All traffic violators should undergo a non-intrusive 60-second test for DUI
Public Policy Proposal:
Require that all apprehended traffic violators be tested for DUI
Mel Gibson provides a classic example of the reason we need to narrow the scope and focus of the War on Drugs. Rather than maintaining a broad and ineffective “war,”we should concentrate our efforts and scarce resources on those who create problems for others as a result of drug use, including use of the drug alcohol. We need to admit that the person on the drug, not the drug, is the problem.
Countless recovering alcoholics admit they bottomed out after a DUI, or a second or third DUI. Every addict’s pain threshold is different, but that doesn’t mean we should ever give up. They should be arrested and videotaped, with an airing of the tape that the offender should be required to watch if he ever wants to retrieve his license to drive.
Apprehending them is easy. I spot likely DUIs almost every day. The trouble is, law enforcers are either unwilling or unable to easily test for likely DUI. While a few are obviously drunk, many are drunk but not obvious. In a study cited in Get Out of the Way! How to Identify and Avoid a Driver Under the Influence, for every traffic violator arrested for being under the influence, almost four others who were legally under the influence were released. Officers can no more look at a highly-tolerant early-stage alcoholic and identify a DUI than you or I can.
Officers should be required to test every traffic violator for Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus, or HGN. Without touching the suspect, any trained law enforcer can determine the BAL within .02 per cent in less than a minute. If we concentrated our efforts on detecting DUIs and coercing abstinence, crime would arguably be reduced by as much as 80%. There would be no need for a war on drugs if we could get addicts sober. A pipe-dream, if you’ll excuse the phrase, perhaps. But certainly no more so than thinking we can control the drug, when even incarcerated convicts get them. And think about it: Mel Gibson might have been forced into a program of sobriety three years ago with far less rancor and damage to his reputation. That would have been good for everyone.