Drunk Driving

ransom wrote: In reply to poopshovel: Dude, that's like nine minutes early. What, are you on bar time? I'm tellin' your boss!

9 minutes early? WTF time do you guys eat lunch?

Dr. Hess wrote: If we banned automobiles from public roads we would save 50K lives a year. Do it. For the children.

This could save thousands of motorcyclists' lives as well... I think you're on to something.

Dr. Hess wrote: So, Iggy and WB, you guys up on this?: http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2013/5/9/when-flight-safety-gets-outsourced-to-china.html Welcome to the club. I wonder if they have random pee tests and fired/rehab for wet lunches?

not sure how that affects the company where I worked ... we had as much work as our parts suppliers (which includes our own machine shop) could get us ...

but also it doesn't affect me now ... since I retired last Nov

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

ransom wrote: In reply to poopshovel: Dude, that's like nine minutes early. What, are you on bar time? I'm tellin' your boss!

9 minutes early? WTF time do you guys eat lunch?

Lunch? Oh, you mean beerlevensies?

wbjones wrote:

Dr. Hess wrote: So, Iggy and WB, you guys up on this?: http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2013/5/9/when-flight-safety-gets-outsourced-to-china.html Welcome to the club. I wonder if they have random pee tests and fired/rehab for wet lunches?

not sure how that affects the company where I worked ... we had as much work as our parts suppliers (which includes our own machine shop) could get us ... but also it doesn't affect me now ... since I retired last Nov

Technically if they are FAA licensed they must have those drug enforcement items. Now they could Caac certified or Easa and maybe skirt the issues, but I thought Easa was basically a copy if FAA rules.

Anyway, I do engine work and can talk at length about the bad parts and repairs I see from both domestic and international repair centers. But there are always many airlines that will pay more for quality. Many of the 1st tier airlines won't touch a Chinese engine part or oh'd engine.

the majority of our products were resolvers, actuators, & LVDT's ... these and other less often built/repaired parts were what came under FAA sanction

we also make the laser sights for the M1A1 Abrams battle tank, alternators for the Navy that end up powering their torpedo's among other things ....but those aren't under FAA sanction ....

MADD.

You want to see a TEXTBOOK example of an organization that was started by good people with noble goals, but eventually stayed in existence just for the sake of existing, look at Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

In the late 70's and early 80's, drunk driving was out of control and MADD did a good job of pushing for tougher laws and increasing public awareness of the problem. It was founded by a lady named Candy Lightner whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver in 1980.

MADD was central in getting the BAC limit down to .08 in all states. The organization hasn't called for a lowering of the limit yet, but most of MADD's leaders have said they support it on an individual level. The problem with this is that your driving skills generally aren't notably impaired at .05, or at .08, or in my opinion at .10.

In my experience as a lawyer who's handled DWI's and as a guy whose social circle is almost all drinkers, I can say this. The people who are stopped by police because they are obviously unable to drive the car correctly (weaving, unable to maintain speed, general obvious bad driving) are almost always above .15 BAC, and usually higher than that. These are the people who don't need to be behind the wheel of a car.

I live in a college town where the police are death on DWI. I have had multiple friends (three or four immediately spring to mind) who have gotten pulled over for a headlight/taillight out, expired tags, or any number of other violations not related to how they are operating the car, but because it was after ten o'clock on a Friday/Saturday night, they got the field sobriety test, then the breathalyzer, then the DWI. None of them blew over a .10.

I think we should set the limit back to .12 and watch as DWI-related deaths don't climb.

And someone who is on medications that cause them to lose balance at .06 and shouldn't be driving can be stopped how? Thats the only problem I have with a higher BAC maximum, although it is not directly caused by the alcohol, but the alcohol and drug combined.

N Sperlo wrote: And someone who is on medications that cause them to lose balance at .06 and shouldn't be driving can be stopped how? Thats the only problem I have with a higher BAC maximum, although it is not directly caused by the alcohol, but the alcohol and drug combined.

They would fail the field sobriety test. You can get an impaired driving citation for any substance use if it interferes with your driving.

dculberson wrote:

N Sperlo wrote: And someone who is on medications that cause them to lose balance at .06 and shouldn't be driving can be stopped how? Thats the only problem I have with a higher BAC maximum, although it is not directly caused by the alcohol, but the alcohol and drug combined.

They would fail the field sobriety test. You can get an impaired driving citation for any substance use if it interferes with your driving.

