Off-Topic New Tennessee Drunk Driving Law

[Empirical Cane]

You can see this getting expanded to more than drunk driving...

 

[UMFarArcher]

That works.

 

[PCBcanefan]

That’s a tough one. One bad decision can ruin a lot of lives.

On one hand I agree. You take the parent away because you were stupid enough to drive drunk, or a habitual drunk driver then you should be heavily penalised.

On the other, how does the offender make payments from jail. Or if they are a minimum waged kid that made a bad choice, how does he make the payments. They would be putting them in and out of jail for years for missed payments. Seems like this could turn a person that made one bad mistake into a lifetime criminal instead of any form of rehabilitation.

 

[Empirical Cane]

That’s a tough one. One bad decision can ruin a lot of lives.

On one hand I agree. You take the parent away because you were stupid enough to drive drunk, or a habitual drunk driver then you should be heavily penalised.

On the other, how does the offender make payments from jail. Or if they are a minimum waged kid that made a bad choice, how does he make the payments. They would be putting them in and out of jail for years for missed payments. Seems like this could turn a person that made one bad mistake into a lifetime criminal instead of any form of rehabilitation.

Great point.

How do they make payments while incacerated?

Seize their assets? Judgment against car insurance?

Regardless, no pity for dumb 'fəks who do that. That my loved one killed, I'll hunt the offender and their family and fire up the wood chipper.

Then put it on 1/2 speed.

 

[rustywalkedaway]

Post secondary education subsidy?

 

[UMFarArcher]

That’s a tough one. One bad decision can ruin a lot of lives.

On one hand I agree. You take the parent away because you were stupid enough to drive drunk, or a habitual drunk driver then you should be heavily penalised.

On the other, how does the offender make payments from jail. Or if they are a minimum waged kid that made a bad choice, how does he make the payments. They would be putting them in and out of jail for years for missed payments. Seems like this could turn a person that made one bad mistake into a lifetime criminal instead of any form of rehabilitation.

A few decades ago, one excuse for getting out of trouble - "I was drunk." And they'd walk.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving got going nationwide - and that concept was ****canned.

Personal responsibility. Not popular.

But it should be.

 

[UMFarArcher]

Great point.

How do they make payments while incacerated?

Seize their assets? Judgment against car insurance?

Regardless, no pity for dumb 'fəks who do that. That my loved one killed, I'll hunt the offender and their family and fire up the wood chipper.

Then put it on 1/2 speed.

Absolutely.

 

[Bender]

Seems like this could turn a person that made one bad mistake into a lifetime criminal instead of any form of rehabilitation.

In my eyes you are considered a lifetime criminal when you drunk drive and severely injure or kill someone as a consequence.

Its not just a bad mistake, if you kill someone with drunk driving, you have significantly altered more than one persons life in a very negative way.

 

[Page305]

That’s a tough one. One bad decision can ruin a lot of lives.

On one hand I agree. You take the parent away because you were stupid enough to drive drunk, or a habitual drunk driver then you should be heavily penalised.

On the other, how does the offender make payments from jail. Or if they are a minimum waged kid that made a bad choice, how does he make the payments. They would be putting them in and out of jail for years for missed payments. Seems like this could turn a person that made one bad mistake into a lifetime criminal instead of any form of rehabilitation.

Drunk driving is not a mistake tho.....

 

[Bender]

Drunk driving is not a mistake tho.....

Thats where I am going with this too. Everyone knows that you are impaired when you are driving under the influence of alcohol.

Its like saying, actively robbing someone is a mistake. No, its not, you have made that choice actively.

 

[Fluffhead]

That’s a tough one. One bad decision can ruin a lot of lives.

On one hand I agree. You take the parent away because you were stupid enough to drive drunk, or a habitual drunk driver then you should be heavily penalised.

On the other, how does the offender make payments from jail. Or if they are a minimum waged kid that made a bad choice, how does he make the payments. They would be putting them in and out of jail for years for missed payments. Seems like this could turn a person that made one bad mistake into a lifetime criminal instead of any form of rehabilitation.

With things like Uber today there is really no reason to drive drunk (not that there ever was).

 

[PCBcanefan]

Thats where I am going with this too. Everyone knows that you are impaired when you are driving under the influence of alcohol.

Its like saying, actively robbing someone is a mistake. No, its not, you have made that choice actively.

I agree , but two beers with dinner and you can be listed over the limit. You may not think it or feel like it, but you can be. Then have an accident and everyone’s life is done.

