Editor’s response to “speed bumps”, along with further discussion
It seems a rather long jump from the letter written on speeders
to the assumption that they (or even some of them) are alcholics.
I am not even sure that the writers would approve of that leap.
Perhaps you could modify this somehow to indicate the “possiblity”
that “some” of these offenders are under the influence.
My response:
Actually, I disagree that this is a leap. There are few if any non-alcoholics who would attain such speeds in what is obviously a residential area–even when young. Alcoholism is almost always triggered during the first drinking episode, average age 13 in the U.S. This degree of speed almost requires an alcoholic sense of invincibility. The National Highway Safety Transportation Administration conducted a study of driving misbehaviors and likelihood of DUI. They found that all sorts of bad road conduct indicated probabilities of DUI ranging from 30% to 60%.
BTW, my intent is to explain the behaviors. Alcoholism is a biological disorder that causes the afflicted to have distorted perceptions and memory that lead to a grandiose sense of self, resulting in impaired judgments and observably destructive behavior. Bad behavior does not cause alcoholism; rather, alcoholism causes misbehaviors. You, along with most of society, seem to think (as suggested by your response) that alcoholism is rather like leprosy from the viewpoint of those living in the 18th century. This is not to belittle, but rather to educate. We need to get alcoholism out of the dark ages. My father was an alcoholic, and if he had been properly diagnosed as such, he might be alive today. I was romantically involved with one, and if I had understood this I wouldn’t have spent three years of my life in enormous emotional pain. (On the other hand, I would never have learned enough to write these words, so pain was necessary.)
The editor’s response:
I just don’t think that the fast driving in PMC necesarily has
anything to do with alcohol. Since you have established yourself as an
authority on the subject, you seem to see it in everything.
I was, with my suggestion, only trying to avoid a bunch of back and forth letter writing on
the subject. To avoid conflict with those that might be just plain assholes –sober assholes.
I really don’t know where you got the impression that lead to the statement…
“…You, along with most of society, seem to think (as suggested by your response) that alcoholism is rather like leprosy from the viewpoint of those living in the 18th century.”
These days, alcoholism is pretty much accepted as something that one should feel sorry for the drunk about–
— “he/she can’t help it. It’s a disease….” We are all ultimately responsible for our own actions, whether we
have that disease or some other disease.
And my response:
It was this comment that made me compare alcoholism with leprosy:
“I just don’t think that the fast driving in PMC necessarily has
anything to do with alcohol.”
The reason is simple: either the fast drivers are idiots and extremely fundamentally bad people (at THAT speed), OR they are alcoholics.
I give people the benefit of the doubt by assuming alcoholism.
It’s not that I see alcoholism in ALL bad behavior. It’s only at the root of 80% of it. So yes, I immediately _suspect_ alcoholism when I observe misbehaviors. About 20% of the time, I find the person is, quite simply, fundamentally rotten. I go with the _odds_ when I claim there is likely alcoholism in someone speeding at 75 mph in a residential 35 mph zone.
Again, either the person has alcoholism (the disease that causes the afflicted to act badly), _or_ the person is really just plain bad. I find only 20% are just “bad,” without the benefit of chemistry.
I completely agree that we all should be held responsible for our actions. That, in fact, is the cure for addiction: subject the addict to enough pain from consequences AND connect the dots between the bad behaviors, heavy use and consequences, and we might get an alcoholic sober.
One more crucial aspect to this: alcoholism is NOT, as is commonly believed, a loss of control over drinking. That is a latter-stage symptom. It is, instead, characterized by a loss of control over behaviors, which can be linked to the drinking. And I claim that behaviors such as these can, about 80% of the time, be linked to addictive drinking.
BTW, the odds of someone tailgating DUI: 50%. Illegal U-turn: 35%. Not yielding the right of way: 45%. Speeding was not, for some reason, studied; I have a feeling because it is not something that can be as readily defined. Speeding at 5 or 10 miles over the speed limit is not indicative of anything. I suspect that 50 miles over the speed limit indicates probable alcoholism and likely DUI.