Drunk drivers get away with too much. In 2009 A drunk female hit me on my way home from work and put me in ICU. I had my knee shattered on my left leg and my right leg my heal was shattered and my ankle and on both sides and my tibia were broken. I wore 4 casts and in a wheel chair for a year. I had to use a walker for a while and then on a cane. I was left disabled. The pain is so bad just to stand on my legs. I did not heal well and so now this is my life.I was so upset that the judge gave me a talking to. She was sentenced to 3 years community arrest. she gets to leave jail everyday and go to work and then sleep in jail. She left me with $200,000 in medical bills. She had no insurance, no license and she apologized to the court. She was an educated woman, and I spoke and asked the judge if he could have her pay my medical bills. I explained that I was not able to work and I lost my residence, my car was totaled and on top of it all my grand daughter wrote a letter to the judge. He did not want to hear it. He said to me. "Don't you think she has paid enough"? I was shocked, she changed my life and Now I have to live on disability, I live on $730.00 a month. That does not cover my rent. What is wrong with our judicial system? How did she become the victim? I used to jump rope with my grand kids and play soccer, run and chase them around. Now I can walk for 15 minutes and the pain gets so intense I have to sit down. This was her 4th offense and she was charged with vehicular assault. It is not fair but the judges feel sorry for these people.

I just finished watching Wedesday's show on drunk driving moms.


I'm astonshied and baffled why AA wasn't mentioned anywhere at all.


It's great that you're willing to spring for a rehab and perhaps the 12 step program is part of their agenda, however, what about those that you aren't going to pay for to go to rehab.


I CANNOT believe you didn't talk about AA for those who were watching and buying the BS that there's not a support system "out there for me" as Joanie claimed of her small town.  I refuse to buy that there are no meetings near her or did she even look or is she aware of AA?


These days there are phone meetings and on-line meetings.


It seemed as if Holly was going to mention AA because she said there was help out there and it was absolutely free.


I've been a sober member of AA for 11 years so I am pretty flabergasted that it wasn't even mentioned.


I would certainly be willing to talk to your producers about drunk driving (I was one for 30 years) and the success I've experienced in this program because I gave up my excuses (I had more than Joanie, BTW) as I started when I was 12 and got sober at 45.


If there's a reason you don't talk about the 12 steps I'd sure like to know what it is.



Reva Kussmaul

I registered here for this subject, I don't know if it was this show but it was about two boys who drank and drive, and smoked weed. There is nothing wrong with drinking or smoking pot moderately. However, when you get behind the wheel of a car it is so very very wrong. I have never driven drunk or high, but I did hit a woman once with my car with my then fiancé. It was horrible. I kept on the speeding limit, I drove normally like I always do, but she crossed the street wrongly and she was in what we call in my country "my dead corner." So I could not have seen her. She was in intensive care for 3 days before I could finally visit. For 3 days what should have been my sort of careless 20s years experience in life was different. I woke up as I always did, had a great job and felt great, then it sank in those mornings "theres a woman in the hospital and she is there because of ME." (she was an old lady.) After those 3 days luckily she pulled trough. I brought her two dozen of the biggest boquets of flowers I could find. I was so glad she was alright. I can't even begin to imagine what this experience for me would have been like, and for her, if I had been drinking and / or speeding. And you can't imagine what this feels like unless you've been there. Any teens reading here: Do not drink and drive. What if you hit a kid with your car? Or any person for that matter, and kill them? It was because I kept to the speeding limit that we made it, it was because I hadn't been drinking or speeding. Only this made it possible for all of us to continue our lives. Drive responsibly! Use your full attention every second while you drive! And do not use cell phones in the car either!! It can destroy lives!!

As another Australian who is dumbfounded by  the American publics cavileir attitude towards this hideous crime.  People make a conscious decision to drink, so therefore they should be held accountable for their actions. Australia only has a population of 21 million and we are as big as the US and unfortunately we still have up to 2,000 deaths a year on our roads,.  These are sometimes attributed to alcohol  and the other killer speed,  We have very tough rules here and there is an age group usually between 19 and 24 who continually flaunt the law by driving while intoxicated or on drugs or both. Such a waste of life, Dawn should visit a spinal unit or a burns unit where alcohol is the cause of their injuries. So sad to see someone who appears to be intelligent act so stupid.

Hi
Here in Australia the legal limit is .05 and if you are a learner driver or on your provisional license ( which you must be on for 3 years...2 years on red p plates and 1 year on green p plates) it is zero alcohol.

When you are well over the limit, here they take your car keys and put you in jail, it is against the law and when you front a judge you instatly are classed as a criminal, and that's what you are. 

None of the people I know would dare drink and drive, quite frankly it's a mugs game if you do and no one has any pity for you if you end up behind bars.  Here in Australia they do not give you chances like you guys get.

