Topic: Blame everybody else

[TopGun]

As for this Tim guy he's an idiot too.  Grief and regret at being a crap father does not give him any right to legislate other people's lives.

OK...then if I assume you're correct, then we should eliminate all the laws on drinking and driving.  After all, it's all about parenting, and "doing the right thing", then we don't need them.

Clearly...this makes no sense.  Thus...my only point was that making the law tougher...perhaps eliminate the 0.08 for everyone...might make things better.  I don't profess that any "one thing" will solve the problem.

[dorin]

My point is that the problem is already under control.  There is no such thing as completely eliminating any problem and eventually all solutions reach a point of diminishing returns.  What this moron wants the government to do for him is kill mosquitoes with sledgehammers.  Yes, you can reduce the mosquito population by using sledgehammers but the solution is worse than the problem.

Let's be realistic - there will ALWAYS be a drunken/aggressive/rude/clueless/selfish/you-name-it idiots out there.  The trick to make society livable is to have enough enforcement tools to make sure that people think twice before doing something stupid so as to eliminate the casual idiocy.  It's impossible to control the hardcore idiots and trying to do so only creates a police state.  In this case, we already have more than adequate laws about drinking and driving.

[DockMan]

My grandfather used to say that when a kid turns 16 his/her brain falls out their ass and they rarely find it until their early 20's. I was a moron when I was 19, drove too fast, drank too much and hadn't a care in the world. I would hate for my father (an amazing parent) to be judged by some of the stupid things I did as a teenager. This was a kid making a bad decision, no more, no less. Hardly an uncommon occurrence. Kids make bad decision and some turnout to be fatal....that is life. No amount of reasonable legislation would change that.

[dash]

It boils down to good parenting and being good role models to your kids.

I remember as early as 9-10 years old my parents would once in a blue moon let us have a little glass of wine with our dinner, without preaching, it was teaching us to consume alcohol responsibly.

As a young teenager, I can always remember coming home from a night-out of partying  knowing that I would be called into the parent’s room before going to bed to have a talk about what we did. The purpose was to know what was going on in my life and to make sure I was behaving as one should.  Not only were they monitoring me but teaching me responsibility, because they were making me accountable for my actions.

[Schmengie]

My grandfather used to say that when a kid turns 16 his/her brain falls out their ass and they rarely find it until their early 20's. I was a moron when I was 19, drove too fast, drank too much and hadn't a care in the world. I would hate for my father (an amazing parent) to be judged by some of the stupid things I did as a teenager. This was a kid making a bad decision, no more, no less. Hardly an uncommon occurrence. Kids make bad decision and some turnout to be fatal....that is life. No amount of reasonable legislation would change that.

No, but some reasonable parenting might have. This kid was way beyond stupid, he was breathtakingly reckless and irresponsible and he flouted the law on numerous occasions. Knowing that, his father aided and abetted him by GIVING him a powerful $60,000 German sports sedan. He made an incredibly stupid decision to compensate for not being a father to his son and now he wants to blame the GOVERNMENT??

I have ZERO sympathy for drunk or impaired drivers, and I really don't care how young or old they are. Working in a regional ER, I've seen over and over again what they do to themselves and more importantly, to innocent people who just happened to be in their way. These idiots knew they were breaking the law when they chose to drive drunk, another law on the books wouldn't have changed a thing. Thank God they only killed themselves this time.