There are many degrees of mistakes.
A barista forgetting your extra shot of espresso is a relatively small mistake that can usually be easily amended. Hitting “Reply All” on an email not meant for all could potentially be a larger mistake, depending on what kind of emails you’re in the business of forwarding and who exactly makes up, “all”.
Most people characterize driving drunk as a mistake, or at least in some cases, that is how it is rationalized after the fact.
Driving under the influence has come to the forefront of our consciousness again in recent weeks, as another wrong-way DUI killed an employee of Eddie Bauer in Bellevue not long after a family was torn apart by a repeat drunk driver in North Seattle and a high-profile University of Washington football player was officially charged for a one-car crash.
As always, all the cases raise far more questions than they provide answers.
According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, which touts itself as “The States’ Voice on Highway Safety,” on its website, our state laws are on the harsher side in terms of punitive action.
Folks in Virginia likely think our 90-day license suspension is high, since drunk drivers in the Commonwealth receive only a seven-day suspension for a first offense.
The latest cases in our area have people suggesting the already mandatory ignition interlock devices for DUI offenders be put in place before the car is even returned from the inbound. But in a handful of states, including Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine and Ohio, they are “discretionary,” even upon conviction. In California, four counties are part of a pilot program for mandatory ignition interlocks while the rest of the state is decided on a case-by-case basis.
The place for growth, and a point of emphasis in any future discussions about state DUI policy, is on repeat offenders. Our current state law is an over-arching policy on “Habitual Traffic Offenders,” which is a group including those guilty of vehicular homicide, vehicular assault, hit and run, reckless driving, DUI and some other related offenses. Three convictions in a five year period earn a seven-year suspension.
But it shouldn’t take three DUIs or two dead bodies and another near-miss for drastic action to be taken.
I’m not pretending to have all the answers, but I know we need to keep talking and finding ways to try and keep our streets and highways safer.
Since as well all know, everyone makes mistakes.
