Harsher penalties needed for DUI, other traffic offenses

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Is obeying the law not cool anymore? I still see the speed limit signs but apparently many don’t. Traffic generally moves about 5 miles an hour over the limit, where it can, but I drive I-5 from Stanwood to Everett quite often, and it’s a rare to see anyone pulled over even though the inside passing lane is sometimes like the inside lane in a NASCAR race. Even some truckers ignore the posted limits.

Point is, too many don’t fear getting caught breaking the law because, in my opinion, penalties for offenders are too light. For instance, how many times have we read about a DUI offender who’s just been convicted of his or her third, fourth or even fifth offense. That’s a serious offense and a story in The Herald this year told of a man that killed a women driving the wrong way on I-5 under the influence. It was his seventh DUI conviction. And that’s just the times he was caught.

I also read in The Herald of a move to make DUI’s a more serious offense. According to the story, most DUI offenders are caught when their pulled over for another offense. So they’ve committed at least two offenses at the same time and the move to make DUI a more serious offense is they have to appeal or respond to their license suspension quicker now. I’m really baffled as to how that’s a more severe punishment.

Everybody make mistakes but if you don’t learn from your mistakes then the consequences aren’t severe enough and others should not have to lose their life pay for your mistakes.

Don Curtis

Stanwood