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How Many People Do You Think Are Driving Under the Influence? (Liquor, recreational drugs, abuse of prescribed drugs)

This story (http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/10303191/detail.html) prompted the poll.

Just remembered - At the end of my 20-mile run Saturday, they had snacks and had 6oz. of beer, then drove about 15 minutes later. :o

Seriously, it seems like there are more Driving Under the Influence in large cities...

Hi Chuck:

___I saw the news about the death of the children and mother locally.

___I am an optimist when it comes to the general public’s understanding of the DUI laws and their actions. A former operator at the plant I work at was involved in a DUI in which a lady was killed. Besides losing his livelihood due to the loss of unescorted access because of the felony conviction, he spent a few years behind bars. I doubt he will ever drink again let alone drive under the influence?

___With that, our entire plant site is limited to less then .04 as well as questions during call-outs about not drinking within 5 hours of a scheduled or non-scheduled shift. There are random checks and a lot of signature required reading. Of course most of the US populace do not work in a Fed regulated facility but living in an area known for its drivers DUI, I would expect to see more of this on the highways I traverse. I do not. Then again, my early morning/early evening rotation probably shelter me from those that would take to the roads after drinking beyond the legal limits anyway?

___I remember reading an article about the German DUI laws. I am not sure of the BAC but I believe they lose there driving privileges for life if they were caught DUI. It sounds like we should be under the same guise here in the states …

___I voted < 2% and I hope it is correct?

___Good Luck

___Wayne

I voted <2%. I think that the vast majority of people are sober the vast majority of the time around here. It would be quite a kick to the gut to find out otherwise. Some individuals I've encountered do make me wonder, though. Without going into details, let's just say that my non-presence downtown on the weekends is an informed, conscious decision.

Wayne, it would be interesting if someone had a reputable link of how many non-sober drivers are out on Ameican highways. I want to say 4% is an overestimate on my part, but they certainly stick out.

Abusing prescribed medication might up the DUI count a lot. Back in 1998, I was one of them..... After a long overseas flight, I was treated for a bad case of vertigo - the sedation lasted into the next day, when the doctor suggested I followup. I made the mistake of going on a major road on the short route to the doctor - right into a speed trap manned by four officers. The second time I attempted to talk to the officer, he seemed like a bully by threatening to give me a fourth ticket on top of the three traffic ones (speeding, no seat belt, no proof of insurance in the car). I absolutely was not belligerant and just wanted to explain my vertigo, but was never allowed to. :mad: That experience soured my opinion of the Men in Blue for a time. I don't get that kind of treatment at least 95% of the pullovers. Either he thought I was drunk or was just a bad cop.

Probably should have put "No More than 1%" for a poll choice

Now I know why lakedude got pulled over and the same thing almost happened to me....




What Officers look for in Drunk Driving Suspects....

Turning with wide radius 65%
Straddling center or lane marker 65%
Appearing to be drunk 60%
Almost striking object or vehicle 60%
Weaving 60%
Driving on other than designated roadway 55%
Swerving 55%
Slow speed (more than 10mph below limit) 50%
Stopping (without cause) in traffic lane 50%
Drifting 50%
Following too closely 45%
Tires on center or land marker 45%
Braking erratically 45%
Driving into opposing or crossing traffic 45%
Signalling inconsistent with driving actions 40%
Stopping inappropriately (other than in lane)35%
Turning abruptly or illegally 35%
Accelerating or decelerating rapidly 30%
Headlights off 30%If the officer observes enough to have a reasonable suspicion to legally justify a further detention and investigation, he will ask the driver to step out of the vehicle

Driving into opposing or crossing traffic 45%

HEH. I guess that isn't as much of a concern as some of the other things ;)

If police officers start dressing as Borat, nobody will dare get drunk. :D

Check out Story (http://www.smh.com.au/news/film/frat-boys-sue-borat/2006/11/13/1163266443645.html)

... A former operator at the plant I work at was involved in a DUI in which a lady was killed. Besides losing his livelihood due to the loss of unescorted access because of the felony conviction, he spent a few years behind bars. I doubt he will ever drink again let alone drive under the influence?...

