It shouldn’t take a high-profile tragedy involving a national lawmaker to bring new recognition of the American tendency to wink, chuckle or look the other way in cases of drunken motor vehicle manipulation. But the fact a member of the U.S. House of Representatives with a long record of irresponsible driving finally killed someone should cause us all to look more critically than ever at how we allow and, in fact, encourage repeat offenders rather than dealing with them as harshly as we should.

How many times in a week do we read about somebody with a substantial record of drunken driving arrests being instrumental in another wreck, often injurious and fatal to others? It should not be that way because we, mainly through our courts, should not allow it.

The congressman finally is being penalized, but why not much, much sooner?

The Washington Post recently had this to say about the issue:

“It shouldn’t have taken a manslaughter conviction to slow South Dakota’s lone House member, Rep. William J. Janklow, Republican, on the highway. Mr. Janklow’s penchant for appallingly dangerous driving was apparently an everyday thing. It was a matter of jest in his home state before it turned deadly. The former governor had 12 speeding tickets and at least eight accidents in the past several years. And nobody really knows how bad his problem was, because police seem to have had a look-the-other-way attitude toward Mr. Janklow’s driving. According to testimony at his trial, he was let off with a warning after driving 92 mph through a stop sign at the same intersection where, eight months later, he killed Randolph Scott. A trooper testified that a few months later, he didn’t even bother stopping Mr. Janklow, who was driving 84 miles per hour in a 40-mph zone.

“Now a jury in Flandreau, S.D., has convicted Mr. Janklow, one of the state’s dominant politicians, of manslaughter for speeding through that stop sign on Aug. 16 and killing Mr. Scott, who was unlucky enough to be riding his motorcycle through the intersection. Mr. Janklow acknowledged his actions but claimed that he was confused because of low blood sugar caused by a dose of insulin and his failure to eat that day. A hometown jury deserves credit for resisting this implausible defense.

“Mr. Janklow has said he will resign his House seat next month, when he could be sentenced to up to 11 years in prison. But it should not have taken a death to convert Mr. Janklow’s serial misbehavior behind the wheel from a lovable component of his political persona into an unacceptable sign of contempt for the law and the safety of others.”

There is nothing admirable, lovable or jocular about a careless, distracted or impaired driver, whether that person is nationally known or just somebody who lives down the street.