If you are a habitual offender or severely intoxicated, then charge them with everything you can. Those people don’t deserve the leniency.

Like I said earlier, I agree and disagree with this one.

 

[Rickd]

A few decades ago, one excuse for getting out of trouble - "I was drunk." And they'd walk.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving got going nationwide - and that concept was ****canned.

Personal responsibility. Not popular.

But it should be.

It was that way literally for decades before the car was invented and decades after. As late as the 1960's many bars always had plastic cups so they could sell "to go" drinks as customers staggered out the door. "Yer honor he didn't do that on purpose ... he was drunk" was heard in courtrooms all over the country and was generally accepted and the offender released. Next step was a mandatory program for "offenders" that expunged their record after completion of a course ... pre-trial aversion educational program. Minimal fine, no jail time, no record. That was in the 80's .... then things got serious and jail time, trials, and huge fines gradually were implemented.

 

[PCBcanefan]

Drunk driving is not a mistake tho.....

Two drinks at a restaurant can have many over or at the limit. You may not feel like you are, but you can be. Hit some black ice, or swerve out of the way of something and get into an accident and you could have potentially ruined a lot of lives. I would consider that a mistake.

Those that go out partying and then get behind the wheel I have no pitty for, but the average Joe having two drinks or so with their steak and have a true “accident”, I think it is a bit harsh.

 

[Bender]

Two drinks at a restaurant can have many over or at the limit. You may not feel like you are, but you can be. Hit some black ice, or swerve out of the way of something and get into an accident and you could have potentially ruined a lot of lives. I would consider that a mistake.

Those that go out partying and then get behind the wheel I have no pitty for, but the average Joe having two drinks or so with their steak and have a true “accident”, I think it is a bit harsh.

Then don't drink and drive, its simple.

 

[Page305]

Two drinks at a restaurant can have many over or at the limit. You may not feel like you are, but you can be. Hit some black ice, or swerve out of the way of something and get into an accident and you could have potentially ruined a lot of lives. I would consider that a mistake.

Those that go out partying and then get behind the wheel I have no pitty for, but the average Joe having two drinks or so with their steak and have a true “accident”, I think it is a bit harsh.

I get what you're trying to say but there's no way around it man. Regardless of how many drinks you have or how much you think your body can handle, drinking and driving is not a mistake. That's a simple choice that you made. Not trying to be an *** but this is literally undebatable.

 

[Page305]

Then don't drink and drive, its simple.

Exactly

 

[S.CarolinaCane]

That’s a tough one. One bad decision can ruin a lot of lives.

On one hand I agree. You take the parent away because you were stupid enough to drive drunk, or a habitual drunk driver then you should be heavily penalised.

On the other, how does the offender make payments from jail. Or if they are a minimum waged kid that made a bad choice, how does he make the payments. They would be putting them in and out of jail for years for missed payments. Seems like this could turn a person that made one bad mistake into a lifetime criminal instead of any form of rehabilitation.

It's give and take. On one hand you just took the life away from a family and that can never be returned, could possibly completely derail one or multiple generations.

I don't care if it's one mistake or not, the punishment is deserved.

 

[No_Fly_Zone]

Do they have this law for any other type of homicide, or just drunk driving? Like, is the robber who shots someone over their car also on the hook for the child support payments? That guy probably can't afford the payments anyway (and will certainly have a hard time paying from prison).

Either way it seems a strange and potentially unnecessary law to me. Literally every state has a wrongful death statute. Most states allow the estate of the deceased to file a wrongful death action for the benefit of the decedent's beneficiaries, and include things like lost earnings and/or net accumulations as recoverable damages. Tennessee itself allows the estate to sue for lost earnings. Weird and seemingly unnecessary law, that I suspect was passed for optics.

 

[JD08]

Do they have this law for any other type of homicide, or just drunk driving? Like, is the robber who shots someone over their car also on the hook for the child support payments? That guy probably can't afford the payments anyway (and will certainly have a hard time paying from prison).

Either way it seems a strange and potentially unnecessary law to me. Literally every state has a wrongful death statute. Most states allow the estate of the deceased to file a wrongful death action for the benefit of the decedents, and include things like lost earnings and/or net accumulations as recoverable damages. Tennessee itself allows the estate to sue for lost earnings. Weird and seemingly unnecessary law, that I suspect was passed for optics.

Same reason that I, as an obviously middle aged man well above the drinking age, had to show ID to buy a 6 pack of beer at a gas station in TN. The clerk took offense when I asked if he was serious.