  Today all I will be discussing is my thoughts. I will be the first to admit that my thoughts are not going to be remembered in history, but I think they are important. There are a couple of things that were discussed at my job this week that are truly interesting to me. First of al I have a co-worker that thinks that the DWI laws are too harsh and should not be in existence. Be fore you MADD members explode, I happened to disagree. However he does bring to the table a few good points. For my thoughts today I will use his examples of him self. No, to my knowledge he has not had a DWI but states that he had a friend put into a coma for two weeks by a drunk driver.
First of all, other that the DWI law, you are punishing someone for a crime they have not committed yet, this being vehicular manslaughter, or some other more or less traffic offence. In Texas this can, but usually does not, result in a lengthy jail time. This would probably mean the loss of his job and in his words the end of his career. Also since he can not do anything else he would be stuck on the street pan-handling for money. I do think this is a slight exaggeration, but illustrates a good point. Next, in Texas he would be heavily fined, keeping (as an example) he has no prior offences and only had a couple of beers after work. The court cots alone are $300-$500, and if you are lucky enough to get probation, the probations fees are anywhere from $50-$100 dollars a month.
The fine is $2000 (probated to $250), and now as of 9-1-2003, you will be charged $1000 a year for up to 3 years to keep your drivers license. Of course if you have a lawyer tack on another $1000 there. Now my co-worker has no family, but if he did they would be taking money out of there pockets and food out of his kids mouth, all along he did not hurt anybody, and the only law he broke was driving after having a couple of beers after work.
With that said I still believe in the DWI laws. They are there to make people realize they can kill someone and that they are not invincible. I would like to see the first time offence punishment lessened for the above reasons, but I think the second time or greater offence should be increased. I think that the first time is good enough for a wake up call and that the common person will just stop drinking and driving, but if you still continue to do this, then there is really no hope for that person and they truly have a drinking problem. GET A DESIGNATED DRIVER MORON. 
