Sure. But let's really look at it through the dispassionate viewpoint of "MADD are fucking crazy."

- Drunk driving is bad. But is a .15 bad? That used to be okay; when I grew up in New Mexico, if you were under a .20 (!) you were free and clear to drive all you wanted. How 'bout a .10? That used to be okay in lots of states. How 'bout a .08? That's what it became nationwide in 2005. How 'bout a .05? That's what MADD Canada wants it to be. Are we there yet? How 'bout .02, which MADD has lobbied several states to make the penalty level for minors? So let's get this straight: you're allowed to have a blood alcohol level 4 times higher as an adult than as a kid because, uhm, you're a more responsible driver? Or maybe it's just about being punitive and reactionary in order to get votes, kind of how the penalties for crack cocaine are 20 times higher than the penalties for powdered cocaine?

- So drunk driving is bad. how 'bout distracted driving? Is driving while texting bad? Yeah, driving while texting is bad. Is it worse than drunk driving? Well, driving over the legal limit adds 4 feet to your braking distance but according to NHTSA, texting adds 70 feet. So the penalty for texting while driving in Michigan is what? Manacles and hot irons? No, it's a hundred bucks.

- Okay, so how 'bout driving while tired? 'cuz that's pretty bad too, right? Why yes, yes it is. Being awake for 20 hours straight makes you drive like your BAC is .05. So what's the penalty for driving while tired? Oh, that's right. there isn't one.

- How 'bout cold medicine?

- how 'bout driving angry?

- How 'bout driving while changing the goddamn radio station?

- How 'bout driving while chatting with your buddy in the next seat over?

They're all bad. They're all detrimental to highway safety. But they're all a bitch to test for. Blood Alcohol Content? That one's easy. So that one's draconian. Know the biggest objection raised to legalizing marijuana in California? The cops can't test for stoned driving. Or a whole bunch of other shit - but we've already established the pattern that it's extremely lucrative to ruin someone's life for having two beers while nobody has suggested that $6,000 in legal fees is appropriate for texting while driving.

And let's be brutally frank - it doesn't even take a breathalyzer. My aforementioned acquaintance, who is not someone I like, refused a breathalyzer. Probably because it was 10 in the morning and he's a surly mutherfucker. But since the cop was white and this guy looks Navajo (he's actually half Hispanic, half pacific islander), the highway patrolman failed him on a field sobriety test without even asking him out of the car. So that whole family lost a car to impound (my dad had to buy them another one) and now it's his wife's problem to drive him to Santa Fe every day.

Should the dude have been driving? Fuck no. If you can't keep the car on the road, keep it off the road. My sister's best friend lost her mom on the same road the dude was busted on - not to alcohol, but to falling asleep at the wheel. But whereas the insurance settlement would have been void had she been found to be drunk, the fact that she was totally asleep when she died meant her daughter got her college paid for.

Chick is still dead.

So yeah. I know what "most people approach this situation by first thinking" but here on this here "thoughtful web" it fucking bears a second thought. And a third one. And maybe a fourth one. And at that point, one hopes one doesn't feel the need to shit in someone else's cheerios just so they can feel self-righteous.