Responsible Social Drinking Driver example essay topic

Tolerance Happens Effective as of November 28, 1995, President Bill Clinton signed legislation that forces states to adopt a Zero Tolerance Law, to prevent teens as well as adults from driving under the influence. To the youth of today, it doesnt really matter if drinking is illegal. No matter how much we spend on new laws, there will always be a way that the younger generation will sneak past to continue drinking. The problem shouldnt be considered as who is drinking, but should be referred to as who isnt drinking responsibly.

As in the words of Martin Luther King, Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. The spending of our hard earned tax dollars has become sort of an obsession in the government. In a June of 1995 radio address, President Clinton made a statement after the signing of the new law saying, It is already against the law for young people to consume alcohol. This national standard will reinforce by making it effectively illegal for young people who have been drinking to drive an automobile (Clinton Takes, para. 3). Taking up billions of our tax dollars, in the past ten years lawmakers have enacted over 2,000 new drunk driving laws and still cant point to a decrease in the property or life casualties related to drunk driving (Madder, para.

2). The Zero Tolerance Law says that states not enforcing the law by Oct. 1, 1998 will have 5% of their federal highway subsidies withheld, and every year prior to that, will be withheld 10%. Tax dollars are better spent while focusing on more important issues. There are still no promises of a reduction in the loss of life or property as we pack 1.4 million Americans in our jails each year (Madder, para. 3). Sharply on the lookout for drunken drivers, police are letting mor and more juveniles committing other far worse crimes, slip through the cracks daily as we overcrowd our cells with DUI offenders.

More focus should be on criminals committing robberies, dealing crack, executing homicides, and performing rape. Filtering through millions of Americans at sobriety checkpoints is just a waste of valuable time. While police stop you to check your car for an open container, you could be running late for an important appointment, or worse, somebody might be looking through your house and taking off with your valuables. The criminal justice system should rethink the zero tolerance law.

Preventing underage drinking is impossible as long as drinking is legal at some age. Raising the tolerance level for the sake of responsible drinkers would prevent the courts from running their current 1.4 million Americans through the criminal justice system. Doing this would increase the availability of responsibly sober drivers at parties, and also make it alot safer for social drinkers to drive home after a night out. Although younger people arent supposed to drink at all, alot of college students like to go out to parties and have a few drinks, and whos supposed to stop them The law considers people to be adults at the age of 18, which suggests they can make responsible decisions.

Responsibility in knowing when youre too drunk to drive or knowing when someone else is too drunk to be driving is a valuable quality in a person, and every person that drinks and drives should know his / her responsible limits. In refutation, there are many irresponsible drivers that take their lives and the lives of others. While this law may discourage the more responsible drinkers from driving under the influence, many of the irresponsible alcoholics will still get behind the wheel of their car only to endanger themselves and others. Many college students also drink to the point of high intoxication, and may try to drive somewhere at the end of the night. Without responsible decision making, though, one cannot grow to their fullest extent. With so many loopholes, the zero tolerance law should be completely revised to suit the responsible social drinking driver as well as taking strict actions against the disastrous drunk driver.

Raising the tolerance level would clear up so much space in the jails that the police would have room to put the more criminalistic minds behind bars. People who know their responsible limits should be allowed to go out to a club and have a couple of drinks and not worry about getting pulled over by the police. After all, a responsible decision could mean the difference between life and death.

Bibliography

Clinton Takes Hard Stand on Underage Drinking and Driving, News Briefs, Sept. 1995, pg. 21 Madder- Motorists Against Drunk Driving Enforcement Rip-offs, Show Them the Statistics, web.