Hi All,
I live in Australia and this show has just aired here.
The Blood Alcohol Limit over here is 0.05, the 0.08 makes it almost double for your limit which I find hard to understand, people at 0.05 already cause accidents and are impared in judgement so I wouldnt like to see what they are like at 0.08.
On what is called our "P's" a provisional licence the BAL is 0.00 and if you are caught driving with anything over whilst on ur P's your licence is taken away on the spot for a minimum of 3 months,we are on our P licence for 3years.
Also our test is a breath test, if this test is positive over the limit, the person is automatically taken to do a Blood test to determine alcohol in the system.
I believe we have now began to introduce new laws in the state which I live, which is automatic licence suspension and car removal for any driver over the limit.

Check out www.peopleallstars.com, click the Mariners logo and yu can help Maraih's Messengers ge teh word out that drinking and driving kills and it is murder. Mariah's Challenge is about our youth.
www.mariahschallenge.com

In a Minnehaha and Pennington counties in South Dakota, we have started the 24/7 Program.  If the person is convicted of drunk driving or drug violations, they may be ordered to attend the 24/7 Program.  For the next year or more, they are court ordered to go to the 24/7 center where they are tested by breathalyzer and/or urine test twice a day.  They have to pay $1.00 per test.  They have to do this twice a day, 7 days a week.  If they fail the breathalyzer and/or urine test, they are escorted to the jail.  If they fail to appear, a bench warrant is issued.    Obviously, the offenders also court ordered to have alcohol/drug evaluations and most often have to attend in or out patient treatments, but the 24/7 program helps them keep sober.  It is amazing how well this works.  It is a program that should be implemented everywhere.

Through the magic of DVR I just viewed this show.

I feel the .08 limit gives everyone a false sense of security.  Because the first thing to go is judgement, you'll never know if you're there.  There should be a 0 tolerance for blood alcohol.   There is no way anyone can feel they are ok to drive if they've had a drink or 2 or 3 if there is no tolerance.  I myself LOVE to drink.  But if I will be driving, I will not even have a sip.

If punishment worked the DUI show wouldn't be necessary and those people would be alive. Taking away licenses doesn't work because in Calif you can't function with out driving. Jail doesn't work because it's an addiction - put a sober thief in jail he gets the idea that stealing is not worth jail time, put the addict in jail they use or drink to kill the pain of the experience. You would have to kill the person who got a DUI to guarantee it wouldn't happen again or lock them in jail for life. They have family members to, every person who has a DUI is someones daughter, son, sister, brother, Mother, Father, friend they are not going to let you kill their family member for the sake of vengeance. 

I have 2 DUI's so I can tell you about what really happens when someone gets one. I have been clean and sober since 03 not because of what they did as punishment but rather in spite of it. They are correct at the DUI school if you don't drink or take drugs you can't get a DUI so the solution is to get people clean and sober if you don't want victims of drunk drivers. I don't want drunk drivers on the road anymore than you do, I could also be a victim and so could my family so I do not say the drinking and driving is ok, it's not. When I saw the show I thought thank God I didn't hurt or kill anyone and have to live with that.

I will say one thing, I would rather have DUI offenders on the road with a restricted license than no license, everyone at the school with a restricted license had insurance and was very careful because they didn't want to lose it, if you  get a speeding ticket  for 5 miles over the limit even if you're sober your license is gone. The rest drove with out a license and no insurance. You can't tell people in Calif go to 1 AA meeting a week, one three hour class on Tuesday night, alcohol ed on Saturday morning, probation on Wednesday, hold a job 8-5  so you can pay all the fines and take the bus. It is physically impossible to meet the time requirements in Calif on the bus - job ends a 5pm, DUI class starts at 6pm,it  is a 20 minute drive but the bus will take 2 hours - it can't be done. You might get a couple of rides from friends or family but not 4 times every week every week. People figure if they don't go to class and can't hold their job to pay the fines and DUI school fees they will go to jail so you might as well drive and hope you get through it. Saying the DUI person will go to jail if they get caught driving is silly since if they don't drive they will be put in jail for failure to pay fines and the DUI school. Taking their car doesn't work because they will buy a junk car and drive it until the registration runs out.

There was no treatment of any kind, suposedly the DUI school I had to pay 200.00 a month for was supposed to be treatment, they had counseling sesions that were 15 minutes long, the counseler checked if I had my money paid, did the paper work on me and said I could go. The classes are at best detention, the first school I went to they spent most of the time bragging about their 80% failure rate telling us we would all get a second DUI and we were horible people. The DUI program is all about punishment and no treatment of any kind, they get away with this because having a DUI is a scarlet letter, no one cares, anyone with a DUI is considered pond scum.  The only thing that saved my life was the 12 step meetings which they are supposed to check and verify that you go but most people sign their own cards.

I'm not saying there should be no punishment and nothing should be done when someone gets a DUI but the current program is really insane and it's not solving the problem. There needs to be real treatment not something they call treatment that's really punishment.  If you want to save your family from becoming a victim of a drunk driver write your congressman and tell them we need treatment for DUI offenders. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results, they have punished and made life harder and harder for anyone with a DUI and the results have been the same repeat drunk drivers on the road and more victims.