Lord knows, I have nothing against drinking–or recreational drugs, for that matter. It’s the social lubrication of our times.

I’m sort of appalled at binge drinking, but what really gets me is driving while under the influence. This last week a young (allegedly intoxicated) woman entered the Causeway bridge speeding southbound on the northbound span. Another driver captured this on his smartphone. Police finally stopped her by putting outspike strips at a crossover on the bridge to flatten the tires on her car (I believe she blew out three tires before she was stopped). Officers at the scene said they smelled alcohol, and observed typical signs of intoxication. She was arrested and it was found that she had an expired license plate .

In another recent incident, a drunk Covington resident (also, regrettably, a woman)  ran another car off the Causeway, causing the death of the driver of the car. She had driven drunk before; she was out on bond on another DWI charge in December.

The district attorney asked that the judge revoke her bond for the  most recent DWI charge, but the wimpy judge refused and simply required that she be confined to her parents’ home, not be allowed to drive, could not consume alcohol or drugs, and must wear an alcohol monitoring bracelet. I’m sure her parents (of this 26-year-old infant) will be watching her 24/7. (NOT).

A friend recently told me how her daughter was severely injured in a single car accident when she took her mother’s car keys (which she was not allowed to have because of substance abuse issues), took the mother’s car without her knowledge, and ended up almost dead by running off the road and hitting a tree.

As the victim of a drunk driver who crossed the median on I-10 and hit my car head-on doing 90 mph when I was only 28-years-old, I feel very, very lucky to have survived.

This accident almost killed me, and it certainly has made my life much more difficult and painful.

But I’m one of the lucky ones. I lived, albeit in a very damaged condition that I’ve endured and is getting worse as I get older.

I cannot understand—with the obvious problems causes by drinking and intoxication while driving—why we don’t have much stricter laws on driving while intoxicated.

There’s just no excuse for it. We need stronger penalties for anyone caught driving while under the influence. If caught once, you lose your driver’s license forever (and I mean once). Not one state in the US takes away your drivers license for good. Maybe it’s time we consider this.

If you drive without a license, you obviously are going to be in a lot deeper trouble if you drive, even if you’re sober. If you’re caught a second time driving without a license and you’re under the influence, you are incarcerated. Period. End of story. And enforce the damn law; I don’t care how weepy your parents are or how smart or “in with the judge” your attorneys are. You screw up, you break the law; you endanger the public: you pay a serious price. I guarantee you, it would work.

If this law was passed, I’d bet that in a pretty short period of time, we’d see a lot less drunk driving, as long as such a law is enforced. I know I’d sure be afraid of having my drivers’ license taken away.

I say zero tolerance for anyone driving while intoxicated. Why can’t we do this? It works.