[Jeff Higgins]

Yes, that whole "below the legal limit but still impaired" nonsense has gotten to be an even bigger trap than a full fledged DUI. I have lost track of the number of coworkers and friends that got nailed by this. They blow a .01 or a .02 and still get popped because "in the officer's discretion" they "appeared impaired". Even fighting a charge like that can easily approach $10,000 in legal fees and court costs.

And yes, the "true professionals" need to get hammered (pardon the pun), and hard. BA levels in the .20 to .30 and higher, repeat offenders, and all of that. No leniency on these. Yet so many appear to get away with it time and time again.

While we are at it, who now kills and injures more drivers than these drunks? Distracted drivers on their cell phones. The supporting data has been available for some time. Why are we not hammering these people just as hard? Mandatory court appearance and loss of driving privileges on a first offense. A week or two of jail time on a second offense. A year or more on a third offense.

As an avid motorcyclist, let me tell everyone, I cannot tell if a driver is drunk. But I can tell if they are yammering on their phone. In this modern world, virtually 100% of the time I suffer a near miss that is the case. I think this should be a new law: If there is a bullet hole in their cell phone that corresponds to the one in their head, it's a righteous kill and no one gets charged. That would soon put an end to it...