Anybody think the DUI laws are to "fund" rather than "protect"?

I sense that you take issue with the means of enforcement, not the fact that DUI is a crime (at least I hope that is the case). From the way you asked the question it seems that you think the penalty should be something other than a fine, or less of a fine. I wouldn't object to a mandatory jail sentence, or a mandatory license revocation in lieu of the current civil penalty schedule, but I think most people value their license and liberty more than the $500 - $2000 the DUI costs them to retain those rights/privileges. The fact that it DOES raise money for the state/city doesn't necessarily mean its purpose is to raise money. It's a balancing act.

Its not ALMOST ridiculous, it IS ridiculous. I actually know an attorney from Pittsburgh, Pa who is arguing in the PA State Supreme Court that DUI laws are unconstitutional and he's beginning to make a damn good case to these a**holes. Think about it, nobody cried about DUIs until the facist organization that is MADD began crying about it in the 1980s. Alcohol related deaths, while tragic are no more preventable than cancer, generally speaking. What needs to happen is this, they need to make laws that clearly and over-harshly punish those who are found guilty of causing an accident/death due to actual drunk driving, however first the BAL to Drunk Ratio needs to be over-hauled, bigtime. As it stands right now, the DUI laws are nothing more than a glorified fund-raiser. In PA, on your first 'DUI' offense, it ends up costing you about a thousand dollars and you lose your license for about a month. If it were really THAT serious there would be jail time involved. Just to be an a**hole, thats how I'd like to go out. If it came to down to choosing how to die, it would be drinking a bottle of Jack Daniels and crashing my Jeep Strangler through front door of a police station with a joint in mouth. F*** them.

-J.

Personally I believe that most of the "protecting" the police do is actually to meet their quota. I've been subject to ridiculous warnings because I forgot to dim my brights right away.

I think it is a witch hunt designed to appease the right. It is forcing people to pay for incarceration. Total Marxism. Our country sucks .

Yeah, I think so. They are only there to make money.