Stop the M.A.D.D.ness!!!

I am currently accepting applications, nyeff

Seriously, its ridiculous. A person, who has one drink, suddenly becomes a criminal. I mean, even the Catholic priest, who has his glass of wine, and drives back home, is supposed to be a menace to society the way a serial killer is? Gimmie a break!

I seriously don't know anything about them. Other than it's a bit of a joke and has been used to sell bumper stickers. Is there a serious organization?

I do know the ACLU has some pointed measures to combat constitutionally illegal roadblocks, but I'm pretty excited about the potential of RIDL right now.

Even in it's infancy of a web based awareness effort it's raised some serious and thoughtful issues. (Check out the articles and stats on pdf.)

From the GOALS page:

1. Repeal .08 BAC laws
2. Require NHTSA to correct their statistics
3. Require medical diagnosis of alcoholism prior to harsh sentence requirements
4. Require graduated penalties for DUI convictions
5. Encourage people to purchase and carry personal breathalyzers
6. Require police to notify people of their right to a blood test after arrest
7. Require courts to provide alternatives to AA to deal with problem drinkers
8. Require auto-expunge of DWI�s after seven years
9. Repeal DUI "Per Se Law"

I'm going to try to find out more, but wouldn't a serious counter lobbying effort be exactly what the debate needs?

I'm extremely uncomfortable that MADD receives government funding as a governemnt lobbying organization. That stinks. I hope RIDL or some political counter balance blossoms soon.

I have always thought of DAMM as a joke. And it is. But I am sure there has to be an organization out there that opposes MADD.

Link to the DAMM site. There are other links at the bottom of DAMM's homepage. Most likely more joke sites...but it might be worth a look.
user.pa.net...

Originally posted by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
I am currently accepting applications, nyeff

Seriously, its ridiculous. A person, who has one drink, suddenly becomes a criminal. I mean, even the Catholic priest, who has his glass of wine, and drives back home, is supposed to be a menace to society the way a serial killer is? Gimmie a break!

Maybe not people with one drink. And no, they are not even comparable to serial killers.

When someone drinks and drives, and kills someone, its an "accident." But its an ignorant accident, because it was preventable. Any jackass knows that drinking impairs your driving.

But its an ignorant accident, because it was preventable.

Actually this isn't true at all. There are many accidents involving drinking drivers that were caused by a sober driver. Also, if not drinking makes an accident preventable, then explain why 81% of fatal accidents involve a driver that was neither drinking nor taking drugs? Fact is, in most accidents there is no way to prove that alcohol CAUSED the crash and in many cases the accident would have occurred anyway regardless of the presence of alcohol.

I've never had a single accident while intoxicated, but I've had several while sober. I drive more carefully when I'm intoxicated, actually. I'm one of those people that can easily drink a 6 pack and still out-drive most people. When I was young, I was always the designated drunk driver because I had the reputation for being able to drive under any influences. I'd think, after 20 years of driving, and only one DUI, I've pretty much proven my point. Besides, I wasn't even pulled over for suspicion of DUI. I was pulled over for driving on a closed, icy road (there were no signs or barricades), something that I'm very much used to, since I'd lived in MN for quite awhile. They determine how dangerous the roads are by how well other people drive, not by your personal ability to drive. Actually, they determine how dangerous everything is by the most incompetent users/operators, don't they? Frankly, it's an insult to be placed in the same category as careless buffoons. The DUI war is as pathetic as the "war on drugs", IMO. It's just one more failed attempt to control death. Just be glad I don't drive around on acid anymore. However, I'm still probably a better driver, even on acid, than alot of the idiots I see on the roads everyday. However, I did get pulled over for speeding once, while tripping. I was let go with a warning. When I said I've never had an accident while intoxicated, that includes all drugs....not just alcohol. You'd think, if it impairs my ability to drive so much, that I'd have had alot more trouble in my life. While I don't have the greatest driving record, that's mainly due to speeding tickets, not accidents or DUI's. I was quite a wild child way back when. I had 18 speeding tickets in one year, once, when I was about 17.


[Edited on 3-30-2004 by Satyr]

A Quote...

�MADD is overzealous. Police ought to be concentrating their resources on arresting drunk drivers � not those drivers who happen to have been drinking. I worry that the movement I helped create has lost direction.�

MADD�s founder, Candy Lightner

...who has since disassociated herself from MADD. The drunk driver who killed her daughter had a BAC of .20, more than double today's 0.08 limit.

Sidenote: MADD is pushing for 0.05 now.

Is Mothers Against Drunk Driving out of control?

Mothers Against Drunk Driving was founded in 1980 by Candy Lightner after a drunken man who had multiple convictions for driving while intoxicated ran down and killed her 13-year-old daughter. MADD quickly helped make drunk driving one of the most heavily combatted social scourges in the nation. But now the group has embarked on a crusade that has even former adherents wondering whether it has gone too far.

www.findarticles.com...

There you go RANT.

That was from a 1998 National Review article? Pretty solid and damning. I'm surprised how seemingly widespread the disillusionment with MADD has become according to my websearches, yet they seem to suffer no repurcussions in funding or power AT ALL.

