Calling in on drunks on the road

[300UGUY]

A couple of months ago I was on the interstate and a woman with the usual drunk tactics (speed, swerving etc.) passed me. I called 911 (California actually posts signs encouraging you to call them in) and was talking to the dispatcher on my HANDSFREE and she hit the center divider! I don't think there was any question they got her! Fortunately, no other cars were involved.

I don't know about other states, but first time DUI here will cost you $5,000 by the time your done.

That's cheap. Here in Michigan, a 1st offense averages about 15K, after the high risk insurance and legal fees are paid. Attorney's advertise DUI fees as starting at $1,500. A guy I worked with was a multiple offender, and his last one cost him over $40K. And that was 20 years ago. If you have a job, often you can serve your time on weekends. But you have to pay for the privlege, $150+, per night, depending on the county. $300+ per week for up to 36 months adds up. There are a lot of guys who simply go underground after a DUI or 2. They never get a license again, can't afford the insurance. And it affects their ability to get decent employment. If there is a injury or death, it gets much worse.

 

[300UGUY]

It's all about awareness, skill and ability. If your good you can text while driving a motorcycle, talk on the cell phone through curves in a car and be one of the safest drivers on the road.
The problem is most people are not good drivers to begin with.
Texting or cell phone use while driving a car or motorcycle would be elementary to a Jet Fighter Pilot.

Several years ago, I was traveling south on US23 near Ann Arbor. We saw a car swerve onto the shoulder, then he lost control and rolled several times. We stopped, and I ran up to the car, and pulled the driver out. The car was on it's roof. The driver looked a bit beat up, but not real bad. His first words were " I was just on the phone..."

 

[chopped]

Usually emergecy calls are exempt from the law.At least here.

 

[niemeyjt]

at risk of a slight sidetrack, how do you test for a DUI in US? On TV we see the Police Videos of someone having to walk along a line or touch their nose - but is that really it? Do you do blood or breath tests too? Is there a prescribed limit?

J

 

[kidr]

It's all about awareness, skill and ability. If your good you can text while driving a motorcycle, talk on the cell phone through curves in a car and be one of the safest drivers on the road.
The problem is most people are not good drivers to begin with.
Texting or cell phone use while driving a car or motorcycle would be elementary to a Jet Fighter Pilot.

Yeah , and chickens have teeth.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

at risk of a slight sidetrack, how do you test for a DUI in US? On TV we see the Police Videos of someone having to walk along a line or touch their nose - but is that really it? Do you do blood or breath tests too? Is there a prescribed limit?

J

.08 alcohol content and we had to fight like crazy to get that. One of the strongest lobbying groups in the country involves alcohol.

The officer who took my statement told me the average first time dwi costs sixteeen grand now. I know three people that have three, one of them has a business and is now not around on weekends.

I understand that in europe and australia that the cops can pull over someone leaving a bar and test them just because they drove away from a bar. Here the officer has to pull them over for cause or the case is tossed. That's why they wanted my statement even though they had the 9-1-1 tapes and the he/she flunked the field test.

I was a witness on a dwi about ten or so years ago. I was the only witness to show up and it was plea bargained when I showed up according to the prosecutor. Otherwise they would have tried it and mabye gotten off he said.

I'm sixty two years old. I've had a drunk spin out in front of me on the freeway totalling his car. That one I had to restrain him until the cops arrived because he complained about being hurt and needing to get to the hospital.

I was the first one on the scene of a van conversion on its roof in the middle of the freeway one morning. I found a blond drunk on her butt sitting on the roof laughing like a wild thing.

I was involved in what I assume what a drunk's parking a black pickup perpendicular to the divider, locking the doors, and shutting off the lights. He/she abandoned the truck with it blocking half of number one lane. At five in the morning and it raining I tried to highlight it for oncoming by parking my truck with its rotating ambers and fourways just down from it. When it was over there was a massive pile up, California, hwy 60 just outside of LA. You've never lived until you've almost died trying to help somone with cars crashing all around you. The CHP's told me it could have been a lot worse.

 

[coreshot]

at risk of a slight sidetrack, how do you test for a DUI in US? On TV we see the Police Videos of someone having to walk along a line or touch their nose - but is that really it? Do you do blood or breath tests too? Is there a prescribed limit?

J

The walking the line thing is just a "field sobriety test", used in order to see if the officer wants to go further with breathalizer or blood tests. In order to arrest someone for dui, they need to have the actual bac number to make the charges stick.

 

[jinman]

Texting or cell phone use while driving a car or motorcycle would be elementary to a Jet Fighter Pilot.

I have to strongly disagree. Cockpit distractions are common reasons that airplanes crash or overshoot runways and have to go around. There is a whole branch of technology that is dedicated to reducing the workload of military fighter pilots because of information overload. In commercial and business aviation, the cockpit crew separates duties so that the pilot can fly the plane while the copilot handles radios, GPS, reads and performs checklists, handles gear and flaps on landing, and even backs up the pilot on the throttles. When training pilots how to react to emergencies, the first instruction is always, "Fly the airplane." As soon as you get both pilot and copilot looking down and tweaking on the FMS or GPS, something bad may well happen. On more than one occasion, airplanes have been flown directly into the ground or a mountain due to distracted pilots.

 

[Nissan197]

at risk of a slight sidetrack, how do you test for a DUI in US? On TV we see the Police Videos of someone having to walk along a line or touch their nose - but is that really it? Do you do blood or breath tests too? Is there a prescribed limit?

J

HGN, Walk and Turn, One Leg Stand are three field sobriety tests given by law enforcement to see if further testing should be conducted, such as a breath/blood test for alcohol or urine for drugs. There are many other tests, but the three mentioned tests are recognized by NHTSA. If an officer has lots of observations (weaving, unable to balance, odor of alcohol/drugs, slurred speech, bloodshot eyes, etc.) a subject can still be charged and found guilty for dui even if they refused all testing. It is harder, but it can be done. I think now all states have a limit of .08, as compared to .10 a few years ago. In Kansas anyone under 21 has a limit of .02 if they are driving (still will get an MIP if any alcohol shows) and if you are in a commercial vehicle the limit is .04.

 

[Bird]

I have to strongly disagree. Cockpit distractions are common reasons that airplanes crash or overshoot runways and have to go around. There is a whole branch of technology that is dedicated to reducing the workload of military fighter pilots because of information overload. In commercial and business aviation, the cockpit crew separates duties so that the pilot can fly the plane while the copilot handles radios, GPS, reads and performs checklists, handles gear and flaps on landing, and even backs up the pilot on the throttles. When training pilots how to react to emergencies, the first instruction is always, "Fly the airplane." As soon as you get both pilot and copilot looking down and tweaking on the FMS or GPS, something bad may well happen. On more than one occasion, airplanes have been flown directly into the ground or a mountain due to distracted pilots.

I think you've got it right. When I saw that post about a jet pilot being able to do those things, my first thought was that there are probably a few pilots who believe that, just as there are some hard drinkers who think they're still safe drivers when drunk.:laughing::laughing: