A duplicitous drive
This week the American Journal reports, on the front page, on a Gorham accident that sent two people to the hospital. The fact that one of the drivers had a suspended license prompted Gorham Police Chief Ron Shepard to speak out this week in favor of toughening the state’s driving laws.
Shepard is right when he says the state should increase sentences for the people who repeatedly drive while their license is suspended. However, the state could go even further in its efforts to stop reckless drivers.
When lawmakers reconvene in January they ought to look for creative ways to keep repeat driving violators off the roads and to send the message that reckless driving won’t be tolerated, because changing habits in a society that’s addicted to driving – and in many cases driving fast – won’t be easy.
Repeat driving violators have gotten a lot of attention recently because of a tragic accident this summer. Lawmakers and police have been scrutinizing the state’s driving laws since Scott Hewitt, a trucker with more than 60 convictions for driving violations and more than 20 license suspensions, caused a crash that killed Tina Turcotte of Scarborough this summer.
Although the state’s laws will be getting some much-needed revision this winter, lawmakers will be working against a culture that breeds dangerous drivers. Most people in this state and this country own cars because they have to. Without them, they can’t get to work, they can’t pick up the kids from school and they can’t get to the supermarket.
This country’s central form of transportation is the automobile. While that might change someday, most likely because of rising oil costs, it’s not going to change any time soon. Although public transportation could be improved in some places, it’s simply not cost effective in places like Maine, where the population is too small to support the investment required in it.
In a society where people have to drive to survive, many will get behind the wheel because they have no choice. When they get home from work, they turn on the television and watch countless advertisements with cars speeding through the countryside on windy roads not much different from many of the rural ones in this state. The speedometers on most cars go well above the legal speed limit.
I grew up watching the Duke Boys run from Boss Hog. It never occurred to me that they might be endangering the lives of innocent bystanders. I always figured they were a couple of good ole boys, never meanin’ no harm.
But it wasn’t just the Duke Boys who corrupted our driving habits. Many cars now come equipped not just with radios, but with televisions and DVD players, so that the kids can be entertained while we talk on our cell phones or order dinner at the drive-through. Driver inattention is just as dangerous as speeding.
In an environment like this, it’s tough to tell someone they can’t drive because they are too dangerous and expect them to take it seriously. That’s why the Legislature might have to get creative.
How about taking people’s cars? Or, putting repeat offenders on a list, like we do with sex offenders, so that employers who are hiring drivers could check their driving records? Or, how about changing the way driver education is taught in this state?
If driving habits are ever going to change, we’re going to need to change the way society perceives driving. That might seem impossible. But drunken driving was at one time much more socially acceptable than it is now.
Brendan Moran, editor
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