Should Drowsy Driving Be A Crime?
It's so tempting for people -- and especially legislators -- to tell themselves they can solve every problem every by creating yet another law.
Now, it's drowsy driving some hope to criminalize -- even if the driver has caused no accident and broken now laws. Overlawyered's Walter Olson blogs at The New York Times that this is wrong -- that existing laws already apply to recklessness:
And libertarians and defense lawyers are right to object.To begin with, under the principle of the rule of law, persons exposed to criminal penalty deserve fair notice of what conduct is lawful and what is not. In the case of drunken driving, we pretend at least to objectivity in the form of breath analysis and a rule of thumb of so many drinks per hour. Yet there's no objective or even pseudo-objective test for drowsiness. Will cops be empowered to pull over the stone-sober driver at the D.U.I. checkpoint whose eyelids look too droopy, or watch the convenience store for drivers who seem too eager for a double coffee at 3 a.m.?
Highway fatalities have been declining for decades, and we've already forfeited enough of our individual liberty to uniformed officers at checkpoints. Quoted in The Times, the New York lawmaker who sponsored one failed bill against drowsy driving seemed mystified that "There was a concern that government again was encroaching into people's day-to-day lives." Yes, there was. And that concern is valid.
It's almost a page out of science fiction:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organlegging
I am a native Angeleno, and have 10w40 circulating in my veins. But there's driving (up and down Highway 1, 101, 395, Mulholland, Angeles Crest Highway, Rim of the World, ...) and then there's city driving these days, mostly a traffic jam conspiracy theory intended to keep city coffers overflowing.
I can't wait to let a google car to my city driving for me.
jerry at December 25, 2012 11:19 PM
Actually that would frightens the fuck out me. Once again after reading the book Arrest Proof Yourself. These laws being enacted and used will make living so much harder. The chances of being added to the "electronic plantation" increased dramatically. What is the goal social engineering people away from using vehicles.
This would soooo get abused, cops could seize vehicles and hassle people much more easier. You thought the comment I smelled pot was suspicious, imagine the term the driver looked tired. Let's add in the police deciding to check truck drivers and the consequences with that. Seized shipments, higher shipping costs, etc. This will become another way to seize assets.
Plus the simple fact of the matter is how do you test sleepiness. Booze you use breathalysers. What does a person have to do? Got forbid if a person has rings under the eyes.
John Paulson at December 26, 2012 4:28 AM
I have driven drowsy. It was dangerous and I didn't like it, but I felt that I had no other choice. The first period of time, it was because I was working two jobs to make ends meet after losing my education and home to illness. The second period of time was when I had an undiagnosed parasite which drained me. I was finally diagnosed after 27 doctor visits. I had been told that it was just stress. What do you do - just quit trying to work and go on welfare? Or do you try to keep going and do your best, even if it is exhausting?
Jen at December 26, 2012 7:24 AM
How exactly are they going to test for drowsiness? Idiots.
momof4 at December 26, 2012 8:55 AM
There is no test for drowsiness. There are lots of tests for people suffering the effects of drowsiness: Are they speeding? Are they weaving? Are they doing other boneheaded things?
Best ticket I ever got was for speeding north through South Carolina a few years back. I'd started out from Mississippi that morning, was tired as hell, and leadfooted as a result. The highway patrolman clocked me at 88 in a 60 zone, which I was ready to believe. It was only after he gave me my ticket and left that I realized how beat I was. I was in a hotel within the hour. That cop saved my bacon.
Old RPM Daddy (OldRPMDaddy at GMail dot com) at December 26, 2012 10:38 AM
The evidence of drowsiness would probably just be an admission by the defendant. So people would have to learn not to run their mouth with excuses if they get pulled over.
carol at December 26, 2012 12:55 PM
Well we can't just accept that drowsy drivers will be commonplace!
What are we, a bunch of sitting ducks?
The GOVERNMENT must DO something!
Pirate Jo at December 26, 2012 1:44 PM
Isn't it already illegal to drive drowsy? I mean, doesn't every state already have a generic law about unsafe driving? If you're driving in an unsafe manner due to fatigue, then you're too drowsy to drive. So if a cop pulls you over and tickets you for speeding, weaving, what-have-you, that's covered. No need for another subjective law.
On a tangent, my state (AZ) is among those with subjective DUI laws. A driver is legally intoxicated at .08 but anything over .00 can get someone arrested if the officer believes he's impaired. I guarantee you I'm far safer on the road after a glass of wine with dinner than I am at 2 a.m. under any conditions.
Boldly Beth at December 26, 2012 1:59 PM
I was thinking about just this scenario a few nights ago. My friend wouldn't let me sleep, but she didn't want to have sex, either. When I finally left, at 4am, I watched the cops pulling someone else over...
jefe at December 26, 2012 5:21 PM
How are they gonna test for that one? Will they do a blood test for sleep hormones?
mpetrie98 at December 28, 2012 12:00 PM
How are they gonna test for that one? Will they do a blood test for sleep hormones?
mpetrie98 at December 28, 2012 12:05 PM
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