Russian Road Roulette

[Aught Six]

Russian road roulette?

***

Illegal road racing and other roadway stunts are already a problem here in the U.S. I imagine a lot young men and interested others are reading about this "Russian road roulette" overseas and having little light bulbs go off in their heads, that is, if they hadn't already heard or thought of it.

That got me thinking about the law. I don't really think that law is very effective as a preventative measure, except that it allows the incarceration or monitoring of some previous offenders who might otherwise re-offend. There doesn't seem to be much we can do at this point to keep new people from breaking the law.

Or is there? Would throwing the book at reckless drivers nationwide change people's behavior behind the wheel? Prison sentences to speeding 20 mph over the limit, texting, and other so-called 'aggressive driving' behaviors?

[James B]

You bet. How about 30 days for the second offense plus a 1000 fine or the car or both.

First time a week and 500.00 might get their attention. They must need more cows to milk and more chores to do. We had darn little time for such nonsense when we were kids.

[bigbulls]

Hell no it would never work. Look at DUI convictions. People get 4, 5, 6 or more DUI convictions just to get a slap on the wrist from the judges and go out and do it again.

The same reason that gun laws and so called stiffer sentences do nothing what so ever to prevent gun violence from those that want to "gang bang".

Before you can enforce any more laws or stiffer sentences you must first fix the justice system.

[James B]

It sure is not that way here. you get even one DUI and it is going to cost you big time and for a long time. Get two and you better know a good banker and be ready to start walking. The problem is that many places don't enforce the laws.

[bergall]

I think that the specifics of THIS type of gambling, running red lights/stop signs and betting on whether or not there will be an accident may already be covered by law. It's not a race, and IMO it's not a traffic infraction. There are a number of 'illegalities' here; illegal gambling (for sure), reckless endangerment, and reckless endangerment with depraved indifference. That's just for being SUCCESSFUL at making it across the intersection. Once there's an accident, the charges increase to crimes against property, up to and including some sort of homicide charge. The idea is to punish those caught doing this. The punishment must be draconian, merciless, without pity on the perps, and it must be something that is a 'sure thing'. So once one is caught, either driving, being a passenger of a car being driven by one who'd engage in this sort of thing, or a person shown to participate by betting on the outcome of others' illegal actions, the consequences are so dire as to not be worth playing. The law is reactive, after all. To a large extent, there's no way to prevent crimes with threats against those who'd engage in illegal activity. But we can make a public example of those that do.