The states of Kansas and Missouri are both undertaking an aggressive DUI crackdown campaign between now and Labor Day 2007. The Kansas campaign is funded by a grant from Kansas Department of Transportation and is titled: “Drunk Driving: Over the Limit, Under Arrest”. I saw these words on a sign over I-35 on my way to work today. The Missouri campaign is titled, “You Drink & Drive: You Lose”. The campaigns include a lot of advertising of the slogans, checklanes and other DUI enforcement activity.
The Kansas campaign seems fair, if you are over the legal limit you will be placed under arrest. Whether you will ultimately be convicted in court may be up in the air, but you can count on being arrested and charged in that situation. The Missouri slogan, though, is another misrepresentation of the law. There is nothing illegal about drinking and driving. It is only illegal to get drunk and drive, or to be over the legal limit while driving. There has been a great effort on behalf of some law enforcement agencies and the National Highway Transportation Administration (NHTSA) to spread misinformation to the public to convince them that any drinking before driving is illegal and “you lose”. Remember the billboards from NHTSA that said “Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving”? It is all part of the same campaign to confuse the public on this issue.
Missouri also has received a grant to place hundreds, if not thousands, of talking urinal cakes in the bathrooms of bars around Kansas City. When the urinal is used, a woman’s voice attempts to convince the person using it that he should not drink and drive. It cleverly adds, “Your future is in your hands”. That is pretty funny, and it might make someone who has had too many think twice about getting behind the wheel. As a taxpayer I am not sure I would have voted to spend the money that way, but it seems like a reasonable way to send a cautionary message to people who may actually be at risk. At least it is not another attempt to confuse the issue of drinking before driving with drunken driving (except it of course says, “You Drink & Drive: You Lose”.