wanted to know if she had any felonies to which she said yes, a DUI or something.
They laughed at it in the interview and then hired her right away. Goes to show people sorta understand when it comes to alcohol it's not really their fault in the couple one off scenarios.
I can't see a situation where a DUI isn't your fault. I guess there's probably edge cases or whatever, but I think the vast majority of the time, it's your fault.
That being said, I don't think I'd hold a DUI against a person, mainly because the system is set up to fuck you. If you decline a breath-a-lyzer, then you suffer nearly the same fate as failing it. At minimum you lose your license, at worst you get arrested and they get a warrant to take a blood sample. It's completely possible to get punished for drunk driving without ever touching the stuff. I've been pulled over at night and experienced an officer absolutely trying to pin me for DUI despite clear evidence to the contrary.
Police love to brag about how expensive DUIs, I've seen lots of anti-drunk driving billboards that reference cost in some way. And knowing police forces in the US, well all know they are pocketing a healthy chunk of change from each DUI.
Now, if you have nine DUIs, that's a different story...
That would be a good argument if DUIs were a victimless crime, but DUIs regularly put innocent bystanders into an early grave. It serves the public interest to treat DUIs very seriously, as they have a measurable impact on everyone.
Now if you want to argue that the system is ineffective at reducing DUIs, that’s a different argument.
Yes absolutely and nobody is arguing that. What is an issue with the US is that we're a motor vehicle country and there is virtually no public transportation. Hell even cabs or ubers are non-existant in a large portion of the rural areas. So DUI's are kinda you're only option.
I actually live in Wisconsin where I probably can't count how many times I've seen on the news someone getting pulled over for their n'th DUI. It doesn't even phase me and the funny part is they never get jail time, major fines, or felonies.
US 11/15 along the Susquehanna upriver from Harrisburg has a stretch where there are at least a couple of billboards from lawyers advertising "aggressive DUI defense". These have always seemed to me to be good indicators I don't want to drive that stretch of road on Friday or Saturday nights.
Take a German, but make his road from the bar to his house 20-25 KM away. Multiply it by 100,000 people in the same scenario. Now eliminate their public transport.
How many Germans do you think will take the risk of a DUI to drive home as opposed to walking? Granted not everybody is driving over the limit here, but a large majority of them are teetering at it. I mean I've done it, but I knew I had to drive so I held off and waited for some of the affects to subside. Still, I gotta get home, and a cab is not an option often times.
It's a cultural thing that we'd gladly get rid of, if we could afford the alternative of a robust public transport system. But we don't, so it's a risk people often take.
Believe it or not, there are more cities under 10-20k in the US than there are large metropolitan areas. In the area I'm in, you can only get a cab in the city. Good luck getting one 15-25KM outside of it.
Also being America, home of what feels like the home of capitalism which a lot of Europeans make it out to be, since the law only prosecutes you if you get caught, people take the risk. Because there is that cultural precedent, cab's don't bother competing cause nobody pays for it anyway.
Also for reference, you're only getting a cab in an area that is within city limits no further than like 5-10km outside of it. Any further, you're on your own.
You'd think that there'd be a "thriving" cab market, but cabs literally only exist in major cities. They do not exist in the places 20-30km out. Why would I go to those bars? Well...weddings, events, parties, where people live, etc. Also cabs charge out the ass so risking a DUI is oftentimes worth it. If you take a cab, you're out like $30-$50 bucks sometimes in those rural areas. If you get a DUI, in my state, it's like $150 for a first time offense. So in essence people drive normally, avoid main highways or take backroads where cops don't camp out.
It only increases the relative probability of a fatal crash by 6-20 times (as of the 1970’s, according to DOT, .10-.15 BAC). So it’s basically the same as taking multiple trips. If you take some care in route selection, or drive at 2:00 am when nobody is on the road, or drive from the pub around the corner, it’s less risky than that.
That is never the case in the US. Imagine half the population size of your country, then space out the distance between where you are and everything else by 10 or more. The reason we drive everywhere isn't because we want to, it's because we have to. Driving is our second pair of legs basically because everything is a minimum 10-25KM away from everything...if not greater.
It probably is the case that there is alcohol within walking distance (even for Americans) for at least 30% of the US population, even most suburbs. What Europeans consider "pubs"? No, because that's not the culture. Here, restaurants serve alcohol. There, pubs serve food.
i'm really curious what state this was in. some states are quite lax both legally and in terms of public opinion (e.g. Wisconsin) but most are pretty harsh.
The podcast didn't mention where she got here DUI in. She was just applying to a company in California.
However I am from Wisconsin and I can vouch for that. DUI's are like misdemeanors, no matter how many felonies of them you've gotten. So long as "DUI" is after it and you're not doing a driving job, nobody cares.