Anyone been convicted of DUI after only one drink?

[jodifla]

Yes, if you ae over the legal limit or if you are driving erratically (there are usually some things the officer observes prior to pulling one over over such as swerving in a lane three times,not mainting a single lane, going super slow, using your turn signal too early, not having your headlights on at night, etc.)


Amanda in your case, your DB got pulled over the tailight and chances are the officer smelled alcohol on his breath and it went from there. Some officers LIVE for DUIs, it gets them off the street for most of their shift because of the processing. Others will do anything to get out of processing a DUI.

So it's not about the law, or what's safe. It's about whether the officer is on a power trip. There's also nothing to stop officers from lying through their teeth about your driving.

 

[jodifla]

This screams of urban legend.

Here's the Washington Post story. As a followup, the DC council has changed the law so this would no longer be a crime.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/11/AR2005101101968.html

 

[WIcruizer]

Math not your strong suit, heh? Please be so kind as to add your location to your profile so we can be sure to stay off the roads in your area while you test your hypothesis.

Then you'll need to stay off the roads period. Because every day you're driving among thousands of people who have had a couple drinks after work. We're not criminals, you're just paranoid. As far as the math goes, what part of 1 out of 6 chance don't you understand? That's Russian roulette. To say every time I drive after drinking I have a 1 in 6 chance of causing an accident is absurd.

 

[C.Ann]

I disagree. I drive all the time after having a drink, even several drinks. Studies have shown driving when stressed, upset, depressed, tired, etc. or poor weather conditions, cell phones, all kinds of things are just as hazardous if not MORE hazardous than driving with a .025 BOC.

I'll keep drinking and driving, it is perfectly safe. Or at least as safe as driving under any other set of conditions.

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When you've lost as many family members to the actions of people such as yourself as I have, then come back and talk to me - okay? One "perfectly okay driver" had only two drinks over the course of several hours.. The result? A 32 year old man dead and a 2 year old girl without a daddy anymore..

I could go on and on - and list every death that has occured in my family as a result of people who are as sure of themselves as you are, but why bother? Sooner or later, you - and some poor unsuspecting family - will learn a horrible lesson.. Hopefully you'll grow up before that happens.. If not, I can only hope that you will receive the severest punishment allowed by the law - assuming of course that you too aren't killed..

 

[U2_rocks]

I agree with WIcruizer. I can recall 3 times in the past year I've nearly been in an accident and every single time it was due to someone yakking away on a cell phone not paying attention to their driving. There's a good chance those same people would never drink and drive, yet they don't give a second thought to their own impaired judgment while they are engrossed in their conversations. Just going by my personal experience, it is a much bigger problem around here than DUI.

I find that careless driving in general is what causes most of the accidents around here. The vast majority of drivers at fault had had no alcohol. Not trying to make a case for drinking and driving, but anyone I've ever driven with after they have had a few drinks (not to the point of being "drunk" though) has been especially careful while driving home i.e. none of those factors that were cited as being a tip-off for the cops looking for drunk drivers. And my personal experience has been that I have felt less in control and alert after cold meds and while heading home with a stomach virus recently than I have felt after having some wine at a business cocktail party. Blood alcohol level is easy to measure, so it's easy to get obsessive about - those other problem areas aren't so easy.

I know some will say that drinking alcohol if you know you have to drive is a CHOICE, one that is easily avoided, while having to take cold meds isn't such a clear cut choice. This is true; but cracking down very strictly on drivers who have a drink or two changes the whole social scene. It's not practical or even possible for many couples to take a taxi when they go out for a romantic dinner that includes wine. Should they not have any then? There are a lot of social habits that would have to change. Maybe some of them SHOULD - but maybe it's a little extreme to be as tough as some states are getting.

Bottom line: no-one is perfect, and no-one drives perfectly. There are many, many things that distract us while we drive. We are not always going to be perfectly alert, even if we are not on meds, have had a reasonable sleep and are not doing something else while driving. Does it really benefit society to become overly (vs reasonably) strict on alcohol use?

