Wright County Sober Cab Letter to Editor
February 09, 2010
DWI: $20,000
SOBER CAB: Free
PUBLIC SAFETY: Priceless !!
We as a society have to change the mentality/culture that drinking and driving is acceptable behavior. We as a society have to change the mentality/acceptance that injury and death caused by an impaired driver is just an “accident.” It is not an “accident.” It is a “crash.” It is a “crime.”
Let us consider both murder and criminal vehicular homicide. If someone intentionally makes a decision (a choice) to take a gun and shoot a specific person we call that murder. However, if someone intentionally makes a decision (a choice) to have an alcoholic drink, than another drink, to the point of being under the influence, and then decides (chooses) to walk to their car, put the key in the ignition, start the car, put the gear shift into drive, put their foot on the gas pedal, put their hands on the steering wheel and direct the movement of their car and strike and kill someone we just call that criminal vehicular homicide. Yet, the only difference between murder and criminal vehicular homicide is that with murder you choose your victim and with criminal vehicular homicide you choose your victim randomly. I submit a 2500 pound vehicle being driven by an impaired person is as much a weapon as a gun. A 2500 pound vehicle being driven by an impaired driver can maim like a gun, can cripple like a gun and can kill like a gun.
With criminal vehicular cases people are killed or maimed as a direct result (consequence) of someone’s intentional actions and the choices they made. They choose to drink. They choose to drive. There are no intervening factors that one could label “accidental.” Those who choose to drink and drive show a callous disregard and a total indifference for the law and human life. It is sad that those killed and injured by impaired drivers had the right to be where they were, unfortunately, the same can’t be said of the impaired driver.
When a motor vehicle weighing thousands of pounds and traveling at just 55 mph covers 88 feet per second, I think society is entitled to a sober driver. When usually the only thing that protects us from those who choose to drive while impaired is six inches of paint that runs down the center of the roadway, I think society is entitled to a sober driver. Six inches of paint doesn’t do a very good job in protecting society from those who choose to drive while impaired.
We as a society should not tolerate drinking and driving. We all know the dangers. We have been educated. However, it continues at an alarming rate. In 2008 in Minnesota there were 163 people killed in alcohol-related crashes and another 2896 people were injured, some serious. During 2008 in Minnesota there were 35,736 people arrested for DWI. Unfortunately, these numbers remain somewhat constant even though we as a society think we know better. In Wright County every year we prosecute approximately 800 misdemeanor DWI cases, 400 gross misdemeanor DWI cases, 20 felony DWI cases and our share of criminal vehicular cases resulting in injury or death.
These statistics are not good. Law enforcement arresting, my office prosecuting and probation monitoring does not seem to be doing the job. That game plan is only reactive. We need to be proactive and that is why we are going to attempt Wright County SOBER CAB. It is our hope that SOBER CAB will help reduce the number of alcohol impaired drivers on the road, decrease alcohol-related crashes/crimes and improve county safety. SOBER CAB seeks to provide communities with new options that will allow people who have had too much to drink to get home safely and not pose a danger to the rest of us. If SOBER CAB can save one life the program will be successful.
Mike MacMillan, Director Wright County Court Services (Probation) became aware of the Isanti County SOBER CAB Program. Subsequently, MacMillan, Pat Hackman, Director Safe Communities of Wright County, Gary Miller, Wright County Sheriff, and I, Tom Kelly, Wright County Attorney, met with Isanti County District Court Judge James Dehn, who played an instrumental role in the Isanti County SOBER CAB Program. We were educated as to how a program worked and how successful the program has been. Carol Schefers, Director Wright County Public Health, also became involved and her department is supportive of our program.
We don’t know if we will be successful but nothing tried is still nothing. Therefore, we are going to attempt SOBER CAB because it is in the best interest of all of us that we do everything possible to try and keep our roadways safe. Given the mission for Safe Communities of Wright County is to reduce injuries and fatalities associated with traffic crashes in Wright County through safety education and prevention, Pat Hackman was willing to allow her agency to spearhead our program. For that, we are grateful.
