If you could virtually eliminate drunk driving, would you do it?

[CrazyPhuD]

Originally Posted by alnorth

You are being silly.

"What? Why do I have to blow into this to start the car? You are assuming I am guilty and have to prove my innocence, how dare you!"

I can take that phrase and play Mad Libs for comedic affect.

"What? Why do I have to pass a test to get my license? You are assuming I am incapable of driving and have to prove my skill, how dare you!"

"What? Why do I have to show proof of insurance every single time I'm stopped? You are assuming I am guilty of driving uninsured and have to prove my innocence, how dare you!"

"What? Why do I have to go through an X-ray to fly? You are assuming I am a terrorist and have to prove my innocence, how dare you!"

"What? Why do I have to have a background check to be hired for this government job? You are assuming I lied about not being a felon and have to prove my innocence, how dare you!"

"What? Why do I have to show ID when I swipe this card? You are assuming I am a thief and have to prove my innocence, how dare you!"

In the real world we have to be screened for all kinds of things. This is *NOT* a search without cause because no one is searching you. We're hypothetically passing a law saying all cars must have these devices. Don't like it? Tough sh*t, don't drive.

Again, a better argument is cost. This solution is too expensive for too many people to justify whatever lives might hypothetically be saved.

So realistically I don't have the time to spend discussing this and likely won't come back to this thread anytime soon but I'll try to provide a bit more education before I go.

Really this isn't complicated you just need to break it down. Consider what happens when one were to use an interlock system. First step you would breath into the system to allow it to measure you.

This is the first constitutional issue. Breathalyzers are allowed as an exception to self incrimination because the benefit to society vastly outweighs the small loss of individual liberty. However that exception to self incrimination is narrowly defined and one of the conditions is that you must have probable cause to conduct a test. You can't just ask someone to take a breathalyser test just because. There must be reasonable suspicion of being under the influence and if a court determines at trial that there was no probable cause for the test it will get thrown out.

So before you bring up the issue of blanket waving of my rights to probable cause, you're not actually allowed to do that. If you can blanket wave them then you have no rights. Even under implied consent rules you are still allowed to refuse a test if you choose and then you would go to court to defend that decision before you are convicted. In our society you are not punished until you are tried and convicted under due process.

This is the second constitutional issue, due process, when you were to breathe into the machine, it measures a number and immediately passes sentence. If you are measured below the limit your car starts, if you are measured above the limit you are punished and your car is denied to you until such time as you can generate a passing result.

This is a problem because the machine will periodically read high and will periodically read low, this is the nature of electronics. You will never get a 100% accurate device. You are denied due process because you are not allowed to question the accuracy of the reading, you are not allowed to confront your accuser, you are not allowed to present your case to a jury of your peers and you are not even allowed to present your case to a judge. Instead you are tried, convicted and sentenced within a fraction of a second.

Now you may not think that temporary denial of your vehicle is a big punishment but what if it causes you to miss a critical meeting for work that results in you getting fired. That generally small punishment could end up being huge.

When they place these things, they do so generally on multiple offenders and I believe as a condition of their parole for the duration of their parole. It's done because the repeat offender rate is so high that they have to do something to curb them. It's also not done as a condition of driving so much as it is done as a part of their punishment. They lose some of their rights because they are a repeat DUI offender, much like a violent felony offender loses his right to own firearms.

It's a part of our legal system that if you commit a serious enough offense, you can lose rights. But normal people don't lose those rights and even criminals can earn those rights back. That is also part of our system.

I'm sure there are other constitutional issues that just these two but these are the easy ones.