Yes, I did write a couple of rants that did seem to have Paris Hilton squarely in my sites, but neither of those were "about" her, that is, not fashioned as a personal attack. Yes she did drive drunk and I called her on that, as I would call anyone who does so. Something about having killed a drunk driver myself gives me a sense of having a right to do so. It is that my own personal experience though, that drives me to speak out against this continuing tragedy of drunk driving and "accident" outcomes.
Irrespective of those feelings, I really have to give Ms. Hilton an enormous amount of credit for taking the punishment dealt her with dignity that I think surprised us all, it certainly did me. The degree to which she took responsibility for what she went through was both astounding and very refreshing at the same time. No one would have ever considered her a role model, but I do now, at least for the masses in Hollywood she showed what remorse and repentance actually looks like, and I think she did a fine job of it. Would I have rather seen more? Sure; but I was actually taken aback by the degree to which she did take responsibility.
Here; several months after her release, it seems no flash in the pan either, which demonstrates that her "conversion" or whatever you want to call it is real and lasting. That is a good sign, and a good thing for society in general, but especially for all those out there that can’t get enough of the Hollywood gossip, because reasons for salacious articles about here seem to have come to an end.
I don’t want to be put in a place where I’m some kind of moral authority, I am anything but. This was however one big shot at getting the message out that there are consequences to drunk driving. Yes, the judge was overly harsh on here, he gave her a sentence that he would rarely give others in the same predicament in accordance with the local laws he had to go by, on the other hand, she got off very lightly compared to others in other jurisdictions that treat probation violations for drunk driving convictions with the seriousness that all jurisdictions should. Whatever was meted out legally, she took it, kicking and screaming at first, but then something in her changed, she changed. Perhaps for the first time in her life, she realized that her money and all the people she pays to keep her safe and out of trouble could not help her in this predicament, and she did come to realize that she was responsible for what had taken place. Good for her! The most important thing though of this change in her life is; to whatever degree, she will be a voice from the glitteratti that says don’t drink and drive. That by any measure is a good thing.
Every year, about half of all traffic collision fatalities involved alcohol. In 2006, that means that about 22,222 people died in alcohol related accidents. As we go through yet another anniversary of 9/11, we mourn. We lost a lot of wonderful and brave men and women. Yet every year, we loose 7.4 times that amount due to drinking and driving, and we barely bat an eye lid. I don’t know how we change that, I don’t know if we ever do, I’m not sure we as a society even care, more than any other single issue in my life and world, this a problem for me.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. The only way we will ever bring this under control is to ramp up the penalties for DUI offenses. NOT more fines, NOT stiffer suspensions, but jail time. It sounds harsh on the surface, but the truth is, if you drink and drive and get caught, and caught again, and again and don’t harm anyone or kill anyone, chances are, you’ll never see the inside of a jail cell. That needs to change. It is the only way I see to make people finally sit up and take notice that they cannot risk it.
I’ve made a proposal in one of my earlier rants on Paris, but I’ve modified them just a bit. We cannot jail people without conviction unless it’s in the absence of bond. We cannot set bail at a ridiculous amount, and it would be inequitable to do so, just as the laws now are inequitable. We need to put jail time on the FIRST offense of .08 and up; 4 weekends in jail for .8 and an extra weekend for each extra two tenths of a point in blood alcohol. Follow that up with 20hrs mandatory volunteer service in a level 1 trauma center in either resuscitation or the trauma icu. Second offense, 4 months jail time, no exceptions, no excuses, no time off for good behavior. 1 year for the third offense, again, no excuses, no time off for good behavior. What we are doing now isn’t working. Well over 10,000/yr are dying because what we are doing now isn’t working. It seems apparent that this is just an acceptable cost for us as a society, but it’s not acceptable to me.
I can already hear legislatures crying the blues about what that would cost. We are speaking though in the currency of human lives. The ONLY way we are going to slow the carnage is to get serious about the penalties. We accept the unacceptable right now; that is, all the families that don’t have to burry a loved one or help them deal with a life long disability. At what point to we speak up for them? At what point do we EVER get serious and deal with this "problem"? Nothing will change until we decide we are going to get serious. Until we decide we are going to exact serious penalties for drunk driving, we will continue to count half the fatalities on our highways as alcohol related, and that simply won’t change until we as a nation grow some balls and actually deal with the problem.