Taiwan Against Drunk Driving on Wednesday appealed to politicians to resign and withdraw from Saturday’s nine-in-one-elections if they have been found guilty of driving under the influence (DUI).
The need for such an appeal demonstrates the leniency with which DUI cases are handled, despite strict laws. Article 185-3 of the Criminal Code stipulates fines of up to NT$200,000 or up to two years in prison for drivers if their “breath-alcohol content is of 0.25 milligrams per liter or more, or the person’s blood-alcohol concentration is of 0.05 percent or more.”
However, prosecutors most often invoke the more lenient Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例), imposing fines of NT$15,000 for first offenders and NT$90,000 for second offenses, and not requiring jail time. Recidivism among DUI offenders is high and even civil servants are often caught in the act.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei city councilor candidate Lin Kuan-hsun (林冠勳) was investigated over a DUI-related hit-and-run on Aug. 24 and later released on bail. On April 25, Kaohsiung police officer Chang Po-chun (張博鈞) allegedly injured six people while driving under the influence and was also released on bail. That same month, a repeat DUI offender in Tainan surnamed Lin (林) was finally required to serve prison time after his eighth conviction, and in January, a motorcyclist in Keelung surnamed Chou (周) was cited for his 16th DUI after he was stopped for driving on the wrong side of the road. When questioned, Chou told police that he was addicted to alcohol and could not help himself.
According to the Association for Psychological Science, an estimated 30 percent of DUI offenders in the US will reoffend, even after being punished.
“Surprisingly, these drivers usually don’t consider themselves as risk takers. If drivers don’t believe they are risky, they will not accept the need to change,” an article on the association’s Web site quotes McGill University assistant professor of psychology Thomas Brown as saying.
The article attributes the behavior of habitual drunk driving to psychological and physical factors, saying that offenders showed blunting of their cortisol stress response system, which prevented them from properly assessing risk.
Strict enforcement of the law alone might not be enough, as some offenders are unlikely to be deterred. For example, in Canada — where second-time offenders face a mandatory 30-day prison term and have their license suspended for two years — drunk driving has been on a steady decline. However, alcohol still accounts for about 34 percent of deadly accidents there, according to statistics from the Global Status Report on Road Safety.
University of Western Ontario professor of law Robert Solomon said that while people in Germany consume 33 percent more alcohol than Canadians, they are five times less likely to have motor vehicle accidents involving alcohol.
In Sweden the legal blood-alcohol limit is 0.02 percent — two-fifths that of Taiwan — and fines are based on the person’s savings. However, perhaps more significant is the drinking culture and the way drunk driving is viewed there. Ignition interlock brand LifeSafer on its blog said that drinking often and to high levels of intoxication was once seen as the norm in Sweden, but it has become mostly reserved for the weekends and drunk driving is seen as a “detestable crime.” Also, alcohol is heavily taxed and sold only at state-licensed stores.
Drunk driving takes lives. The government must take the issue more seriously, not only heavily punishing offenders, but also making alcohol less accessible during hours when drunk driving is most common. It could also consider mandatory counseling for those who commit DUI offenses.
Only by changing the culture surrounding drinking can such offenses be curbed.
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