More car accidents happen in December than in any other month. No wonder, with all of the alcohol people consume at this time of year and then insist on driving a two-ton weapon. I’m not against anyone enjoying an alcoholic beverage responsibly. However, we began this year with a tragedy, and now we’re ending it with one. Both are the results of a reckless disregard for other people. The culprits are multiple offenders. When are we going to make the penalties for drunken driving so severe that no one will dare risk it? We shake our heads, but then it’s back to business as usual in our courts. Instead of a judicial system, we have “Let’s Make a Deal.”

If someone randomly discharged a firearm into a crowd, injuring people, we would demand the harshest penalties. We don’t allow rabid animals to roam loose. Why do drunken drivers? Drunken drivers are treated with indifference. Make the penalties severe from the very start and not after someone gets maimed or killed. We register sex offenders. Why not drunken drivers so that citizens can be on the watch for them, or have a special tag on their car(s) to identify them? Current technology can greatly reduce this problem. The perpetrators pay for it, not the taxpayers.

Or do our state, counties, municipalities and businesses profit too much from the sale of alcohol to these individuals for government officials to do anything? Let’s hope this isn’t the case.

— Charles Goodman

Salisbury