# Please sign this petition for stiffer penalties on drunk drivers who kill



## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

https://www.change.org/p/tougher-se..._/JsXUFzE5il9H6JfSs3cwJf3G4UUJ7GHy6zekzt1dwY=


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## blindwatchertrev (Nov 4, 2011)

Signed. Such an avoidable tragedy. Maybe if penalties were so much more severe, it would deter those irresponsible individuals who choose to ignore the law.


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## GAVLAD (Aug 10, 2014)

I've signed too but cant understand why the breath test is not zero.
UK has one of the highest alcohol in the blood breath test limits in Europe.
A better way would be to make this zero, then there's no excuses for how many units one could have and no misunderstandings about males/female/height/weight etc as to how much you can have.


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## cabby (May 14, 2005)

Yep agree Zero tolerance.

cabby


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## vicdicdoc (May 14, 2005)

Done !


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

A zero limit would be preposterous. You could have half a bottle of wine on an evening and you would still have a trace in your system in the morning but would be perfectly safe to drive. Even some medicines have alcohol in them.


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## jo662 (Jul 27, 2010)

Signed.

Zero tolerance is ridiculous.You could have a bowl of sherry trifle
or a chocolate liqueur and be over the limit!


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

I Think a lot of people have woken up to the fact that drinking and driving is no longer acceptable but its only recently people have started to think about the next morning though. I never used to give it a second thought years ago, just assumed in the morning you would be ok. I just dont drive full stop the next day now if I have had a few sherberts the night before.

I went to a weekend party in the Lake District a couple of years ago and someone had an expensive electronic breathalyser the day everyone was leaving. Nobody left before midday and I only blew under the limit after 2pm.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

I agree Zero is maybe not the answer, but it does need to be lower than it presently is, and more education about it's effect the morning after, more nonacceptance, more peer pressure, stop all this ridiculous binge drinking by normally nice sane people as that has other effects on our towns and cities, fighting etc, perhaps even start on the pubs, they sell it, and should shoulder some responsibility in how they do that.


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## dovtrams (Aug 18, 2009)

The UK does not have the highest level; only part of the UK. Scotland introduced a lower level last year, however it has made little difference to the number of drink drive convictions. Moreover, the Scottish government will not produce the figures for the number of convictions for levels between the new and old. Unfortunately, the Bams will still ignore the law and I agree that sentences need to be more severe. My own opinion about killing someone with a car, is that the initial charge should be culpable homicide (manslaughter in England) then let the justice system take its course. Death by (whatever type of driving) is a lesser charge carrying much lesser sentences.

Signed

Dave


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## nicholsong (May 26, 2009)

Unfortunately this 'Petition' is ill-founded in that it is just a complaint about a specific sentence handed out in one case.

It is not a request to change the law. It does not seek to raise the maximum sentence for the offence, nor to change the guidlines for sentencing.

It is not possible to petition Judges to excercise their sentencing discretion in a particulaqr way - that would be to take away that discretion, which quite rightly has to exist because there are alwas different circumstance applicable in each case - whether there were contributory factors not connected to the driver's culpability, possible contributory fault by the victim, willingness to plead guilty, genuine remorse of the accused etc.All these and many others have to be taken into account in formulating the sentece. 

Thisis a legal comment on the Petition as draffted and not my opinion on whether sentences are too lenient.

Geoff


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Kev_n_Liz said:


> I agree Zero is maybe not the answer, but it does need to be lower than it presently is, and more education about it's effect the morning after, more nonacceptance, more peer pressure, *stop all this ridiculous binge drinking by normally nice sane people as that has other effects on our towns and cities, fighting etc*, perhaps even start on the pubs, they sell it, and should shoulder some responsibility in how they do that.


People who cause trouble, get in fights or vandalise things when pished cannot be normal nice sane people when sober though Kev IMO. I think its well known that I like a tipple or five but Ive never done any of that. I might have walked home with the odd traffic code on my head when I was younger and other bonkers stuff but I have never been in a fight through drink related tomfoolery. Maybe its not drink thats the problem, its just the perpetrators (yobs) that are already idiots before they get 8 pints of Stella in them. Seems to be mainly a UK thing as I seldom see this kind of thing in mainland Europe.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

barryd said:


> People who cause trouble, get in fights or vandalise things when pished cannot be normal nice sane people when sober though Kev IMO. I think its well known that I like a tipple or five but Ive never done any of that. I might have walked home with the odd traffic code on my head when I was younger and other bonkers stuff but I have never been in a fight through drink related tomfoolery. Maybe its not drink thats the problem, its just the perpetrators (yobs) that are already idiots before they get 8 pints of Stella in them. Seems to be mainly a UK thing as I seldom see this kind of thing in mainland Europe.


Good point Barry.

@ Geoff. 
As for the petition, I think we should still sign, as this poor woman lost her husband,and I think she might gain some form of comfort if she sees that a lot of people are in agreement with her, and perhaps a properly written petition should be drafted which may affect future law making on drunk drivers, the legal drink drive limit and anything which will affect how it's perceived.


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