[net.auto] Food for Thought

ark (12/20/82)

I think I have the facts straight on this...

A friend told me that his name was once placed on the list of
people whose driver's licenses had been revoked.  This was done
because of a clerical error, and not in response to any particular
event.  He was not informed that it had happened.

Some time later, he was stopped for a traffic violation.  A check
of police computer files revealed that his name was on the list.
He was charged with driving while on the revoked list.
Even though (a) there was no reason his license should have been
revoked, (b) his name was on the list only by mistake, and (c) he
was never informed that his name was on the list, he was convicted.

After all, he WAS driving while on the revoked list.

			- - - - -

A few years ago in Miami, a woman's car was stopped because it had been
reported as stolen.  It was not stolen -- the wrong license plate number
had been reported by accident.  Unfortunately, while she was talking to
the cop standing next to her car pointing a gun at her, her foot slipped
off the clutch and the car jumped forward.  The cop shot her in the head.

			- - - - -

Please think about these things before you advocate laws that would
crucify drunk drivers.  At best, you will nail some fraction of the
ones unlucky enough to be caught.  Surely there must be better solutions.