Fines for drunken driving are too small PDF Print E-mail
Thursday, 21 June 2012 21:25
I was reading the Chronicle newspaper column titled "Courts" and could not help but gasp in disbelief at the number of cases involving drunken driving and the paltry fines paid for committing such a dastardly act. The crime is so pervasive and the punishment so ridiculous that I am tempted to ask the question: Is drunk driving a crime? If it is then why aren't these drivers given just and appropriate punishment? The real answer to that is that it cannot be classified as criminal when you have magistrates handing down an $8,000 fine for an offence that oftentimes causes death.
These fines are insultingly small when you consider how deadly consequences a crime of this nature can cause.
Many persons have lost their lives, others maimed for life or rendered vegetables due to drunken driving accidents and here you have our courts giving drivers such a small fine. This infuriates me. No wonder certain drivers who have a penchant for imbibing alcohol then going behind the wheel can do so with reckless abandon, because they know fully well that no punishment of consequence is going to come their way. That's why drunk and without a care in the world driver, Vijai Singh could have appeared before a magistrate his usual self, drunk. He turned up in court to answer to the charge as inebriated as he can be quite to the amusement of the court, who granted him a $7,500 fine.
No one should be amused by this theatrical display because that man, as so many others do, will continue to drive drunk and God forbid is going to kill someone. My point still remains that in order to prevent these fools from killing people stop them now before that dreadful day comes.

Drunk driving is a serious crime and if something can be done to remedy the situation then fines should be in the region of $100,000, something that would sober up drivers to the fact that they cannot drive drunk. Secondly, and most important, drivers who deliberately flaunt the law must be punished, have their licences revoked permanently. A permanent revocation of one's licence would ensure that the public is rid of one of these reckless drivers or good enough to make our roads a safer place to traverse. Only then the slogan: “Do not drink and drive or if you drink don't drive” would have had true meaning.
 

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