Tomorrow marks the official start to National Police Week in Washington, D.C. MADD is so grateful for law enforcement officers who work to keep our streets safe by arresting drunk drivers. These brave men and women are the front lines of defense against those who choose to make terrible decisions and drive after becoming impaired on alcohol or other drugs.
We know that there are brave law enforcement officers who even now are fighting for their lives in hospitals. I especially salute Corporal Andy Pringle of the West Virginia State Patrol for his valiant fight in ICU since April 24. He was hit by an alleged drunk driver while he was conducting a traffic stop. His wife and 3 kids, family, fellow LEO's and friends all over the country are praying for his complete recovery.
So, a big Thank You! to all law enforcement officers who support our efforts to eliminate drunk driving. Stay safe.
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4 comments:
I totally understand and agree with the original intent of MADD, however, this organization is now taking things too far, intentionally trying to make life as difficult as possible for DUI offenders.
Requiring a person to attend a MADD class after committing a DUI offense is an understandable punishment and requirement. What is not understandable or acceptable are these now routine MADD practices:
The DMV will not allow an individual to drive on a restricted license to their court ordered MADD class. This means that those wishing to attend MADD class will most likely need a ride to their class. Police officers will patrol MADD parking lots to make sure that no individuals have driven to class on a restricted license. This being the case, MADD has decided to make the situation as difficult as humanly possible for offenders to attain this ride. MADD will tell you when the class begins, but what they will not tell you is when the class ends, making it extremely difficult to schedule someone to pick you up on time. This is just one example of how MADD is trying to make life as difficult as possible for DUI offenders.
Another example of this type of activity can be seen in MADD's "mandatory donation" of when you attend their class. Once again, MADD does not state anywhere on their court ordered flier which mention any sort of donation, however if you fail to bring money for this oxymoron of a rule, you will be forced to go back to court.
Why are we allowing this organization to bully American citizens this way? Ask yourself if people deserve to be treated in this fashion. If your answer is no, please send a message to MADD asking them to please stop these unfair business practices.
MADD is looking into Fed Ups assertions...more to come.
I agree Fed Up. MADD is a powerful lobby and have helped make DWI it's own animal in NC, ie, not a misdemeanor, not a felony. In NC, if you blow a 0.15 or higher you can only get a limited privilege with an interlock and it can only begin 45 days after the date of conviction. This means in addition to the 30 day automatic suspension the person will be without a driver's license of any kind. My latest client is a single mother of a 5 yr old daughter. Deadbeat father. This woman's work is heroic. How is she expected to earn a living, drive to the grocery store, drive to the doctor, drive TO WORK? Of course everyone wants to eradicate drunk driving, don't get me wrong. But in many ways a DWI is worse than a felony if you look only at sentencing. The answer to those questions, however, should not be, "not my problem, she shouldn't have driven drunk." It's more complicated than that. What it leads to is folks without a driver's license driving anyway. How else are they supposed to provide for themselves and/or their families? When they get caught driving, whether they've been drinking or if they are coming from the Dr.'s office, they lose their license for ANOTHER year and if they get caught twice they are permanently revoked. The consequences are absurd and it ruins people's lives. It's not as if when an innocent person is killed at the hands of a drunk driver they aren't punished any worse, they are. In NC, it's 2nd degree murder.
If you follow the logic why isn't there Mothers Against Assault? Assault is anti-social behavior that needs to be prevented as sometimes assaults lead to death. Then it's murder. The punch-in-the-face assaults don't warrant the same punishment.
In NC, district attorneys offices do not plea bargain DWIs due to the political pressure exerted by MADD. They can plea bargain first degree capital murder ... but not DWI.
Along with Fed Up, I applaud the mission of MADD but the results have either not been contemplated or MADD doesn't care. But I'm here to tell you, they are devastating to otherwise law-abidinig citizens. DWI just gets the snowball rolling and it's extremely difficult to stop due to the mobility of our society. I work 25 miles from home. If I were to lose my license for 75 days, I would lose my job. I suppose I'll get no sympathy from MADD but that is going too far, especially if it is a person's first offense.
When will we move out of the frontier mind set of "individual responsibility" and actually STOP drunk driving. The current approach hasn't worked and will not work .Alcohol will cause societal side effects.How about either the bars or counties run buses for the drunks to get safely home.Community Resposibility with kindness will work.Jailing them doesn't.The proof is in your daily newspaper!
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