DUI

A drunk driver killed my good friend's wife, 3 year old boy, and 18 month old daughter in a head on collision. Their funeral was one of the worst days of my life. If every car in America had an interlock, the odds are they would still be alive today. Over 10,000 people are killed every year in accidents where alcohol is involved. That number would drop substantially if interlocks were mandatory in all new cars.

Obama will fix the DUI problem. Don't worry.

Mod, I think the big difference here is DUI and DWI. I know it varies state to state but a DUI is not really a big deal and the penalty isnt severe. A DWI on the other hand is a lot worse as it should be.

Youre right, most drivers do suck and it is a broken system. It is absurd that at 16 you get a license and its hard to lose it anytime after that. I think tests should be much harder and it be mandatory to retake them every 5 years. It blows my mind how many times ill be driving with an older person and they not know what a blinking yellow means, or they dont know the difference between yield and stop.

I agree with alot of what you've said, and have had this conversation numerous times with my friends. Here in Phoenix we have the most severe penalities for being convicted of driving under the influence in the US. And the real killer of this is we have the worst public transit system in the US.

It's always been my contention, at least here in Phx., that taxi's should be regulated in some way by the city, county, state....fee's, insurance, drivers even the cars. Subsidize them to go green and see if that'll make any difference. But as been stated many times before, it's not making the state any $$$$. .

My grandpa was killed by a drunk driver and here I am at 18 and still have never had a drink.

And to the people that don't know what .08 feels like, if you start to feel incapacitated then don't drive.

Just last night I was over at a friends house and I was flat out exhausted. I knew that I wasn't able to drive safely and ended up calling my dad to come pick me up and take me home. It's kind of common sense.

The problem with alcohol is the more you drink, the less your inhibitions and the greater your confidence. Too much alcohol clouds your judgment and that's why drunks usually think they are fine to drive. That's also why technology is the only way to effectively keep drunk drivers off the road.

.08 feels different to everyone. its an EXTREMELY subjective barometer.



many variables go into account...



- your body weight

- your tolerance

- how much youve eaten that day

- hydration or lack thereof

- male/female (we have different amounts of the enzymes that break down the alcohol)



and all that still doesnt take into account whether you are a bad driver or good driver in the first place or if you have good/bad judgement in the first place. most everyone pretty much is not very realistic with themselves on either of those accounts.



but like i said, their are way too many variables in a very subjective system.



THEN, throw in the process of getting the license and determining driving ability, and its far from subjective, the DMV couldnt be more objective in handing out licenses. very odd the apples and oranges type system we have here.



but back to my original point, a .08 isnt a simple equation. many dont know what that feels like because of the variables i listed. for the average person "intoxication" doesnt set in til .15



simply one beer or shot or glass of wine can cause the "average" person a .08 for the the first two hours of drinking that drink. 2 hours! one drink! its that easy to get a DUI!



and if you are going to tell me that at one drink, you then feel too unsafe to drive, then chances are you probably arent that safe a driver in the first place sober. but then again, you have never drank before so you really have no leg to stand on in this debate.



in my case, i race karts from time to time. and i will admit, ive done it drunk at places like pole position and dromo1....the karts are easily going average daily road going car speeds and they require a lot more reaction time and coordination. it takes me about 10 drinks before it affects my lap times by only tenths of a second per lap.



granted, i probably have better hand/eye coordination than most, but the fact is, even at a .20, i would be WELL over the legal limit, but maybe not even close to a hazard on the road. and i think that is what the real discussion is, being dangerous to yourself or others on the road. (note: i probably only drink 5-6 times a year so i have far from a high tolerance nor am i an alcoholic by any definition).



take true alcoholics for example, they can seem perfectly sober at as much as a .25 due to their tolerance. are they a danger to those on the road? honestly, probably not anymore than the old lady who hit me the other day while i was cycling, put me and my road bike on the hood of her car, and continued to drive even as i was banging on her windshield and hood. it took her 25 feet before she decided to stop and then she yelled at me for scratching her car.



bad judgement is bad judgement. it has no boundaries and isnt even close to being amplified at .08 or even a .15....that fat chic any of you had a one nite stand with years back aint the fault of the alcohol unless you were putting down 6 drinks an hour, then i will believe it.



again, the drunk driver has an excuse as to why they caused an accident. whats the sober drivers excuse? food for thought.

"simply one beer or shot or glass of wine can cause the "average" person a .08 for the the first two hours of drinking that drink. 2 hours! one drink! its that easy to get a DUI!"

Where in the hell did you get that information? Maybe if youre 80 lbs thats true, but the "average" person that isnt close to being accurate

yes it is accurate. it was brought up in traffic school i had to take recently.

thats how subjective the system is.

you would be very suprised to know that the vast majority of DUI's were given with scores from .06 to .10 and that those who were driving had less that a drink an hour and thought they were perfectly fine to drive and were not even remotely worried about being a danger to anyone.

the got pulled over not while driving recklessly mind you, they were simply pulled over randomly during the 11pm-3am window that police know is so successful.

in fact, you can get a DUI while driving without any alcohol in your system.

driving while extremely fatigued is grounds for a DUI arrest if the officer is really hard up to meet his monthly quota.

Here's an alternative to whining about penalties being too severe: don't drive after drinking. Period.

I'm with you Cameron, and bless your friends.
My grandmother was killed by a drunk in a horrific accident, and like many stories, he walked away. Fortunately I was young, and I didn't kill him.

Here's the sad deal. I drive when I probably shouldn't, even though I know better. Now my son can drive me, but I still push it.

About a month ago I got invited to get hammered on the state's dime to give cadets practice at busting drunks. They got me to .124 and I passed 3 of 5 tests. The eyes busted me, but I could stand on one foot, count in weird patterns, walk straight lines...whatever, but I was hammered. My trick is bad ass balance from riding unicycles all my life, I can do that hammered as well, but I can't make good decisions...That's the problem.

I need work as much as anyone, but please, please consider a designated driver. Put your ego aside, and let you and you passenger live another day...I'm working on it.

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here in BC canada, they just changed the laws to .05%. if oyu are cuaght at .05, they suspend your lic for a period of time, impund your car for up to 30 days and you need to take a course wich costs $1200.
so you get the tow bill, impound charge, fine, and need to pay for the course. in the end it costs you thousands. has definetly affected the economy as far as bars and restaurants go.
there was some questions in the news like,\how many major accidents are casued by people between .05 and .08, and the answer was very very minimal. the scare is there and keeps the dui's to a minimum. but is is also a cash grab. our local police made 100k the first weekend the law came into affect,

In Latvia they changed law six month ago, where they doubled everything. One of my relatives got caught with .07% a few weeks ago, after partying all night he got like 5 hour sleep. The fine is as follows- 4 years suspended license, 1600$ fine, 15 days in jail. Police took his car to a paid parking lot , and you can get a car out only when you pay the fine. Parking lot costs 60$ a day so he just abandoned the car cause he couldn`t pay all that money. All I could say to him was - your a fuckin` idiot.