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MADD Has Gone Mad

Austin criminal defense lawyer Jamie Spencer has his own law blog and also just started up another interesting niche blog that deals specifically with DWI and the law in Austin.

The Defense Blog has some interesting topics and discussions and is written in a voice that even non-lawyers will find engaging.

The new DWI blog covers: Texas DWI laws, traffic stops, field sobriety tests, license suspensions and ALR hearings, occupational driver’s licenses, pretrial motions and trial issues.

I found this discussion on MADDs newest campaign to “end drunk driving” especially interesting — and it applies to everyone in the country, not just Texans.

Apparently Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) newest 4-point campaign includes this one:

Explorationof advanced vehicle technologies through the establishment of a Blue Ribbon panel of international safety experts to assess the feasibility of a range of technologies that would prevent drunk driving. These technologies must be moderately priced, absolutely reliable, set at the legal BAC limit and unobtrusive to the sober driver

The LawDog Files blog translates what that means to you and me (LawDog is a Texas Peace Officer):

MADD wants technology developed to be installed in every car that will prevent intoxicated drivers from starting the car.

Nevertheless, you can not — you CAN NOT — trample on the rights of everyone else in your crusade to end drunk driving.

I am not a drunk. I am not a drunk driver. I do not want a piece of equipment with the “good enough” reliability of a cell phone or a computer operating system determining whether I should be allowed to start my car or not.

I do not want to install a gadget on my car to decide if I may start it because you’re afraid that someone else in this country might be drunk.

I couldn’t agree more.

I wonder if this would carry over to motorcycles, too? Because as much as most cruiser owners modify and customize their own bikes, I can tell you right now the very first “work-around” modification that bikers would develop is a way to disable this system.

And I’m sure the black market for disabling this “device” wouldn’t be far behind.

Posted by Robbie Cooper on Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 | Trackback |

6 Responses to “MADD Has Gone Mad”

Given the technology and money spent unsuccessfully toward restricting access to digital satellite television signals, I don’t have much faith that a secure system could be developed. I have even less faith that such a system would not malfunction at some point and endanger life by not allowing a vehicle to start when required.

Left by gnduke on September 25th, 2007 at 1:57 pm

My preferred solution is to drink at places accessible to mass transportation. Or walking.

One point for city living.

Left by Preston on September 25th, 2007 at 11:14 pm

Nice observation, thanks. I don’t visit your blog every day, but when I
visit your blog I enjoy browsing through your old posts and try to catch up
what I have missed since my last visit.

Left by Kim on September 26th, 2007 at 4:21 am

I don’t drink or do drugs, and I will never own a car with such Orwellian devices.

Left by no2liberals on September 26th, 2007 at 11:13 pm

I think this device is a good idea for those who have already been charged with a DWI. The best way to stop these people who behave this way is to have harsher punishment. It wasn’t too long ago when I saw on the news that a young lady and her child were killed by a drunk driver that had been charged with four DWI’s before that accident. Why was this man not in jail in the first place. Driving while drunk is no different than attempted murder in my book. So they should be treated that way.

Left by Texasgal on September 28th, 2007 at 5:33 pm

WHAT HAPPENED to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”? What happened to “innocent until proven guilty”?

If a driver is apprehended breaking the law by Driving Under the Influence, then by all means, prosecute him/her - particularly if someone is injured as a result.

But do not limit the freedoms of those who have NOT broken the law in some misguided effort to prevent every possible negative contingency!

Life does not come with A Safety Guarantee, and no one can ensure an accident-free, trouble-free, illness-free, insult-free, inconvenience-free existence for us.

Gad, I’m sick of spineless hand-wringers and whiners who believe they have the right to make prisoners of us all in order to protect their own hides from every imaginable circumstance!

Left by A Single Voice on September 29th, 2007 at 1:29 pm

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