THE DUI CHARADE

In all states, at a certain age, you are allowed to:

get married
get divorced
have children
have an abortion
drive a car
drive a boat
buy cigarettes
risk your life in the military
enter into legally binding business contracts

but you are not old enough to.......buy a Coors Light.

The age? 18 (in fact, in most states, you can't purchase a beer or any alcohol and drink it in public until age 21).

Absurd!

The prime argument made for the mimum alcohol laws is that youngsters don't have the good judgment not to drink and drive. DUI's involving teenagers are increasing. According to all statistics, however, adults don't have any better judgment, and so perhaps they shouldn't be allowed to buy alcohol either. But that was Prohibition and we rightly repealed that law.

Here's the real problem, and it applies to drivers of all ages. In the state I live in, there is a song-and-dance act regarding DUI violations:

A DUI ticket is given, a lawyer is hired for a few thousand dollars, a court date is set, the charges are dropped to a lesser offense, punishment is set at loss of driving privileges for a period of time, a fine payable to the court, some hours of community service and a psychological evaluation. Often, with a clean record, the offender's loss of license period is shortened and the whole matter is expunged.

Who gains from this little play? The lawyers (fees), the courts (fines), the judges and those who work in the courts (jobs). We, the public? No. DUI is very serious and dangerous offense. But according to all statistics, the little scripted play acting does little, if anything, to lessen underage drinking, driving under the influence, or danger to the community.

Possible solution: confiscate the automobile used in the DUI incident for two or three months (longer based on the offender's record), whether it belongs to the DUI offender or not (unless it was reported stolen), whether it is used in a business or not, whether it is the only car the family has or not. Store it in a police pond. No exceptions. Perhaps...hopefully...that will put enough pressure on parents, friends and others to keep automobiles out of the hands of those who are drinking (it will at least keep that automobile out of their hands). Perhaps the drinkers will get the message themselves. A sobering thought.

And we'll all be better off for it.