In the Steven Speilberg film, Minority Report, a prediction that someone will commit a crime in the future is the basis for arresting and punishing them, even though no crime has ever been committed. In America and in Japan, the government uses similar tactics when it comes to punishing people for driving after drinking alcohol. Makes no difference whether or not the driver had caused an accident or was even driving recklessly, if they have a blood alcohol level above the legal threshold, they are arrested and punished, even though no crime has ever been committed.
In Japan, the legal threshold is a 0.0 blood alcohol level. That's right, if you have even 1 drink and get caught driving in Japan, you lose your license. Last year I noticed my next door neighbor was no longer driving himself to work. Suddenly, he was always the passenger and the baby sitter, or his wife, or someone else was always driving him in his car. It seems as if the neighbor got caught driving after he drank and lost his license.
The law here also stipulates that if you are a passenger in a vehicle that has a driver with alcohol in his blood, you are punished as if you were driving the vehicle while under the influence. Let's say it in unison "that's nuts!".
It is also my understanding that if a government employee is caught driving with alcohol in his system, he also is automatically fired. Is this harsh or what?
A very large percentage of Japanese live in big cities where it is very easy and safe to use a subway or train or taxi to go home after drinking. Out here in the sticks, they have a service to take drinkers and their cars back home from a bar or restaurant, but it is quite expensive. $12.00 US equivalent for a 3 minute ride home. It most certainly is cheaper and easier than paying fees, going to classes, and re-establishing a drivers license!
This government crack down on pre crime driving after drinking alcohol has wreaked havoc on the restaurant and bar industry in Japan. In addition to hurting an already weak economy, it has decreased opportunities for enjoying life, something government seems great at everywhere. I rate the Japanese laws about drinking and driving as one of the worst things about living here. A bizarre and harsh pre-crime punishment regime that is more suited to a Hollywood film than real life.
The only saving grace is that in Japan, unless you get in an accident, you will not be checked for alcohol. There are no random sobriety checks like we have in the free-est country in the world. The cops here don't wait outside of a bar to see some poor schlub drive away, only to arrest him as soon as he turns out of the parking lot. My experience is that cops in America engage in that sort of highway robbery.
So the punishment is more harsh in Japan, yet in America punishment is meted out far more randomly and frequently for the same pre-crime, non-crime. Which system is worse? All I know is that pre-crime punishment is an injustice that should be done away with.
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Oh, I'll get a bunch of criticism for this, but, driving under the influence of alcohol should not be a crime... Just as not using a seat belt should not be a crime. Just as there should not be speed limit signs.
ReplyDeleteThese are common sense problems. Car accidents are what we have car insurance for. We don't need pre-crime solutions.
Say drunk driving were a car insurance problem. Accident happens, car insurance company pays. It goes on driver's record. His insurance premiums skyrocket. He does it again, he can't get car insurance. No car insurance? No car. Simple.
Perhaps this still won't end drunk driving but the system we have now hasn't ended it either.
Well look at it from the government's point of view. Making a blanket 0.0 "no tolerance" policy makes guilt easier to determine and DUI cases harder to fight. Here in OK the limit is .08 and there are certain procedures put in place that the arresting officer(s) must abide by or, bye bye DUI, you just got dismissed. There are about 1,001 different ways for a cop to screw up a DUI arrest here (I've seen/heard examples of most of them) and I imagine that number is much, much smaller for cops only having to deal with the question of 'did he drink/not drink anything at all'. It still sucks that people are essentially treated like children as if they can't operate a motor vehicle after one stinking beer, but it was a stroke of genius on the Japanese government's part for making the limit 0.0 and therefore putting all guilt on the arrested instantly. How do you fight that? Probable cause? Does that even exist in Japan?
ReplyDeleteThe problem with drunk driving is not that you can have an accident yourself. It is that you can get someone else involved in your accident (other drivers or pedestrians). No amount of monetary compensation can bring someone back from the grave.
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