This kind of preventable tragedy pisses me off to no end.

Deaths devastate families, classmates | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press

I am all for it being mandatory for every car to have a breathalyzer on it to start the car. And stricter penalties for those who are pulled over. It took my FIL 5 tickets and finally hitting a tree before he was finally jailed and lost his licence. I firmly believe that your first offense (assuming you don't hurt anyone) you should lose you licence a minimum of 2 years. And the on the second one you lose your privledge of driving for life. If you can afford to go out somewhere and get wasted then you should be able to afford to take a cab back home. I have no sympathy for people who put others in harms way by their own careless behavior. I understand for some that alcholoism is a disease. I really do get that. But drunk driving is not a disease. It is irresponsibilty and stupidity all rolled up into one.

In many sectors of life, a person with a drunk driving charge is viewed much less harshly than say someone with a shoplifting charge - even though, the shoplifter didn't directly endanger the safety of the public.

I think it all depends on the circles you run in as far as which is considered the bigger offense. Circles in which drinking is considered more of a social norm might consider it less of an offense than shoplifting.

The other side of the coin is that shoplifting on a small scale exacts a much smaller penalty legally than a drunk driving offense.

The majority of people I know would have much less sympathy for drinking and driving then shoplifting because of the potential for physical harm both to the driver and others.

I think it all depends on the circles you run in as far as which is considered the bigger offense. Circles in which drinking is considered more of a social norm might consider it less of an offense than shoplifting.

The other side of the coin is that shoplifting on a small scale exacts a much smaller penalty legally than a drunk driving offense.

The majority of people I know would have much less sympathy for drinking and driving then shoplifting because of the potential for physical harm both to the driver and others.

Laws in every state are different, but both are 93 day misdemeanors here. Only thing that makes OWI a higher penalty are the fines and license sanctions.

I suppose it's probably true that if you're exposed to social drinking you may have a different take on which crime is worse. Perhaps a poll question has been born...

Brad