A DUI is a DUI

I am as irritated as Lindsay Lohan over the USA Today ad for ignition interlocks. If you aren’t familiar with the story, USA today ran an ad for ignition interlocks and used Lindsay Lohan’s mug shot. Ignition interlocks are the devices that are installed in cars after the driver gets a DUI that requires them to periodically blow into a breathalyzer which control the ignition. In the past, these were used only for repeat offenders, but now some states are trying to make them a requirement for all DUI offenders.

USA Today’s reads, "Ignition interlocks - A good idea for," and shows the Lohan mug shot. The next line reads, "But a bad idea for us," and shows photos of a happy bride and groom toasting, some folks drinking beer and martinis, and a group of friends clinking glasses at a meal.

Lindsay Lohan is mad because they used her mug shot. I am mad because I hate the whole concept of degrees of severity of DUIs being portrayed by this ad. I don’t know that the ignition interlocks help or work or do any good. I don’t claim to. What I do know is that drunk driving is drunk driving. I hate that this ad makes it look like it’s OK to drink and drive if you were at a wedding, or out with friends or having dinner. That it’s only wrong if you are a whacked out, crazy-ass drunk. Sorry – but neither is acceptable. The BACs are in place for a reason. To protect people. Innocent people. Children.

Make no mistake – I like to drink. I go to parties and on vacation and I tie one on. But the one thing I will not do is drive. In fact, I don’t even like being on the roads late night on the weekends, simply because of the other people out there who may not feel the same way about it. I do my best to make good decisions to keep my kids safe, but I can’t control everyone else’s bad decisions. The laws are there to try and do so.

And as for the people who came up with this ad - you can be damned sure that if a drunk driver killed someone in their family, you wouldn’t hear them say, “Oh, it’s OK – they were at a wedding.”