On Aug 11, 1:27�pm, wrote:

I guess I think the problem is we're concentrating too much on
preventing behaviors that *might* lead to dangerous activity and
not
enough on preventing the dangerous activity itself.

For example (bear with me here!) DUI is not in itself dangerous.

Yes, it is.

Here's why:

First, one of the prime properties of drinking ethanol is behavorial
disinhibition - meaning that a person's restraint and judgement tend to
be impaired. That makes it more likely they will do something dangerous
than if they were sober. (Some might say that behavioral disinhibition
is a prime reason to drink ethanol, but that's a different
discussion...)

Second, another of the prime properties of drinking ethanol is that it
slows down reaction time and impairs driving skills and coordination.
This is readily demonstrated by having a person drive a test route
sober and then with varying blood alcohol levels. The result is that a
driving situation in which a sober person would stop in time, swerve to
avoid an obstacle, etc., can turn into an accident simply because the
person's reactions and skills are impaired. This is true even if the
person doesn't speed, doesn't run red lights, etc.

Heck,
on any given night the vast majority of drunks on the road get
home
without harming anyone or anything.

Yes, they do. But that doesn't prove DUI isn't dangerous. The vast
majority of people who do all sorts of dangerous driving things, like
running a stop sign, get away with it simply because all the conditions
for a disaster aren't there at the same time.

The dangerous activity is running red lights, driving way too fast,
moving out of your lane without regard for the presence of other
vehicles, etc...

That depends on how we define "dangerous". Most of those activities are
only dangerous if other conditions are present. For example, if there
are no other cars present, what's the danger of running a red light?

Of course, being drunk makes you FAR, FAR more likely to
commit one of
these dangerous activities.

Exactly! And that alone makes DWI dangerous, at least by some
definitions.

But if your mom gets run over by someone blowing
through a red light at
30 over the limit, should that person get off more
lightly because they
were sober and just thought they were too important to obey traffic
signals?

It depends on the case. Intent is a major factor in determining whether
an action is a crime, and how severe a crime it is. Because we know
that DWI unnecessarily increases the risk of a tragedy, DWI itself
becomes a crime.

For example, suppose A shoots B and B dies. A's intent could be the
difference between self-defense and first-degree murder.

IMHO we should be spending more resources patrolling
our roads and
stopping those who are actually doing dangerous things,
*regardless* of
why they're doing it -- and stop diverting those
resources to people who
are doing things that *might* be dangerous.

Well, I don't know about where you are, but around here, I see far more
resources allocated to stopping dangerous behaviors (speeding, running
red lights, failing to signal, following too closely, etc.) than to
trying to find DWIs. The DWIs I do know about in this area are usually
the result of a traffic stop for another reason (police see somebody
blow through a red light, they pull the car over, turns out the driver
has had too many too recently. Driver gets charged with both the red
light violation and the DWI.)

Maybe it's different where you are.

--

Here's an analogy:

Here in PA we have annual auto safety inspections. One of the things
checked is tire wear; if your tires are down to a certain point, they
have to be replaced. If you're stopped with below-wear-limit tires, you
can get a ticket.

But in most situations worn-down tires aren't any more dangerous than
new ones. The difference only matters in wet, snow, ice and high-speed
conditions. Yet even if it's a dry summer day and you're driving slow,
you can get a ticket for worn-out tires because of the *potential*
hazard if it should rain or you take the car on the freeway.

73 de Jim, N2EY