Its truely amazing to me how easy it is to find anything on google. Just put in the right words. Tks

We are so screwed. I myself would not be driving around at 2:00 am with kids in the car, 18 year olds shouldn't be out at that time, when the people are out driving that have been drinking. Duh! someone is on the road that has been drinking. They have a right to drink, I have a right to drive. If I hit a drinker, it's my fault ...it's as alcohol related accident. They get arrested! Bull #!
Do you know why new music sucks?
There aren't nearly as many bars anymore. Paying gigs for musicians are paying the same as was paid 20 years ago. Bands can't survive. So that leaves mtv to tell us what is good. Crap!
Between the stupid .08 and 21 to drink what do you expect?
bac is not a good way to know if someone is in bad enough shape that they shouldn't be driving.
A young lady of 21 that goes out twice a month and parties at .08 is probably pretty dangerous.
A man like me at 230 pounds that drinks 4 or 5 nights a week .08 is nothing. Damn near completely straight.
But the money they are making off fines is all they care about.
Like the cop said earlier. You can see someone driving and know if they are drunk or not. You don't need to stop everyone on the road to find drunk drivers.
I am tired of my rights being violated! Road blocks are illegal and should be stopped!!!
But what can poor people do? I don't have the money that sadd and madd have.
Who can I donate to that is trying to do something about this injustice?
Check this out. I ordered some xanax from india for my nerves. I use it every once in a while when I am stressed. Our new government organization that is supposed to be protecting us from terrorist conviscated it at customs. Did they think it was a bomb?
I am so tired of 5 % of our population dictating to the rest of us how we are to live.
Welcome to America... home of the almost free!!!
The only way to have rights is to expect your rights to be stepped on by others because they have rights also.
You have the right , I have the right...what happens when the don't mesh? The one with the most money wins out and the others rights goes away!!
That isn't right!

I was in a drunk driving class and there was this middle aged man who was an alcoholic. It was obvious.
Anyways, the police made him a criminal and then the class confused him by telling him he should stop drinking at the same time telling him he had a disease.

One day he showed up drunk(disease or criminal). They reprimanded him and reported him to the authorities. The next week he wasn't there and i asked where he was.. He had killed himself by putting a brick on his gas pedal and running into a tree.

I told the teacher she killed him, by reporting this man for having a disease. I blame these freaks in MADD for causing all this s#r anyways. I heard the founder got a 502 after starting the program.I wouldnt doubt it

Man,I hate people like the ones above that are so stupid. Makes me wanna go kick some sober guys arse.
I could go on for hours about this topic,better not.

Thanks for letting me share.

Actually, more than 3000 people die every year from suicide when arrested for DUI. Of course, MADD doesn't give a (d) about THESE deaths. In fact, they are so cold, that when I've mentioned this they say that obviously the person was deranged to begin with. As though that justifies their death.

MADD is a cold-hearted cruel organization. Have no doubt about it.

I agree. Their goal is to selfishly shield their own emotions from the reality of accidental death, no matter the cost to everyone else in the entire country. The problem is, their efforts don't work. Their "results" are only positive when based upon false pretenses.

Well, I can't say that I support drunk driving, BUT on the other hand I can't say that I support an orginization such as MADD. Being a Firefighter/Paramedic I see people who make the decision to drive drunk die, or become paralyzed, or smash mommy's and daddy's beamer around a telephone pole(I work in a college town.). People have the freedom to drink as much or as little as they deem fit. But they should have to pay the price for doing so. MADD may have been a good orginization at it's inception, but now it's overstepping it's boundries. I think that there should be more done to curb the current trends, I picked up a totally wasted 14 year old girl the other night who went to a party for the sole purpose of getting blasted. Well, she was taken off to some room after getting drunk and was sexually assaulted. Now that's a problem. If MADD was fighting things like that, ok, that fine with me. Plus people driving drunk and destroying their car is just job security for me. LOL. Peace Out. -Muzz

[Edited on 4-3-2004 by muzz]

Originally posted by muzz
People have the freedom to drink as much or as little as they deem fit. But they should have to pay the price for doing so.

The problem is, most people are arrested and charged on the assumption that they might be dangerous, not because they actually are dangerous. You could be doing absolutely nothing wrong, driving 100% safely, and still get a DUI. No one should be charged for a crime that hasn't happened yet. They're basically categorizing you as a killer, before you've killed, or even caused an accident. Until they can prove to me, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that they're psychic, they have no business trying to prevent incidents that may never even happen.

Originally posted by Satyr
The problem is, most people are arrested and charged on the assumption that they might be dangerous, not because they actually are dangerous. You could be doing absolutely nothing wrong, driving 100% safely, and still get a DUI. No one should be charged for a crime that hasn't happened yet. They're basically categorizing you as a killer, before you've killed, or even caused an accident. Until they can prove to me, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that they're psychic, they have no business trying to prevent incidents that may never even happen.

I can agree with you. I am completely against police road blocks and soberity checkpoints as I belive that they are an invasion of privacy and a violation of the Constitution againt unlawful search and seizure. Why should I, being of sound mind and a sober state be subjected to stop for no just reason. If I'm not drunk, in Virginia, they can ticket you for not having a state inspection (expired or removed), Expired County or city tax decal, or not wearing your seatbelt(which is a secondary offense in Va.). Now if I was totaly drunk driving down the road speeding, unable to stay in my lane and things like that. I could see being pulled over because I'm a danger to society.

Hey all,

I thought you might be interested in the following news articles from Dallas. Someone else has joined the fight to expose the MADDness.

www.wfaa.com...

www.dallasnews.com...

Very Nice! I was just thinking today wondering where this thread went to. Happy to see that the progression is forward moving. -Muzz

More lawyers need to join this fight. It needs to be exposed for the witch hunt it really is.