Commonly, there are people today who are still playing with the hands of fate by drinking and driving. The laws are strict, and swift to anyone who dares go against the DUI and DWI laws; there are some people who are negligent about the endangerment of other people who are out in public. So the question remains, should DUI and DWI offenders be imprisoned on their first offense; the verdict-Yes. There are 3 general reasons why they should. For starters, they will learn a lesson about the dangers of driving drunk that is a lesson they will benefit from and give them a chance to think about how they could have changed someone’s life forever; including their own. In 2011, 13% of drivers arrested for DUI were first time offenders and their alcohol consumption were over the legal limit. The secondary reason is that based on the amount of alcohol intake as well as how intoxicated they are, the police will be doing the person a favor by getting them off the street because when a person kills someone while intoxicated, that damage is irreversible. 80% of people who were arrested on DWI vs DUI charges 2 times or more within the same month are 5 times more likely to potentially kill someone behind the wheel of a vehicle, or their own vehicle. The third and final reason the first time DUI/DWI offender should be imprisoned is simply to save their own life. A lot of times, people who are DUI offenders are not paying attention when they are driving and trying to convince people that they are okay, and they end up killing themselves as well as people in the car with them. It is these kinds of people that should be jailed because they are ignorant to the damage that they are likely to cause behind the wheel of a car or to operate any heavy machinery, arresting these individuals will only save lives including theirs. On top of that, we are warned constantly about the dangers of DWI and DUI so there is no excuse for people to do it.
Often, we forget about the possible dangers of DWI because we are so caught up in having a good time or just too preoccupied to care about what can happen to someone else when we do this. With that said, this begs the next question; what if the offender’s decision to drive drunk resulted in the injury of an innocent person? Personally, the offender should be locked up and given the harshest penalty possible, for 4 reasons. One, if the offender knew or had knowledge of the fact that they could not operate a vehicle in their drunken condition then it is clear that they did not think ahead or care about endangering lives. Innocent people are 7 times more likely to get killed by a drunk driver within minutes of the drunk driver entering the vehicle. Two, people have a right to go out and not worry about getting killed by a drunk driver. If an innocent person got killed because of a DUI driver than they are going to get penalized to the full extent of the law, and they should because everybody knows that DUI or DWI is illegal. Third, the DWI offender will live the rest of their life tortured over the regret of doing something that they could have avoided. Case in point, the DUI offender is trying to drive and is swerving all over the road. Within milliseconds, they hit and kill someone; it could be somebody’s child or toddler or it could have been someone else’s teenager with a bright future. When they are more sober, they will live to regret their decision to DWI or DUI the previous night because they will wake up feeling like they did something wrong or something is not right. Finally, that person should get their license taken from them because of their decision to DUI in the first place and as most people are aware, driving is a privilege not a right. When a person abuses their privilege such as the privilege to drive especially if they were drunk then their privilege to drive should be taken away permanently, it is not fair to the person or people who got killed by a DUI driver to still have their driver’s license after their huge lapse in judgment. There is something that can be said about people who drive drunk; you are only as smart as the actions you take. Simply, if you know you are not capable of driving because you are intoxicated then plan ahead on having a D.D (designated driver) because being smart behind the wheel is everyone’s responsibility.
References
T, Buddy. "Penalties of Drunk Driving." Penalties for the Drunk Driver are getting Stiffer. N.p., 28 Sep 2012. Web. 14 Feb 2014.
