At least if New York Assemblyman Felix Ortiz gets his way. Although it doesn’t consider the technology ready yet, “Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) gives a qualified endorsement to the idea” of making the devices mandatory in all new cars, teetotalers’ included. After all, they only run about $1,000 apiece, the cost in freedom and dignity aside (Jayne O’Donnell, “Will all autos some day have breathalyzers?”, USA Today, Apr. 28)(via Brian Doherty, Hit and Run).
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Won’t be long. There’s a serious initiative in parts of Europe that would make them mandatory for people convicted of DUI in a few years.
Won’t be long after that before they’ll be mandatory for everyone.
As Europe often leads the US in such developments by a few years expect the same to happen over there as well.
“It’s all for the kids” is a powerful shotgun argument, “if it saves just one life it’s worth it” is another.
MADD has gone completely off the deep end.
Wait until some cat’s family gets caught in a flood or a fire because dad had a couple of beers and the car won’t start. I can think of numerous situations in which one would be justified in driving impaired. In some cases, it could even rise to a duty to do so.
Because society feels justified in making certain actions illegal, it shouldn’t extrapolate from that a justification for making the same actions impossible.