Keller @ Large: Drunk Drivers Are Terrorists
BOSTON (CBS) - It was just a small item in the news yesterday, little more than a glorified police log entry.
Listen to Jon's commentary:
Podcast
It seems state police who've been putting extra patrols on Routes 24 and 195 in the Fall River/New Bedford area had quite a haul over the weekend, nine drivers busted for operating under the influence, and one apparently sober driver nabbed for going more than 100 miles per hour. Another 334 citations were also issued for unspecified violations.
In spite of all the hype about efforts to crackdown on repeat offenders, the cops had no trouble finding them, including one genius busted for a third OUI.
All told, according to the Globe, police have made 77 OUI arrests and 75 other arrests over eight weekends of this crackdown, which will continue only through the end of this month.
What do you call a repeat drunken driver, any drunken driver at all, or even someone below the limit who drives 100 on Route 24?
I see no reason not to call them a terrorist, every bit as sick and dangerous and a lot more common.
I don't know if the Route 24 corridor is an aberration of some kind; as I recall, the temporarily-increased police presence was in response to public outcry after some especially horrific accidents. I suspect it isn't an outlier.
Binge drinking and reckless driving are the pastimes of choice of too many of us, and these irresponsible fools are putting all of us at terrible risk.
Maybe it's time we had a talk about re-allocating some of the resources we squander on excessive spending on questionable security priorities, like the outrageous waste of money on political convention security, and paying more attention to the daily terror threat in our backyard.
Or we could just keep on playing Route 24 roulette.
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
