Tiger Woods’ excuse for DUI charge shows flaw in our driving-sins hierarchy

Tiger Woods’ rollover crash last week and subsequent DUI charge near his Jupiter Island, Florida, home was shameful and embarrassing enough.

But the excuse the golfing great reportedly gave to the sheriff’s deputy who suspected him of driving under the influence makes his latest debacle even worse.

The arrest report, released a few days later, states Woods told the deputy he was looking at his phone and adjusting his radio when his vehicle hit the back of a truck in front of him, causing his SUV to flip. Thankfully, Woods came away physically unhurt, though his reputation is taking another bruising.

For all the flak he will and should take, Woods’ explanation for clipping a truck and trailer that were slowing to turn into a driveway exposes what so many drivers take for granted. Woods was far more comfortable with telling officers he was distracted versus possibly impaired. And while the legal penalties for the two are wildly different, the results behind the wheel are often just as dangerous.

April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Most every driver understands attention lapses can have catastrophic effects, but so many do not act like it. Drivers get outraged at others weaving in lanes or not going when lights turn green, yet they themselves fail to put down their phones.

I have interviewed numerous safety and driving experts over the years, and they have unanimously said the effects of distracted driving are akin to impaired driving.

Distracted driving is vastly underreported as the cause for crashes because proving someone is holding a phone, adjusting music or looking in the backseat, for example, is difficult. The 2018 Hands-Free Georgia Act, which effectively banned drivers from holding phones, made pulling drivers over easier. But the law does not make finding the cause for wrecks less blurry.

Blood and urine tests, Breathalyzers and field sobriety exercises, meanwhile, can help show if a driver is under the influence after a crash or traffic violation.

In Woods’ case, the report stated he appeared impaired and lethargic. He agreed to field sobriety tests and a breath test (the latter of which he passed with no signs of alcohol), but refused a urine test. Law enforcement stated they had enough other evidence to believe he was under the influence of something, and they stated they found two hydrocodone pills in one of his pockets.

Woods’ reported admission that his eyes were off the road, whether true or not, is indicative of the warped hierarchy of driving sins our society has established. In Georgia, a motorist’s first distracted driving offense nets a $50 fine and one penalty point on their driving record. The next two offenses each add additional points and $50.

Speeding penalties are much harsher.

Georgia DUIs are far more costly. A first DUI costs an offender at least $300 and possible jail time. A second DUI means at least 48 hours in jail, at least $600 in fines and a mandatory three-year driver’s license suspension. A third offense brings at least 15 days in the slammer, a minimum $1,000 fine and five years without driving privileges.