What's the Answer?

The below link is to an article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch concerning drunk driving in Missouri.

I haven't been intimately involved with the anti-DUI movement in Missouri since moving to Florida three years ago. However, I'm so pleased to see that the justices, lawmakers and policy makers are all on board for more effective anti-DWI measures.

A little factoid from my days at Missouri State University...

In an old substance abuse intervention class, we were taught a stat that said of 100 alcoholics, 94 will die as a direct result of their drinking. MVA, falling down stairs, drowning in a bathtub, etc. Four alcoholics will have organic brain damage which will effect them the rest of their lives. Two alcoholics will make it into permanent recovery.

Now, cross reference this with an old tour to the medium security prison in Fordland, MO. Every prisoner is required to work a 12 step program for his substance abuse issues. Due to these 12 step mandatory processes, this prison has only a 40% "rate of return" by prisoners released. The national and state average? 80%.

The question remains: How do we keep the chronic alcoholics with a history of DUI off the roads? Incarceration with a focus on treatment? Seems to work. But what about just keeping them off the roads? Obviously if a prisoner is incarcerated, he/she is driving nowhere. But it takes so many resources to accomplish this.

This is why so many folks in the anti-DWI fight are in favor of using technology to accomplish the goals. Breathalyzers installed in the cars of offenders, alcohol detection devices planted in steering wheels, retinal scans in rearview mirrors that show if a driver is drunk, etc. Does this technology cost a lot of money? In some cases, yes. But is this a better way to keep offenders off the streets? I think so.

Again, the most heartening thing of all is seeing such an active interest in the DWI fight. Props to Missouri for being so progressive with their DWI enforcement, prosecution and goals of keeping drivers safe.



http://m.stltoday.com/STL/db_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=Im7SYAg7&src=cat