My Solution To Reduce Drunk Driving

I don’t remember how the thought popped into my head, but over the weekend, I had a flashback to an idea I had when I was in high school that I think would reduce drunk driving. Now, with the death of Ryan Dunn Monday morning, the tweeted comments by Roger Ebert and the criticism of what Ebert said, I figured this would be as good a time as any to write a blog about my idea.

I need to preface with a few things. I used to drink way too much and do stupid things when I was drunk. And yes, I got behind the wheel a few times when I shouldn’t have. It was very rare, though. I could probably count the occasions on one hand and have fingers to spare. I quit drinking, because I knew I couldn’t handle it. I don’t look down on people who drink — I just know it’s not for me. But I’m really, really opposed to drinking and driving.

To me, it seems like socially, drunk driving doesn’t get a bad enough rap. The reason it’s illegal is because you can kill somebody in a matter of seconds. One bad decision can ruin lives. Look at Dunn — one night out and two lives ended. I don’t have a problem with what Ebert said. The words were harsh, but I like anything that brings the reality to the surface. Drunk driving kills on the first offense.

Anyways, back in 1992, my high school civics teacher made us write a letter to our congressman. I wrote with my suggested drunk driving legislation. I actually got a return letter. He told me he liked my idea, but it was a state issue, not a federal issue. I never went to my state representative with it, and I’m pretty sure my one little idea would never become law. But I like it. Here it is:

Convicted drunk drivers should be required to drive with a special license plate that indicates they’re a drunk driver. If caught driving a car without that plate, they’d be jailed and have their license suspended for, say, a year. I couldn’t give you specifics for how long this license plate punishment would be intact — say somewhere between five and 10 years. But this would help in a bunch of ways.

First, I think it would be more of a deterrent than the typical current punishments. Can you imagine the shame that would come with this? Once these plates started making it onto the roads, people would notice them and driving drunk would become less of an option than it is now.

I’m not going to dig up stats on recidivism for drunk driving, but I know there are too many repeat offenders. You’d have to think that convicted drunk drivers required to drive with these license plates would not drive unless they really had to. They’d get people staring every time they’re on the road, and I’m sure they’d get tired of that. Keeping convicted drunk drivers off the road would be a good thing.

Digging a little further, when the rest of us are driving and seeing cards with these drunk driver license plates, we’d be more cautious around them. Call it properly targeted defensive driving. Also, law enforcement would keep a closer eye on them, especially during the hours when it’s more likely people are out partying and driving home from bars. They’d be able to focus more effectively on people who need to be monitored, doing spot checks of those cars that are on the road at 2 a.m. and being more likely to look for any erratic driving at other times.

So essentially, you’ve got four key benefits:

1. Tougher deterrent
2. Make it more likely for convicted drunk drivers to want to avoid getting behind the wheel
3. Help other citizens drive defensively while near potentially dangerous drivers
4. Help law enforcement effectively target at-risk drivers

I’m pretty certain that each of those four things would lead to fewer drunk drivers on the road. Plain and simple, fewer drunk drivers mean fewer deaths. Harsh, yes. But death is worse.

So that’s my idea. What do you think?