Buzzed driving is not drunk driving
Driving down the road today in Myrtle Beach I noticed another billboard proclaiming "Buzzed driving is drunk driving." More state dollars spent on marketing to the potential jury pool with mis-truths about our state's DUI laws. Buzzed driving is not drunk driving, zero tolerance is not the law, and it is not against the law to drink and then drive. South Carolina law says that if you are driving, while under the influence to the extent that it substantially impairs your ability to drive, then it is against the law.
Along with the marketing blitz by law enforcement, the media does all that they can to feed the DUI fanatics. For example, a few days ago the Greenville News announced that South Carolina is one of the worst states for drunk driving: We "ranked No. 2 in deaths as the result of drunken driving, according to recently released 2007 figures." Which figures are they referring to?
Hopefully not from MADD, who takes the figures released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for alcohol related deaths (which includes those accidents where there is a blood alcohol content of less than .08, or indications of alcohol such as a beer can found in the car or nearby), and translates this into alcohol-caused deaths? When dealing with DUI statistics the numbers usually come from biased agencies and are suspect.
The Greenville News article also hails the new DUI law which goes into effect February 10, 2009:
The DUI law, which takes effect in February, not only strengthens penalties but also requires counseling for offenders as well. That two-pronged approach should help reduce the terrible toll exacted by drunken drivers on our highways.
The new DUI law certainly increases penalties, providing for up to 7 years in prison for a drunk driver, but the old law already required counseling for offenders. The article praises the increased license suspension periods for persons who exercise their Fifth Amendment right to not give evidence against themselves (by blowing into the datamaster machine), and says "the law also gets rid of needless loopholes that kept some drunken drivers from being convicted." This needless loophole being the required reading of Miranda rights before the person is given the datamaster test.
The article goes on to lament how there are not enough troopers on our highways, but to praise the increased number of arrests in the past year. More people in jail = good. The news media is not going to write articles about the unreliability of the Datamaster and other breath testing devices, how the system of DUI laws is geared to deprive defendants of the right to a fair trial, or how we have created a DUI exception to the Constitution, any more than most legislators are going to address these issues, because readers want to read about how much of a problem drunk driving is, like they will cast their vote for the politician who makes the most noise about being tough on crime.
Wouldn't it be something if journalists wrote more articles on how the manufacturers of breath testing machines fight tooth and nail in court not to release the software code for these machines, and that when the code is finally released and tested, like the Alco-test 7110 in New Jersey:
The program presented shows ample evidence of incomplete design, incomplete verification of design, and incomplete “white box” and “black box” testing. Therefore the software has to be considered unreliable and untested, and in several cases it does not meet stated requirements. The planning and documentation of the design is haphazard. Sections of the original code and modified code show evidence of using an experimental approach to coding, or use what is best described as the “trial and error” method. Several sections are marked as “temporary, for now”. Other sections were added to existing modules or inserted in a code stream, leading to a patchwork design and coding style…It is clear that, as submitted, the Alcotest software would not pass development standards and testing for the U.S. Government or Military. It would fail software standards for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as commercial standards used in devices for public safety…If the FAA imposed mandatory alcohol testing for all commercial pilots, the Alcotest would be rejected based upon the FAA safety and software standards…
Reason and rationality seldom have a place in the public debate about DUI, or crime of any type.
