I was reading an article about the current governor of Texas, Rick Perry, who tried to get the Head Prosecutor in Texas to resign because of the fact that she was caught drunk driving.  By the way, in her case of drunk driving she was seated in the passenger seat in a stationary car in a church parking area, where she was drinking by herself, so she was not driving at the time.  The article related to some political intrigue and how he is now being charged with certain offences relating to action he took against the Prosecutor’s office in an effort to get the lady to resign, which she did not.  

The part that I found so interesting though was the very fact that she went to jail for 45 days for this offence!   I know that many countries have stricter laws than ours and I decided to read up on the rules in that particular State in America only to discover that if anybody under the age of 21 is found with any alcohol in their blood, because they are not allowed to drink younger than 21 in most States in America, you are automatically found guilty of driving under the influence – regardless of whether you’ve had half a glass of wine or five glasses – as long as there is alcohol in your blood, and you are under 21, you are guilty.  For adults the limit is 0,08, but what is interesting is that for the first offence there is a minimum sentence of three days in jail and up to 180 days in jail and for second and third offences the time period is of course much longer.  You also get a penalty as well as your licence suspended for a period between 90 to 365 days.  A second offence has a minimum of 30 days in jail up to one year and on your third offence you get a two year jail sentence.  That explains the 45 days the prosecutor got in jail for her first offence.  When you have laws like that people will of course be forced to take a much more serious approach to drunk driving and arrange taxi’s or friends to give them a lift when they do wish to drink and no doubt that is yet another reason why countries like this have far lower death tolls on their roads than South Africa has, relative to the population size.  I don’t think it is the kind of law that will find favour with most people here, because we are used to be treated in a much softer, more gentle way (which leads to far more accidents) but it is something we should consider if we are serious about bringing down the death toll in South Africa because as long as everybody knows that you are more than likely going to get a fine, it is not as terrible a deterrent as a guaranteed time in jail for exceeding the limits once.