The only fault in that is that people will continue to drive on a suspended license.

 

Then the next step: jail.

 

Sounds like a good idea, and I really think it *would* cut down on accidents, even from drunk drivers. My reasoning being that most of the people who drive drunk are not too bright and thus might not make it through a rigorous 40 hour training course... well at least until they have a bit more maturity.

 

That's sooo true! My sister who has had 2 DUI's had to go to a driving school, it was only about 20 hours and aparently all they did was show them those high school movies to try to scare them into not Drinking and Driving anymore.

In my area, the drunk drivers produce more fatalities but the speeding is what causes most of the accidents. On my 6 mile commute this morning I saw 2 accidents with 6 cars wrecked. I doubt very seriously they were going the speed they should of. On this road there are dozens of little roads that come out from the side. Imagine pulling onto a packed freeway from a standstill where cars are going 70+mph (as I mentioned before, the speed limit is 55 mph). That's where most of my mpg's take a hit, just trying to get out onto this road in the morning. There isn't a safe way to pull onto it. You just close your eyes and gun it hoping not to get slammed into.

 

MGBT, I agree. However, here in Taxachusetts it is very common to see DUI drivers cause fatalities even after they have had 10++ convictions and suspensions.....they still get behind the wheel with no regard...they should build a jail just for these offenders, lock 'em up and throw away the key. The game they played was to go to the RMV the day after they got the suspension and re-apply for a new license saying that they lost the original and low and behold our friendly RMV obliges with a fresh new license.

 

On the topic of drunk drivers, I guess the biggest problem there is that if you look at it by age group, 16 year olds are far above the norm for fatal wrecks. 17 year olds are still substantially above, but not as bad. 18 gets it reasonably closer to the norms, but really you don't see good stabilization until 25+. I would suspect that based on under 21'ers being a major percentage of fatal wrecks and alcohol being involved in 57% (according to the 2003 stats I could find) of wrecks, underage drinking is probably a root cause. A few states have progressive licensing, which would probably be a step in the right direction. Stepping up punishment for underage drinking would also probably help.

I think we're marching towards a day when eventually our medical care and disease prevention and cures will be so good that the overwhelming majority of deaths will be from automobile wrecks. We spend billions of dollars a year to prevent death by terrorist attacks, why aren't we trying even a tenth as hard to solve the top killer of our teenagers?

 

I could see the you drivers being part of the problem. This afternoons wreck was a sporty Mazda 6. He hit a S-10 VERY hard, I'd be willing to put $$ on it that he was doing well over the speed limit. Ripped the rear axle out from under the S-10 as it looked like it was pulling out from a side road (t-boned it).

OK, today alone over one six mile stretch of road I saw 8 wrecked cars. I made 2 round trips totaling about an hour. It takes 5 minutes minimum just to find an opening to pull into.

I blame the speeding to be at least 75% of the problem for the wrecks. Honestly, the majority of the speeders in my area are young military (Type A personalites).

 

 

Speed was a major factor in Grand Caravan #1 demise.

*The other side of the road had 3 lanes. (Two traveling lanes and a Right turn lane)
*The traveling lanes on the other side was packed with stopped traffic waiting for a light to change.
*Speed limit on that road is 35.

*The far right lane was a 2000 foot turning lane that led up to the light.

*I was attempting a Left turn into a drive that was 1/2 way up that turn lane.
*The two lanes provided me a way so I proceeded with my Left turn.

*I stopped before crossing the 2000' turning lane and didn't see anyone so I proceeded.
*Suddenly squealing tires and SLAM!
*We were pushed about 25 feet down the road and spun around.

Impact was directly on the floor plates and passenger side sliding door.

No less than 6 witnesses rushed to assistance and said the other vehicle (Compact Chevy pick-up) was easily exceeding 65 MPH up that turning lane, apparently trying and get to that light. It was pouring rain too.

Unfortunately the cop refused to heed the witnesses account because he "Didn't see it and didn't have his radar on the guy" and I got the only ticket that day, back in 2001.

My family was along and thank God the GC is built tough, the other guy broke his hand on his collapsed steering wheel.

Cracked windshield, accordianed floor plates, destroyed sliding and passenger door, twisted warped roof and many other things sent GC#1 to the insurance auction block. Only 18,000 miles on her.

I'm not saying I'm faultless, but the other guy's speed certainly played a major role.