I also know someone that worked at my place that lost his job because the nature of his conviction (totally different from DWI) made him unable to work. :(

Somehow, prevention and early action might be the best way to stop tradegies like this. Letting the public know multiple DWI convictions won't be allowed would prevent many deaths. This story (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15698847/) told of a drunk four times the limit in a pickup that hit a minivan with six on the wrong side of I25 in New Mexico. He had at least three DWI convictions in Colorado previously. The drunk and five in the minivan died. :(

Chuck
The last time I was in Texas,(~1990) the guy I was working with had a beer cooler permanently connected in his back seat, and always had an open beer in his hand. He said that Texans like to drink, and that the cops left you alone unless you were driving crazy.
Is that still true??
;)

Mike,

I fear some research would be more frightening than just remembering that Texas leads the nation in alchol-related accidents. :eek: Since 1990, Texas has passed an open container law - can't do it anymore. In fact, an early post in this thread was about a nasty cop that must have assumed the lingering sedation from my vertigo was drunkeness.

Sadly, Austin just made it a lot easier to make towns to hold wet/dry elections. The arguement (which I reject) is liquor sales generate more revenue. Texas is one of about eight states without a state income tax. I suspect it will happen, and Texas politicans are fearful it might happen on their watch...

People are going to get their beer, but if there are liquor stores on every other block, the crime will offset any revenues gained from the taxes.

I'm not sure what the ultimate effect is for a dry county. I grew up in a dry county and I thought the whole idea was totally absurd. Based upon my observations, I would think that having dry counties increases drunk driving. Unfortunately, most people do not plan ahead. If they want their beer bad enough (which they usually do), they start drinking on the way home (often a 30 minute drive). What is worse is when they run out of beer after drinking. They cannot just walk to a convenience store to pick up some more beer. They end up driving a 60 mile round trip. The wasted gas should also be of concern on this forum.

It was always the religious fanatics that pushed to keep my county dry. These are the same people that took away our MTV back in the 80s. I am not kidding. They protested and threatened until the cable company removed it.

I don't know what the solution is, but there are problems with totally dry and totally wet.

Somewhere in the middle seems like the least of the evils....

I undertand "totally dry" but I don't understand "totally wet." I guess the only middle ground is to involve "blue laws" like we have here, which basically say that you can't buy after such and such an hour and you can't buy on Sunday. But that doesn't stop people from driving around drunk. When my car was hit by a drunk driver in high school it was because he was just going home from a buddy's house. They had just stocked up early in the day.

I'm really tripping over myself on this one. :o

One one extreme - NightQuil might be banned in a strictly dry town. (I might be exaggerating)

The other extreme is the entire town looking too much like a red light district.

Maybe what I'm suggesting is Zoning on liquor other than beer.

None of the zoning of wet/dry county stuff matters. I answered 20%. The tragity will always happen. The fact remains the poor drunk gets a bad rap IMO. Target the drunk! OOO never mind about that sober person that just killed a family,,, thats just a accident and not worthy of the news. But the drunk! Slay them.

I would much rather see the cops target folks that cant merge on freeways or take folks to the carpet that run red lights. Or pull folks over that have a cell phone crammed against the ear.

I'm not holding up for the drink and drivers. Its just they are the target. Around here a drunk driver can get T-Boned by a red light runner and all the sudden all that matters is there drunk. And it wasn't even the drunks fault! DUI out weights failure to yield or running a red light. So in a distorted way it all becomes the impaired persons fault. And this cause's bad data. This has happened to several folks I know. They shouldn't have been driving but they took the brunt of the law because they where. And the guilty party's walked.

I personely think theres something way wrong with how the law of driving drunk is enforced at times.

psyshack,

You have a very good point that drunks are not the only bad actors on the road, esp. in recent years. There is a sharp increase of distracted drivers and for lack of a better word, drivers that just don't give a **** about anyone else. I wish it was as easy as a breath test on the other bad drivers, but they deserve having the book thrown at them too.

I know that all bad drivers are annoying, but the ones that cause the most problems are the ones that are too young, too old, or under the influence.

Does this kind of stuff happen when people are just distracted by their cell phone?
http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=ed0ec57d-0abe-421a-0094-03ca1b3a42cf&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf

Mr Kite,

The link on that Denver family being wiped out is tragic indeed :(

As pointed out, lots of things contribute to highway accidents.

A lot of drivers choose to be irresponsible.

Hi Mr. Kite:

___God speed to the Bingham family :(

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Yes, the story of the Bingham family is extremely tragic. Sometimes I wish that I did not even watch the news. The crosswalk where they were run down is one that I have walked across before and will probably walk across again on Sunday before the Broncos game. (It is between the bar/restaurant where I start and the stadium.) Although I will be drinking, I will get dropped off before the game and will take a bus after the game. The people who do stuff like this are extremely drunk and it amazes me that they would even consider driving--especially in a downtown area. I would imagine that this behavior requires a blood alcohol level way above the legal limit.

I do understand the annoyances of those talking on their cell phones and am in favor of some bans against this. I think people should at least be required to use a hands free device while driving an automobile.