Wright County SOBER CAB will first pilot the I-94 corridor including the cities of Clearwater, Monticello, St.Michael, Albertville and Otsego. Cab service availability was a factor in our pilot location for SOBER CAB but we hope to be successful and in the near future have the capability to expand throughout Wright County. I know that Police Chiefs, Mitch Weinzetl, of Buffalo, Jeff Herr, of Annandale, and Tracy Vetruba, of Howard Lake, support SOBER CAB.
The cost for SOBER CAB comes from the establishments that serve alcoholic beverages (1/3), liquor distributors (1/3) and community funding (1/3). SOBER CAB should not have a negative impact on the bars and restaurants financial bottom line and could actually reflect positively on the bottom line. That was the experience in Isanti County. If true, SOBER CAB would be a win-win situation. We hope to kick off the Wright County SOBER CAB in early Spring, 2010.
If you have an establishment that serves alcoholic beverages (bar/restaurant) and you are located on the I-94 corridor, I encourage you to contact Safe Communities of Wright County at 763-241-9888 or Email: safecommunitieswc@charter.net to learn more about Wright County SOBER CAB. We are asking for your participation and support. We all have an interest in the ultimate goal of making our roads safer. We are also asking for public support. Again, we don’t know if we will be successful, but the issue of drinking and driving is too grave to sit back and try nothing.
My goal was to introduce you to Wright County SOBER CAB and ask for your support. Further, to raise awareness that drinking and driving continues and so does the danger it poses to us all. Also, to change the mentality/acceptance that injury and death caused by an impaired driver is just a terrible “accident.”
Talk to each other and talk to your children on how dangerous it is to drive impaired. We need to separate drinking and driving. Help us change a mentality/culture that drinking and driving is acceptable behavior. If you are going out and said plans include alcohol, then you need to have a plan that will get you home safely without posing a danger to the public. Designated drivers are great. Hopefully, in the near future Wright County SOBER CAB can be a viable option.
Thank you for your support. Tom Kelly, Wright County Attorney
SOBER CAB: Free
PUBLIC SAFETY: Priceless !!
We as a society have to change the mentality/culture that drinking and driving is acceptable behavior. We as a society have to change the mentality/acceptance that injury and death caused by an impaired driver is just an “accident.” It is not an “accident.” It is a “crash.” It is a “crime.”
Let us consider both murder and criminal vehicular homicide. If someone intentionally makes a decision (a choice) to take a gun and shoot a specific person we call that murder. However, if someone intentionally makes a decision (a choice) to have an alcoholic drink, than another drink, to the point of being under the influence, and then decides (chooses) to walk to their car, put the key in the ignition, start the car, put the gear shift into drive, put their foot on the gas pedal, put their hands on the steering wheel and direct the movement of their car and strike and kill someone we just call that criminal vehicular homicide. Yet, the only difference between murder and criminal vehicular homicide is that with murder you choose your victim and with criminal vehicular homicide you choose your victim randomly. I submit a 2500 pound vehicle being driven by an impaired person is as much a weapon as a gun. A 2500 pound vehicle being driven by an impaired driver can maim like a gun, can cripple like a gun and can kill like a gun.
With criminal vehicular cases people are killed or maimed as a direct result (consequence) of someone’s intentional actions and the choices they made. They choose to drink. They choose to drive. There are no intervening factors that one could label “accidental.” Those who choose to drink and drive show a callous disregard and a total indifference for the law and human life. It is sad that those killed and injured by impaired drivers had the right to be where they were, unfortunately, the same can’t be said of the impaired driver.
When a motor vehicle weighing thousands of pounds and traveling at just 55 mph covers 88 feet per second, I think society is entitled to a sober driver. When usually the only thing that protects us from those who choose to drive while impaired is six inches of paint that runs down the center of the roadway, I think society is entitled to a sober driver. Six inches of paint doesn’t do a very good job in protecting society from those who choose to drive while impaired.
