Drunk Driving

[lookout123]

i think that MADD was started with good purpose and did bring about positive changes. unfortunately, it doesn't matter what the laws say on the books, it matters how LE officials choose to enforce them.

i think lowering the limit from .1 to .08 was a political joke meant to make a few zealots happy and produce more revenue. What i see is that the cops hang around bars and pick up the easy targets by setting up roadblocks around one or two bars. they get their quota of dui violations without having to really work. while they are doing that the roads are full of reckless drivers, some intoxicated, some not.

i spelled it out in a thread months ago that i got a dui when i wasn't even driving. i try to be philosophical about it because i know there were a few times where i should have got one but didn't. i fully support the aggressive enforcement of dui laws because the results of that behavior ruins lives.

here is just one example of the problem though. some friends were in town visiting recently. i met them at a bar and we had a blast until closing time. i drank Kaliber (non-alcoholic beer by Guinness) all night because i had to drive a long way and had to be to work early in the morning. one of 5 squad cars sitting less than 200 feet from the parking lot fires up the lights and i have spend 10 minutes convincing the guy i haven't had any alcohol. (he was pissed when i pulled out the kaliber bottle caps and my receipt from my pocket. ) finally he lets me go and less than one block up the road i see a truck just weaving back and forth across the lines, obviously intoxicated. i pull up next to the truck at the next light and see that they are chugging beer in while driving. i called the police on my cell phone and reported what i was seeing. they actually told me that they were having a crack downs on dui that night so they didn't have any available officers to respond even though i was following the weaving vehicle and had given them all the critical info. before they hung up they were nice enough to recommend that i pick a different road to drive on.


that is one example of what happens when dui enforcement is the focus rather than reckless driving.

just my $.02

I agree, Lookout. I think .1 should be the lower limit. And the police can be over-zealous in enforcing DUI laws. I think I posted about the friend who realized he had one too many, and pulled off the road to sleep it off before proceding further. The police gave him a DUI for being asleep in his parked truck! They should go after the ones driving on the roads!

[Buddha]

Driving 90 mph
Hold the Sake'