So Mayor Richard Daley wants to start seizing cars of suspected DUI drivers before they are convicted. This does not surprise me a bit. The DUI law has had one goal all along–not to keep drunk drivers off the road but to bring in revenue to the local government. A fine of $2,000 or more for a first offense was good money, and a great deterrent. In fact it worked so well that tickets being issued for DUI went way down all across the country. When the government began to miss this windfall of money, they lowered the point level that a person could be considered DUI. This again started the money rolling in.
Guess what? This was a great deterrent, too; again the money started to dry up. The government dares not lower the level again because that would give the impression that the government is in the prohibition game.
Now the mayor wants to seize cars of suspected drunk drivers. They don’t even have to prove that a person is drunk to take his car. This is a wonderful plan for the government. One car equals about eight DUI tickets money-wise, and they don’t even have to prove you’re guilty.
When seizing cars becomes a great deterrent, maybe the government will seize homes.
