Decker right to be skeptical of OWI proposals

An editorial  —  1/03/2009 7:07 am

The thinking behind proposals to further criminalize driving-while-impaired is so backward as to justify the term "medieval."

Suggesting that a habitual drinker or drug user will somehow clean up his or her act because a different statute might apply is as delusional as suggesting that long-term substance abusers can kick bad habits if they just want to enough.

The fact is that Wisconsin does have a problem with drunken driving. It has been detailed ad nauseam, and the thresholds for measuring impairment have been decreased and the penalties for getting caught while in the wrong condition have increased. And still the problem persists.

That does not stop the misguided policymakers who would try to punish away the problem, however.

So Wisconsin is faced with proposals to dramatically expand the criminalization of drunken-driving offenses, to set up police-state style "sobriety checkpoints," and to otherwise try to crack down on those who imbibe and drive.

There are better solutions, mostly involving mandatory rehabilitation and the threat of having all driving privileges revoked and losing professional licenses and technical licenses -- all approaches that have been tried with significant success in Europe.

Unfortunately, Wisconsin officials are, for the most part, borrowing the worst ideas rather than the best.

As such, they are proposing "solutions" that would do nothing to address the many threats and challenges posed by those who drive while under the influence.

Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, is right to push back against initiatives that he rightly dismisses as draconian, undemocratic, costly and unlikely to yield positive results.

Of course, Decker will take his hits for this stance.

But those who criticize Decker could better spend their time developing proposals that might work, rather than recycling schemes that are destined to fail.

An editorial  —  1/03/2009 7:07 am