As an example of my previous post, let's consider the driving practice of "tailgating". For anyone not aware of the term (perhaps those in Europe), this is when you drive extremely close to the person in front of you at a high speed. Like driving while intoxicated, this is (1) extremely dangerous and (2) completely unnecessary. Yet, people do it all the time, and no one is pulled over for it. In fact, I've never even really heard of anyone being prosecuted for it when it's the cause of an accident.

Some years back, an ex girlfriend of mine had a friend that was driving along in a 40 mph zone. Approaching her, coming the other way, a woman was tailgating the car in front of her very closely. The car in front stopped short, and the woman swerved into oncoming traffic to avoid hitting the stopping car. She hit this girl instead in a head on collision. Both of her legs were shattered, and, to this day, she walks with a limp and a great deal of pain. I saw her legs after the surgeries necessary to put all the pieces back together, and it wasn't pretty.

The tailgating woman's insurance company was sued and the girl received a substantial settlement. The woman responsible for this accident via dangerous and completely unnecessary behavior received a traffic ticket. And, I should point out, it wasn't the girl's claim that the person was tailgating (she couldn't see this) - it was in the police reports as per witnesses. So, it was officially on record. No reckless driving. No societal outrage. No 10 years in jail for reckless endangerment or assault or whatever would have happened if the woman had drank a couple of glasses of wine instead of driving like a maniac.

So, what's the difference? Where is the moral crusade and outrage? We have everything here - dangerous and unnecessary behavior, a sob story, all requisite documentation of what happened... wheres MATT (Mother's Against Terrible Tailgaters)? Where are the demands for harsher sentences, cameras to monitor tailgating, tailgating checkpoints, federal extortion of states to raise the driving age, and everything for which there-oughta-be-a-law?!??!

Oh, by the way, before anyone treats me to tragic tales of DUI by way of argument, I'd like to point out that I've had friends (more than one) killed in alcohol related car accidents. I'm neither endorsing DUI nor am I claiming that it doesn't cause tragic accidents (because, after all, emotions aside, that's what they are) - it does, as do a lot of things, many of them avoidable (such as driving cars in the first place). I just don't think that laws should be passed on the basis of sob stories and gruesome images.

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson