Texas Department of Public Safety
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/director_staff/public_information/pr020204.htm

Alcohol Alert
http://www.alcoholalert.com/drunk-driving-statistics-texas.html

 US Dept. of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Substance Abuse Trends in Texas
June, 2006
http://www.utexas.edu/research/cswr/gcattc/Trends/trends606.pdf

Alcohol is the primary drug of abuse in Texas. In 2004, 68% of school students (grades 7-12) had used alcohol and 33% had drunk alcohol in the last month.  Binge drinking is defined as drinking five or more drinks at one time, 15% of these students said that they usually drank five or more beers at one time, and 13% reported binge drinking of liquor.

Among students in grades 4-6 in 2004, 25.5% had drunk alcohol and 16.1% had drunk alcohol in the past school year.

You don't think this has anything to do with the music our children listen to, like for example,  Lady Gaga "Just Dance": I've had a little bit too much...Can't find my drink or man.  Where are my keys, I lost my phone.  What's going on on the floor?  I love this record baby, but I can't see straight anymore.  Keep it cool what's the name of this club?  I can't remember but it's alright, alright...And we're all gettin' hosed tonight....Just dance. Gonna be okay



I've been sober since March 30, 1989, the night I lost my first child to SIDS.  Alcohol had nothing to do with her death, but it did take away from the time that I could have spent with her.  I wouldn't play or spend time with her when I was drunk or messed up because I didn't want to predispose her sub-consciously to alcohol and drug use.  I wanted to let it be completely her own choice when she got old enough to decide what and how she was going to experiment.  I quit for my own reasons and I do not think that everyone should quit just because I don't drink.  However, I also have been working in bars for 20 years after quitting and I have seen how much damage can be associated with alcohol abuse.

Driving home, usually completely across Houston,  when all the drunks are headed to breakfast or the house, I have seen way too many cars that could have driven better without their owners behind the wheel.  I have seen accidents where you just didn't know where one car stops and the other begins.  I have called police, ambulances, and even helped Emergency Medical Teams lift people on stretchers into the ambulance, they were the lucky ones.  I have had to rush to accident scenes where my friends were hit by drunk drivers and helped the police to nab a couple a couple of them.  I am not for getting people into trouble, but when a persons stupidity is endangering their life, as well as others, I do what is the most sensible, I call 911.

I have called 911 about 15 times over the years to report an idiot that is so inebriated they can't keep it between the Jersey Barriers, much less in one lane.  In that time, not once did HPD arrive before I either lost sight of them, they got to their destination,  or they had an accident.  I remember in the 90's they had special "Drunk Squads", I know, I got pulled over because they thought my Dr Pepper was a beer.  Where are those "Drunk Squads" now?

Texas has the highest rate of drunk drivers and the highest drunk driving accident and fatality rate in the nation as well.  We have lost out on millions in Federal Highway Funds because we have not gotten the problem down to national standards, and we haven't mentioned the damage to innocent people and their property.  I am not an anti-drinking Nazi, I am a NO DRUNK DRIVING - EVER Nazi.  No one has the right to endanger anyone's life because they can't hold their liquor, and I can't understand why it ever happens twice.

I am not for bringing the hammer down on the People for simple violations of the law, but Drunk Driving is 100% avoidable and 100% stupid!  The law states that the 3rd Drunk Driving charge is a Felony, but I have met people that got their 3rd violation for the 3rd time and have done either no time in jail or very little.  I knew one man that had 7 charges and he only had to pay fines of $1000 - $2000 for  every charge after his second, another man I met went to jail after his 10th violation.  Why is this ever true?  Sure, these are the exceptions not the rule, but it is time we got serious and protected our people.

We need to have a Zero-Tolerance policy that we actually stick to.  If we build the HS rail system all that will disappear just like traffic accidents, car-jackings, getting lost, and running out of gas, but until then, we need a new direction.

I propose that we allocate a certain portion of our Law Enforcement Officers to make their primary duty between 12 am and 4:30 am, to find and incarcerate every drunk driver they encounter.  No reason to be nice to someone whose beer or shot matters to them more then your life and theirs put together.  We coordinate 911 service and the local police or sheriff and institute a "Rapid Response Force" to pounce whenever anyone calls in a drunk driver.  We encourage late-night bar and restaurant employees and other honest citizens on the road during the peak hours, to immediately report anyone that has become a serious danger on the highways and roads of Texas.  We have Public Service announcements and set up government websites that help to teach the most proper and efficient way to report this unsafe driving.

We allow the courts to have no leniency for this offense.  To exact the punishment that has already been instituted into laws, and as always, anyone caught driving drunk must take special drunk driving educational courses and rehab for every violation.  We make it so unpleasant to be caught driving drunk that they never want to go through the procedure once.

We also need to realize what we make drinking appear to our children.  It can be fun when done with responsibility, but it carries danger even then, and it is extremely dangerous when done without Common Sense:

"Between the ages of 16 and 64 alcohol figures into over 20% of all fatal accidents,  and between the ages of 21 and 44 almost 50% of all fatalities.  The Disaster Center's Motor Vehicle Accident Death and Injury data Index
http://www.disastercenter.com/traffic/

Texas schools need to start teaching the children, from 10 years old and up, the dangers that can happen with alcohol.  We give them the information and explanation of it and make no judgment as to the wrong or right of drinking, that is for their parents to do.  We just need to counter-balance the older-sibling stories, parents overheard, the "somebody told me", TV, Radio, and Movies that all glorify drinking as second only to sex.

We have a lot of work to do to bring Texas back to being the #1 State in the Union, let's start with protecting our all of our people from the incredibly stupid decisions made by some of our citizens!