neilmcd84

Should I take an alcoholic's car keys if they have a history of drink-driving?

dollydo

Well, I did. To me the A has no right to endanger others lives..I also ran the battery down JIC he had another key...which he did.

Dolly

Pick-a-name

Is it your car (or do you pay the insurance,etc on it?). By all means, in those cases. In other circumstances, probably not. \

More will be along with more recovwery than I have to help you come to a decision.

Glad you are here. I am on my way to a family wedding, but I wanted to say hello.

Zoey

Why not just call the police?? I really like dolly's idea, run down the battery if you have time. Course if at a bar, some buddy will jump start it.

We need more info, car at home, who etc?? Not that I would have any solutions (Smile)

DesertEyes

Sugestions for interfering with a drunk or addicts activities.

1 - Will it place you, or other people in immediate danger?

When you say "take the keys", will that cause the person to become violent?

If the answer is "yes", then do something else.

2 - What is the ultimate objective of your interference?

When you say "take the keys", are you trying to control their behavior?

If the answer is "yes", then do something else.

3 - Are other people going to be endangered if you do not interfere?

When you say "take the keys", are you trying to prevent a drunk from driving?

If the answer is "yes", then call the police. The police are trained in handling these situations, they have a lot more experience, and there's more of them than there are of you.

4 - Make a plan for what you are going to do _after_ you interfere.

Whatever choice you make, be ready for what's going to happen _after_ the drunk gets the keys back, or gets out of jail. If the drunk is violent you need to call a shelter, or move out of the house while he's in jail.

5 - The best way to handle this kind of situations is to not allow those kinds of people in your life to begin with.

Instead of dealing with the symptoms of a drunk / addicts who is endangering others (like taking the car keys) you will do the drunk and yourself a whole lot more good by getting them out of your life altogether. Get to a meeting of al-anon or other support group and learn how to get out of the mess you're in.

Mike

ICU

Another alternative in that vein if he is violent, is to get a restraining order banning 'him' from the house!

mallowcup

Yes, take the keys as you would in any case. That is your good judgement. We have a friend w2ho was drunk and no one took his keys. He was decapitated at 35 miles an hour. His mother, brothers and sisters faces haunt me. The howling cries at the funeral home haunt me. If people can detach and face what I did that day, they have more guts than I do.

Janitw

Every time I saw my husbands truck at the strip bar I simply let the air out of all the tires. He would find a ride home and when he got home....he never ever even mentioned where his truck was. And I never asked either. It was a silent war. But at least he was prevented from driving while drunk, at least on those nights that I found our truck. I slept those nights because I knew that the public was safe and our property deed was safe as well.

mallowcup

That's what it's really all about, keeping others safe. I've heard of this gizmo that may already exist. It is a breathalizer attached to the car, too much alcohol and the car won't start. I guess they will be used for people who get DWIs. I think there is a million dollar idea just waiting to be developed. Some kind of simple device that will not allow the car to start. I wish beer had an additive that gave them severe diarrhea. I snicker sometimes because it's the only time my husband doesn't hear from his drinking budy, when he's trapped on the pot.

splendra

I hide the keys to the car most everynite and when I don't he usually goes off in the car to buy dope. The reasons I do this is because he does not have a drivers licence or insurance, it is my car and I do not want it impounded should he happen to get arrested. Also I do not want the karma or the liability of being aware that he does this and doing nothing about it.

If I am asleep I may not wake up and call the cops. He has already gotten several tickets for driving with out a license. If he were to hurt someone it would be my property on the line not his.

Addiction is smarter than me though and I know this all too well. I do not think I can stop him from using but, I think it is my right to protect my property as best as I can. I think it is terrible that I need to protect myself from people who say they love me. My siblings are the same way...

mallowcup

No drivers license or insurance? Isn't that grand theft auto. I'd keep the car locked at all times. that's the first thing an insurance will ask, if the car was locked. If he ever does take the car and hurts someone or someones property, you want to be able to prove that you took all measures to discourage the theft. That becomes about your personal liability and law suits that could take everything you have. If he ever takes the car again, Id want a police report to protect myself.

splendra

If I wake up when he does it I suppose I would call the police. I have resevations about that as well because once I did call on him and they told him that I called them which I thought was very inappropiate...and he was very angry at me for calling the cops.

I just keep the keys on me while I sleep along with my money and CCs.

rkymtncowboy

Just pull the middle wire from the top of the distributor if you know where that is. That car will go no where.

ChildlikeFaith

I called the police on my AH once, and he was arrested for drunk driving. I told him I was going to do it before I did. He had already had 2/3 of a fifth of vodka when he left in his employer's vehicle. I told him that he was in no shape to drive, and if he drove out of the driveway, I was going to call the police. He said that he hadn't had anything to drink, even though I had just taken the bottle out of the truck and dumped out what was left in it.

When he first left, I had to ask myself why I was calling. Was it out of anger or fear of someone getting hurt. I made myself wait a couple of minutes, so I was calm enough to be rational and really think about it. It was Saturday afternoon, and we live in a residential area with a school and kids that play basketball in the street. I called the police because he was driving erratically, and he could hurt himself or someone else.

What I'm saying in a very roundabout sort of way, is that it comes down to motive. What are your true motives for taking away his keys?

mrswoogie

I took my AH's keys and threw them into a wheat field. Unfortunately, he wandered off on foot, and after he'd been missing for 6 hours, I called the ambulance dispatch to let them know he was a danger to himself (see, calling the POLICE would mean we had problems). They finally found him wandering down the highway, 6 miles from our house. Of course, he thought I was worrying unnecesarily and trying to keep tabs on him. Of course, I didn't do anything else about it, and so it continued for another 4 months.

Driving means they can hurt an innocent person as well as themselves. If AH had stepped into traffic and gotten killed, I would have been horribly upset; if he had driven into another car and killed someone else, I could never, never have gotten over it.

We're now 85 & 82 days sober, so things are slowly improving.

pmaslan

Alcoholic, alcohol abuser or just someone who has had too much to drink...
No doubt about it I will always take the keys away....
Friends don't let friends drive drunk....period!