Monday, July 22, 2013

DUI Dishonor Roll

Sobering statistic:  36%  of all traffic deaths in Massachusetts are DUI-related

Since Omar Cruz, age 21, was taken off the road early Saturday at 3:29 AM -- a time when most of us are safely sleeping in bed -- and he was the only drunk driver bagged by APD this past weekend, I suppose we locals should feel somewhat relieved. 



Although I much prefer the July 4th weekend -- number one nationwide for DUI arrests -- where not a single tipsy perp was to be had within the confines of Amherst.

May be quite a while before we see a repeat of that good thing. 

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Larry, I'm more worried about the fact he didn't have a license at all -- and I'd want to know why. (Revoked or never bothered to get one in the first place?)

I argue that he is more dangerous because he has no license than because he is drunk -- it's not a good combination but if he doesn't have a license for a reason and is dangerous on the road *sober*, he's even more so drunk.

Remember the '70's when you were still considered sober at .149 (the limit was .15, almost twice what it is today) and people would pass out at stop signs? When alcohol caused over HALF of all fatal accidents, a lot more than now.

I suggest we need to declare victory and move on -- if alcohol is in no way involved in 2/3 of our fatal crashes now, perhaps we need to start spending a piece of our time and attention on whatever is causing those fatalities.

Larry Kelley said...

Tell that to the friends and family of Daniel Haley.

Anonymous said...

So in other words you are telling two-thirds of the grieving families to, essentially, celebrate their tragic loss?

And when you realize that at least some of the single-victim OUI crashes are actually suicides -- a car can be every bit as lethal as a gun -- it's probably a lot more than just 2/3.

Larry, the people are just as dead, their loved ones just as devastated, and why -- exactly -- aren't you willing to assign police resources on the basis of the actual threats today and not those of a prior century?

Larry Kelley said...

As far as I'm concerned drunk driving deaths are 100% preventable: Don't drink and drive.

Many of the other deaths that occur by automobile are not so hard to prevent.

Anonymous said...

Larry, read the statistics carefully -- "involve alcohol" -- not CAUSED BY alcohol. Because any accident where any driver tests positive for alcohol is counted, we don't know how many would have happened anyway.

Larry, if the top 50 feet of a 150 foot White Pine snaps off and 10 tons of tree falls from the sky and crushes your car, drunk or sober is irrelevant -- you're dead because a 10 ton log fell out of the sky and crushed you.