Originally Posted by CDSmith

Your post echos my sentiments on his post almost to a T.

D&D'ing is a misdemeanor because it involved an ingested substance that impaires your reaction time and judgement, whereas cell phone distraction and eating while driving do not chemically impaire your judgement. If that were a valid argument then talking to a passenger while driving or changing the radio station while driving would also have to be included.

People who cause accidents while being cell phone idiots etc also get punished, the laws and penalties are getting harsher, not softer... and for good reason. Here in parts of Canada there is a movement to have the .08 limit lowered to .05. I am in favor of stiffer penalties for these idiots out there who just can't seem to figure out that the majority of society does not want them on the road if they've had drinks.

One normal-sized drink over dinner or two sipped slowly over the course of a few hours, although fine in many people's minds, is playing with fire. The push now is for zero tolerance, and for first offenders there is a fine, possible jail time and a suspension of license for up to a year in some places, and I'm sorry to you who are whining about the penalties being too harsh but I agree with them.

In fact, I think that repeat DD'ing offenders who have caused ANY alchohol-related accident or injury etc should have a breathalyzer gizmo built into their car's ignition system, preventing the car from being able to start unless they blow into the device.... and if they are over a certain blood alcohol level the vehicle also won't start for that reason.

How hard is it to call a cab?