 

[jodifla]

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When you've lost as many family members to the actions of people such as yourself as I have, then come back and talk to me - okay? One "perfectly okay driver" had only two drinks over the course of several hours.. The result? A 32 year old man dead and a 2 year old girl without a daddy anymore..

I could go on and on - and list every death that has occured in my family as a result of people who are as sure of themselves as you are, but why bother? Sooner or later, you - and some poor unsuspecting family - will learn a horrible lesson.. Hopefully you'll grow up before that happens.. If not, I can only hope that you will receive the severest punishment allowed by the law - assuming of course that you too aren't killed..

Uh, holy smokes, what goes on in YOUR family....you've had lots of family members killed by drunk drivers? I find that hard to believe.

And odds are the alcohol had nothing to do with the accident that took that 32 year old man.

 

[christineann]

.08 is DUI - it has nothing to do with a cop being on a "power trip". That is an insult to the officers who are risking their lives to protect yours and mine.
If a cop "lives for DUI's" that's fine with me.

 

[Galahad]

Then you'll need to stay off the roads period. Because every day you're driving among thousands of people who have had a couple drinks after work. We're not criminals, you're just paranoid. As far as the math goes, what part of 1 out of 6 chance don't you understand? That's Russian roulette. To say every time I drive after drinking I have a 1 in 6 chance of causing an accident is absurd.

On the math part it's quite simple. The one in 6 chance of something is one in 6 EACH time, not cumulatively. So you getting home safely at least 6 times is irrelevant. You haven't "beaten the odds". I would say there is at least a one in 6 chance you will cause an accident each time you drink and drive. Not even close to absurd - just because you haven't yet doesn't change the odds.

No your not criminals - but that doesn't make me paranoid as much as it makes those that do this irresponsible.

 

[Galahad]

Guess the temperance movement is back.

Temperance has nothing to do with it. I drink wine a few times each week. I just don't drive after I do it. It's got nothing to do with forcing people not to drink. Just don't spout off about how you can handle 3000 pounds of metal going 50 mph just fine after you do it.

 

[TDC Nala]

According to our local news, there was a lady that was arrest for DUI after 1 drink, with a very low BAL.

The DC case is sort of infamous locally, the woman in question blew under the legal limit but the police arrested her anyway because they considered her "impaired," which by law they were permitted to do. There was some kind of outcry (mostly in the bar and restaurant lobby) and the law has been changed.

And if I'd read all the posts, I would have seen that the link was posted.

 

[jodifla]

.08 is DUI - it has nothing to do with a cop being on a "power trip". That is an insult to the officers who are risking their lives to protect yours and mine.
If a cop "lives for DUI's" that's fine with me.

Yes, but they can charge you even without blowing .08. THAT's the power trip....read the Washington Post story.


I

 

[jodifla]

Temperance has nothing to do with it. I drink wine a few times each week. I just don't drive after I do it. It's got nothing to do with forcing people not to drink. Just don't spout off about how you can handle 3000 pounds of metal going 50 mph just fine after you do it.

So you never have wine with dinner in a restaurant, then drive home?

 

[Galahad]

So you never have wine with dinner in a restaurant, then drive home?

Nope.

 

[jodifla]

Nope.

Elaborate, please. You only drink at home, or when you drink out, someone drives you home, you take a cab, what? I'm curious.

 

[Galahad]

Elaborate, please. You only drink at home, or when you drink out, someone drives you home, you take a cab, what? I'm curious.

Well, if it's important for you to know (though the answer has no bearing on the validity of my argument) - Unless we are at say WDW or other resort situation, we generally just drink at home primarily because it's so expensive to have wine in a restaurant. Tonight we went out to dinner and had a glass of wine when we got home. Less expensive, better wine, and no food to interfere with the enjoyment of the wine.

 

[DawnCt1]

Actually, in a lot of states now, like Michigan, ANY alcohol can get you arrested for DUI if the officer decides it has made you impaired.

