Monday, June 26, 2006

Defensive Driving

I took a defensive driving class yesterday so that I could get a discount on my car insurance. It was six hours of boredom, but you always leave with some interesting tidbits.

The booklet I was given had the following stats about steep DWI penalties:

  • Alaska: Takes away your car.

  • Japan: You lose your license forever.

  • Australia: The names of drunk drivers are printed under the heading “He’s drunk and in jail!” [I assume this is in a newspaper.]

  • Bulgaria: A second conviction results in execution.

  • El Salvador: No second chance. Execution by firing squad.

  • England: $250 fine, one year suspension and one year in jail.

  • France: $1000 fine, one year in jail and license revoked for three years.

  • Malaysia: Jail. If the driver is married, his wife is also jailed.

I like the assumption for the last one that the driver must be male. Or is Malaysia one of those places where women are considered property and they can’t drive?

4 comments:

Luke Cage said...

Dammmn, they are making sure that you keep things crunk and tight if you get behind the wheel. Lose your license forever??? Taking away your car? (I guess this one would depend what one has done to incite such a response) But I do like the inclusion of drunk drivers' names under that heading! Haha.. losers!

Jardena said...

Holy crap, execution by firing squad? That's a bit extreme, but I'll admit applying that to college towns during the academic year did flit across my mind. Though I doubt they actually apply the death penalty often.

I like the Australian policy too, and if I remember correctly, a town near where I lived in CT did that as well. But most of the towns in CT published the police blotters. It could be very funny reading.

Michelle Pessoa said...

In the class they said that in Virginia (I think that was the state) drunk drivers are fined $1,000 and the money is used to install a device in the driver's car that prevents the car from being started unless he/she passes a breathalyzer test. That's a great idea.

We used to publish the MP blotter. We weren't allowed to publish the names, but because of the rumor mill there were few secrets. There were bizarre things on the blotter like people getting drunk and attempting to shoot themselves and getting fined, reduced in rank and assigned extra duties when they were caught.

A Army Of (Cl)One said...

Note to self: do not drink and drive in El Salvador and only do it once in Bulgaria.

Isn't "He's Drunk and in Jail" the national motto in Australia