Progressive Wisconsin slow to curb drunk driving

[undeterred]

By SCOTT BAUER (AP)

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin is known historically as a hotbed of social reforms, yet cracking down on drunken drivers has never been high on policymakers' to-do list. Maybe that's because so many have had to recite their ABCs on the side of the road.

Big breweries once dominated the state and ties to the beer industry remain stout, giving way to a belief that hard drinking is as much a part of the Wisconsin culture as the Green Bay Packers and cheese. That's created a blind spot of sorts for the socially conscious state: drunken driving.

Wisconsin has long had the nation's highest rates of drinking — and binge drinking — among adults and some of the most lax laws on drunken driving. There's also a history of lawmakers who have been caught behind the wheel after having a few too many. It's a paradox for a state in which leaders pride themselves on being on the forefront of welfare programs, health care and workers' rights.

"There is a live hard, play hard, cut corners, get away with anything you can culture in the Legislature," said Mordecai Lee, a former longtime Democratic legislator who's now a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee professor. "Driving drunk is just part of a larger political culture of getting away with anything you can."

The latest accused legislator is state Rep. Jeff Wood, who was charged with driving under the influence three times over a 10-month period. He has pleaded not guilty and appears poised to serve out his term with only a ceremonial slap on the wrist.

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As someone who moved here from another state, I have to agree that this is a huge blind spot. :shrug:

[Bluzmann57]

1. A good friend lives in Wisconsin

Several years ago, my friend, we'll call him Pete for this narrative, scored me and another guy a pair of tix for a Packer's game. We were sitting there enjoying the game and the young lady who was sitting in front of us got up to go to the restroom or something. Her seat cushion featured the name and logo of a school district where Pete once worked and later got fired from. I then struck up a conversation with the mother of the young lady saying, "G****A***** school district? I got these tickets from my friend Pete. He used to be a teacher up there and got fired. Of course, he talks a lot and has been known to drink a lot of beer too." She replied, "Drinking is our national sport up here. Nothing wrong with Pete drinking some beer." She also knew Pete, but that's not really relevant to this story. My point is, after all this babbling, that Wisconites seem to be proud of being beer drinkers. So I imagine it would be difficult to get DUI laws toughened in a state like that.
Incidentally, I love that state and have been there many times. Go Packers!

[elocs]

2. Here in La Crosse we routinely read of drivers being arrested for their 5th or 6th DUI.

Or their 7th or 8th. Most all local festivals revolve around drinking, particularly our crown jewel: Oktobeerfest. In recent years we have had a string of college aged males who get stinking drunk and then wind up drowning in the Mississippi.

Yes, it's hard to figure.

[sybylla]

3. Same here. I see this being enforced all the time.

It would be hard to prove it's not being enforced.

Whether harsher penalties would stop those 4th, 5th, 6th offense drunk drivers is another question. I know a lot of people (who scoffed at the ramping up of enforcement 20+ years ago) who are vary careful not to drive drunk because the first time penalties are plenty steep for the average person.

By the time you get to that 5th offense, your ass is really in a sling regarding penalties. It's hard to imagine that repeating offenders don't have addiction issues. They won't stop driving drunk until they get treatment. That's something we could definitely be more progressive about.

[TheMightyFavog]

4. Simple solution.

One you are convicted, you are banned from driving FOR LIFE. You are banned from having any sort of motorized vehicle in your name FOR LIFE. Get caught driving, you go back to the can for 10 years.

[elocs]

5. I remember reading about this 25 years ago in Readers Digest

where their recommendation was 3 strikes and it's life in prison. You get 2 chances to kill or injure someone because you chose to drive drunk. If you don't comprehend the problem by then, you get life.

Prison should be for those who need to be separated from society for the protection of society. Drunk driving is the prime example of that. Nobody should be given repeated opportunities to end or ruin someone else's life when they chose to drive drunk.

[Broca]

6. Whatever the effectiveness

how would a society pay for locking up more people? The average cost in WI is close to 30k per year with the Super Max at about 65k per year per prisoner. It is curious that we have over 3 million people in long term confinement in the U.S, 1% of our population, which outstrips the figures of most countries in the world. If you really want to scratch your head google the WI incarceration rate versus that of Minnesota.

[elocs]

7. I stand by my assertion that prisons are to separate people from society

for the protection of society. I do not want non-violent people in prison. I want people in prison whom I would not want to encounter on the street. That philosophy should empty out most of the prisons and reduce the costs. Nonviolent convicts should be sentenced to house arrest or community service, but they should be required to make some kind of restitution, financial or otherwise.