I can't remember the town but we had an interesting case in Ct. A town manager/mayor was arrested after one glass of wine. She insists that she wasn't impaired and she felt that she passed the field sobriety test, the officer didn't and arrested her. I think she insisted on a blood alcohol test or some other such thing to confirm her innocence. She felt that the arrest was politically motivated due to union issues with the police, etc. We really have to have a limit on the powers that we give the police. It is one thing for an officer to remove you from the road if he thinks you are impaired. That affects your life for that evening but no way should someone be convicted if they don't meet the objective criteria of a measurable blood alcohol level. That's permanent and the police should not have that power.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

So it's not about the law, or what's safe. It's about whether the officer is on a power trip. There's also nothing to stop officers from lying through their teeth about your driving.

That is not what I am saying. There are some officers who are very strict about DUIs, there are others who are more "flexible". It is not a power trip, just different styles. Police work is not a science it is an art.

Also most agencies have on board taping systems that tape every single one of an officer's/deputy's stops. These tapes are often used in DUI cases (sometimes help prove innocence or at least raises some questions and others nail the offender). I had the pleasure of working part-time for a Traffic/DUI attorney (who was also still a reserve Sheriff's Deputy). Some of those tapes were freakin' hilarious. A lot of times he still got the charges reduced for first-time offenders.

 

[C.Ann]

Uh, holy smokes, what goes on in YOUR family....you've had lots of family members killed by drunk drivers? I find that hard to believe.

And odds are the alcohol had nothing to do with the accident that took that 32 year old man.

-------------------------------------------

You're free to believe whatever you choose, but considering it was my family that suffered the losses, I think I might have a bit more insight into the situation than you do..

And if the accident that took the life of the 32 year old man had nothing to do with alcohol, then someone went to jail for vehicular manslaughter for nothing.. Guess they just had an empty jail cell they wanted to fill..

People who choose to drink and drive deserve whatever comes their way.. It's called "natural consequences" and I don't have one ounce of sympathy for them at all.. I'll save my sympathy for the people whose lives are ruined forever by the actions of irresponsible drivers..

 

[mcnuss]

I We really have to have a limit on the powers that we give the police..

Do you realize how hypocritical what you just wrote is as compared to the posts you've made about the free reign that you believe we should confer to the Executive Branch of the federal govt with respect to wire tapping, surveillance and the like? You are hilarious. It's ok for the Feds to spy on people as long as they might somehow be linked to terrorism - and of course, none of them trump up charges, are politically motivated or are on power trips!!?? But let this affect your life or the lives of your friends and neighbors, and then we really have to the limit those police powers. LOL!!

 

[Aidensmom]

As someone who had a DUI once, I will say that I see both sides of this issue. It is not right to be drink and drive, I was stupid to drive when I had any drinks, even though in my impaired-thinking state I thought it best I do so because my friend had a lot more to drink than I. However, I also see the other side, that 1 or 2 drinks does not neccessarily make you less "impaired" than the person talking on the cell phone, the person talking to their child in the backseat, or the person changing the radio station (all of which are perfectly legal). In my particular case, I was at a complete standstill, waiting to make a left turn. A man with his child in the car had just come from a fast food drive-thru and was distributing the food in the bag between him and his child, while using the center turn lane as a driving lane, not looking where he was going, and ramming right into my car, moving the entire front end over about a foot. He had only bumper damage to his van. I got arrested, taken to jail, and charged with the accident, and had to pay thousands of dollars of fines, do community service, be on probation, have my license suspended, and go to classes, AA, and counseling. He got nothing and he caused the accident. I have never had even a ticket before that, and have not since. I was not right to drink and drive, but the other driver was just as careless, and if any lives were lost it would have been his fault, but my punishment.

Yes, drinking and driving is wrong. I will not drive while under the influence of even one drink anymore. But drinking one or two drinks many times has the same amount of impairment as a lot of other perfectly legal things. You have to look at both sides of the story, and if a person who gets in the car and drives after having one drink is a good for nothing criminal, so is the person talking on their cell phone.