A BOOK ON U.S. APPLICABLE LAW
Deacon San Nguyen
DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE
A majority of people who do not drink usually think that drinking is a bad habit. Such opinion on drinking is not completely right because they only see the drinking habit through the images of drunken men who get drunk all the times. Generally speaking, the drunken men lose control when they drink to excess and do something bad in front of other people. In the other hand, if people know how to drink reasonably, drinking is the best way to help people maintain good health, both spiritually and bodily.
As we see, many people who drink under the limit never get drunk; on the contrary, they may either react more intelligently or give beautiful speeches, too. Those people who know how to drink wisely never take risk of being challenged to drink more than they can. Moreover, the good-drinker have tendency to drink with the purpose that is to make his friends happy, to enjoy a good time, not for spoiling the happiness of a dinner. On occasions of big meetings such as Lunar New Year, wedding ceremony, birthday parties.. some small cups of brandy or wines will certainly make the event happier. The reasonable drinkers will have chance to share happiness with others, and most of all, a chance to forget all problems at home or at work.
Therefore, drinking is not real bad at all. The opinion about “Good or Bad” depends on each personality. Brandy is not bad itself. If a man is addicted to drinking habit and does something bad after drinking, he is bad. Bad drinkers are like bad children who see delicious food and want to eat them all; they will get stomachache. That is all.
In this chapter, I only like to say that “Never drink and drive!”. Although after drinking too much, the drinker still feel that he is OK, it is not good for him because he may be arrested by police. When doubting some drivers might get drunk, police will stop that driver in the middle of the road and have some tests to find the degree of alcohol in the driver’s blood. In case the driver just took some drinks at a party, he would be fined for sure. If the degree of alcohol was over the limit, he would be in big problems: financial fines and jail.
Most of States apply heavy fines for “drink and drive”. It is considered as a felony because it may cause fatal accidents to others. In Oklahoma, the revised law, number 47, article 11-902, strongly stated that “he who drives his of her car with high degree of alcohol in the blood and may cause fatal accident will be guilty of a “misdemeanor for the first offense” and will be detained from 10 days to 1 year and fined $500.00 at maximum.”
Therefore, if we drink some glass of wine at a party where alcohol is served, we better ask somebody to take us home. Otherwise, we have to wait about half an hour, then, take a cup of lemonade before driving home. Remember: no any heavy drunker admits that he was drunk; he may admit that he was drunk only after he collapsed at a party and was taken home by some friends.
The issue that we would like to discuss here is not an issue of being drunk or not, but about a fatal accident that may occur for the drunker and some others when the driver got drunk. In that case the drunken driver will face a heavy penalty for his or her mistake. Even if the driver does not cause any accident but is caught when the degree of alcohol in his blood system is high, he will be fined by a severe sentence.
For a conclusion, I would like to say something that is very necessary for us when we see a police car following us with the flickering light on:
After slowing our car down and stopping at a safe place, we better sit quietly, place our hands on the driving wheel, and pull down the window at the driver seat. If the incident happens at night, we better turn on the inside light so that the police can see us clearly. When a police sees our peaceful manner, he will walk to us and ask for our paperwork like our driver license and insurance card. We better not open the door and step out of the car. The police may misunderstand the meaning of our reaction, and may think that we want to resist against him, thus, he may take some actions that lead to a fatal confrontation.
In the past, there were many sad stories caused by a misunderstanding. Many fatal shooting happened just because the drivers had some clumsy action. We better stay at our seats and do what the police request us to do. That will keep us safe.
