Put an End to Drunk Diriving-Airgument paper

For years now, Massachusetts has debated the issue of drunk driving. In recent years, the Massachusetts legislature has been presented with a bill from the Weld Administration. The bill states that a repeated drunk driver would have a marked drivers license for ten years, and have a place card which would be on their license plate whenever their vehicle was in use. This is known as a hardship license. Also, first and second time offenders would be allowed to receive treatment with written reasons from a judge Lastly, the legal alcohol level would be lowered from .10 to .08. Like any other bill, there are those who support it and those who oppose it. For example, Scott Harshbarger, Bill Weld, and MADD support it, while Daniel O’Connell and others oppose it. The Massachusetts State Legislature should pass the drunk driving bill, and increase the penalties of those to choose not to follow it.

Granted, policeman might violate rights to illegal searches; however, the letter on the license plate would allow officers and the community to easily identify repeated offenders. It’s the police officers job to ensure the safety of the community, and having the letter on an offenders license plate would allow them to their job appropriately.

The legal blood-alcohol level would be lowered from .10 to .08 if the bill were passed. Once the blood-alcohol level was lowered, officers would be able to catch more impaired drivers on the road, making it safer for innocent victims that are obeying the law. Also, the number of impaired drivers driver’s on the road would dramatically decrease due to officers being able to convict more people of drunk driving. A lowered blood-alcohol level may result in fewer people drinking, because the drivers desired amount to drink and then drive would change due to the new penalties that they would potentially face.

To all rules, there are exceptions or loop holes. In this bill, there is an exception to first and
second time offenders. If a driver is stopped for drunk driving for the first or second time, the intoxicated drivers license will not be marked. The operator of the vehicle would be taken to court and presented in front of a judge. From there, the judge would put it in writing that the driver has permission to receive alcohol treatment, and be spared the other penalties. Although not all drivers receive this treatment, those who did would mean one less drunk driver on the road, and one less innocent person being tragically hurt, or even killed.

More importantly, a repeated driver would carry a marked license for ten years, and have a hardship license. The hardship license would require the driver to have a removable mark on their license plate whenever their vehicle was in use. This would easily allow police to see and stop an offender at anytime. The marked license would allow the officer to see if the driver was convicted of this deadly crime if they did not have a hardship license. If a driver is caught under the influence, then their license and license plate will be marked so that the police and community can easily recognize when someone like that is on the road.

The Massachusetts State Legislature should do everything in it’s power to pass the drunk driving bill. The bill would allow repeated offenders to carry a hardship license. Also, first and second time offenders would receive the proper treatment with the approval of a judge to help them act more responsibly. A repeated drunk driver having to carry a marked license plate and receive treatment is a small price to pay compared to the suffering and pain that families of the people that have been hurt, or even killed by a drunk driver. If you don’t want a mark on your drivers licensee, then don’t drink and drive. Simple as that.