26-06-2025
Can the U.S. Make Drunk Driving Disappear?
'How to Get Away With Drunk Driving in the Hamptons' (WSJ. Magazine, June/July) glamorizes a justice system bent by wealth and access at a time when fatalities and injuries related to driving while intoxicated continue to devastate families. Edward Burke Jr.'s ability to reduce DWI charges to mere traffic tickets for celebrities and moguls also underscores a deeper systemic issue: While everyday citizens face license suspension, jail time or lifelong records for similar offenses, those with enough cash to afford 'country lawyering' get special treatment.
Privilege may buy legal escape, but impaired driving doesn't check bank accounts. Its consequences hit rich and poor alike. Drunk driving injures or kills someone every 85 seconds, with related deaths up 22% since 2019. Through advocacy, policy and emerging technology, we have the power to end impaired driving for good. Congress passed the bipartisan HALT Drunk Driving Law in 2021, requiring federal regulation for anti-drunk driving technology to be included by automakers in all new vehicles—the same way cars come equipped with seatbelts and airbags today. When implemented, this innovation could prevent 10,000 deaths a year.