We as a society should not tolerate drinking and driving. We all know the dangers. We have been educated. However, it continues at an alarming rate. In 2008 in Minnesota there were 163 people killed in alcohol-related crashes and another 2896 people were injured, some serious. During 2008 in Minnesota there were 35,736 people arrested for DWI. Unfortunately, these numbers remain somewhat constant even though we as a society think we know better. In Wright County every year we prosecute approximately 800 misdemeanor DWI cases, 400 gross misdemeanor DWI cases, 20 felony DWI cases and our share of criminal vehicular cases resulting in injury or death.
These statistics are not good. Law enforcement arresting, my office prosecuting and probation monitoring does not seem to be doing the job. That game plan is only reactive. We need to be proactive and that is why we are going to attempt Wright County SOBER CAB. It is our hope that SOBER CAB will help reduce the number of alcohol impaired drivers on the road, decrease alcohol-related crashes/crimes and improve county safety. SOBER CAB seeks to provide communities with new options that will allow people who have had too much to drink to get home safely and not pose a danger to the rest of us. If SOBER CAB can save one life the program will be successful.
Mike MacMillan, Director Wright County Court Services (Probation) became aware of the Isanti County SOBER CAB Program. Subsequently, MacMillan, Pat Hackman, Director Safe Communities of Wright County, Gary Miller, Wright County Sheriff, and I, Tom Kelly, Wright County Attorney, met with Isanti County District Court Judge James Dehn, who played an instrumental role in the Isanti County SOBER CAB Program. We were educated as to how a program worked and how successful the program has been. Carol Schefers, Director Wright County Public Health, also became involved and her department is supportive of our program.
We don’t know if we will be successful but nothing tried is still nothing. Therefore, we are going to attempt SOBER CAB because it is in the best interest of all of us that we do everything possible to try and keep our roadways safe. Given the mission for Safe Communities of Wright County is to reduce injuries and fatalities associated with traffic crashes in Wright County through safety education and prevention, Pat Hackman was willing to allow her agency to spearhead our program. For that, we are grateful.
Wright County SOBER CAB will first pilot the I-94 corridor including the cities of Clearwater, Monticello, St.Michael, Albertville and Otsego. Cab service availability was a factor in our pilot location for SOBER CAB but we hope to be successful and in the near future have the capability to expand throughout Wright County. I know that Police Chiefs, Mitch Weinzetl, of Buffalo, Jeff Herr, of Annandale, and Tracy Vetruba, of Howard Lake, support SOBER CAB.
The cost for SOBER CAB comes from the establishments that serve alcoholic beverages (1/3), liquor distributors (1/3) and community funding (1/3). SOBER CAB should not have a negative impact on the bars and restaurants financial bottom line and could actually reflect positively on the bottom line. That was the experience in Isanti County. If true, SOBER CAB would be a win-win situation. We hope to kick off the Wright County SOBER CAB in early Spring, 2010.
If you have an establishment that serves alcoholic beverages (bar/restaurant) and you are located on the I-94 corridor, I encourage you to contact Safe Communities of Wright County at 763-241-9888 or Email: safecommunitieswc@charter.net to learn more about Wright County SOBER CAB. We are asking for your participation and support. We all have an interest in the ultimate goal of making our roads safer. We are also asking for public support. Again, we don’t know if we will be successful, but the issue of drinking and driving is too grave to sit back and try nothing.
My goal was to introduce you to Wright County SOBER CAB and ask for your support. Further, to raise awareness that drinking and driving continues and so does the danger it poses to us all. Also, to change the mentality/acceptance that injury and death caused by an impaired driver is just a terrible “accident.”
Talk to each other and talk to your children on how dangerous it is to drive impaired. We need to separate drinking and driving. Help us change a mentality/culture that drinking and driving is acceptable behavior. If you are going out and said plans include alcohol, then you need to have a plan that will get you home safely without posing a danger to the public. Designated drivers are great. Hopefully, in the near future Wright County SOBER CAB can be a viable option.
Thank you for your support. Tom Kelly, Wright County Attorney
Safe Communities of Wright County News
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