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Drunk Driving
Most countries in the world have harsh laws aimed at penalizing drunk driving. But until recent years, drunk driving was rampant in China, due to weak legal provisions and enforcement. The past decade has witnessed tremendous increase in the number of motor vehicles, most of which are private cars. The lack of legal traditions targeted at drunk driving and people’s lack of legal awareness have given rise alarming traffic casualties as a result of drunk driving.
Drunk driving has created traffic accidents whose implications extend far beyond the traffic realm. In many cases, the drunken drivers are high-ranking government officials or wealthy businessmen who could use their influence, privileges, connections and bribes to get off unpunished. This has occasioned serious social problems because justice is not done and the value of the lives of ordinary people is not duly respected. Those problems in turn contribute to the already widening inequalities between the poor and the rich in the Chinese society, to such an extent that only the institution and the enforcement of the most stringent laws can answer to the rising public complaints.
According to the law introduced since May 1 this year, anybody guilty of drunk driving would be severely fined, subjected to a 6-month detention, and deprived of his driving license. I am totally in favor of this law because it has dramatically reduced cases of drunk driving. Having committed drunk driving, wealthy businessmen, high-ranking government officials, and celebrated musicians have been arrested, sued for criminal offenses, and sentenced. All these indicate that no one is above law, which ruthlessly enforced, would benefit all of us.