Or riding, as it were. In PA you can get a DUI for using your bicycle instead of a car. I feel the defendant's response is 100% understandable in this case.

http://onwardstate.com/2013/03/19/man-convicted-of-dui-while-riding-bicycle/

There's a guy here in town who used to ride his lawnmower everywhere, supposedly because he'd gotten multiple DUIs. I've seen him hoofin' it lately, and assumed his lawnmower dun broke. Rumor has it, he got a DUI on the mower.

dculberson wrote:

N Sperlo wrote: And someone who is on medications that cause them to lose balance at .06 and shouldn't be driving can be stopped how? Thats the only problem I have with a higher BAC maximum, although it is not directly caused by the alcohol, but the alcohol and drug combined.

They would fail the field sobriety test. You can get an impaired driving citation for any substance use if it interferes with your driving.

You can refuse the field sobriety test. I've done it. They are designed for failure. QUICK! Stand on one leg and recite your ABCs backwards!

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

Curmudgeon wrote: But I also agree with an earlier post in that that I think I can drive better at .10 than the majority of the population does stone cold sober.

The problem being... that is what every drunk driver thinks too. Odds are, none of you are right. To settle this matter - I suggest a karting nite. The first hour is sober laps. Then happy hour. Then drunk laps. No one is allowed on track until they blow a 1.5 so they don't sober up before the hour is over. Even if we prove nothing... atleast it will be a great time.

How are we supposed to get home?

Woody wrote:

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

Curmudgeon wrote: But I also agree with an earlier post in that that I think I can drive better at .10 than the majority of the population does stone cold sober.

The problem being... that is what every drunk driver thinks too. Odds are, none of you are right. To settle this matter - I suggest a karting nite. The first hour is sober laps. Then happy hour. Then drunk laps. No one is allowed on track until they blow a 1.5 so they don't sober up before the hour is over. Even if we prove nothing... atleast it will be a great time.

How are we supposed to get home?

We have to push our bikes.

One of my good friends always tells the story of how a man from his home town in nowhere Ky got a DUI while on a horse. Dont know if it is true, but he swears it is.

My buddy got arrested for walking home drunk one night. He came out, knew he was not in shape, and left his car in the parking lot. He told the cop, "If I had just driven, I'd have been home long before you even came by." Honey badger cop didn't give a E36 M3.

Duke wrote: My buddy got arrested for *walking* home drunk one night. He came out, knew he was not in shape, and left his car in the parking lot. He told the cop, "If I had just driven, I'd have been home long before you even came by." Honey badger cop didn't give a E36 M3.

For what? Drunk in Public?

I assume so, though he was walking quietly, and alone, down a sidewalk near a suburban road.

I have worked both sides of the fence on this issue(and have driven home once or twice when I shouldnt have in the early days). Generally the cops are looking for the extreme cases ie failing the driving test(wrecking), being obnoxious and being totally out of it(I thought that I was going east). MADD and other do-gooders were the root of the change and posted observers in all of our courtrooms. If I did something creative, I would get a page from my boss before I even got out of court on some days. Tn is still the bible belt so our legislature continues to add new laws aimed at controlling impaired driving and the courts interpret them very conservative since these type groups can get you voted out of office if they focus on a particular individual.
Living near a major college party school and having 3 major lakes in the county, we have more than our share of the good person making bad decision cases. The hard-core drunk is an easy case; Buffy in the BMW is much harder. However many more of the cases now involve the abuse of prescription meds so you can expect that area to tighten up too.

mtn wrote:

Duke wrote: My buddy got arrested for *walking* home drunk one night. He came out, knew he was not in shape, and left his car in the parking lot. He told the cop, "If I had just driven, I'd have been home long before you even came by." Honey badger cop didn't give a E36 M3.

For what? Drunk in Public?

"I was drunk in a BAR. I was THROWN into 'public.'"

In reply to whenry:

Around here, the cops are not nearly so selective or lenient in who they enforce DWI's against. Laws are great until someone has to enforce them.

As an aside, I did have a friend who got a riding while intoxicated ticket on a bicycle when we were in college. He had ridden his bike to the bars because he was getting tanked, left at closing time and went to bunny-hop a curb in front of a parked cruiser....but he hopped way too early, ran into the curb, and got thrown up, over and into a hedge on the far side of the sidewalk. Cop pulled him out of the hedge and gave him a ride home, along with a ticket (just an infraction, no points). Kenny said the cop couldn't stop laughing the entire time he was in the car.

SciroccoPhil wrote: One of my good friends always tells the story of how a man from his home town in nowhere Ky got a DUI while on a horse. Dont know if it is true, but he swears it is.

There have been people charged with - and even some convicted of - DUI while on horseback. There was also a case where the defendant successfully argued that the horse was driving and not him. (he was passed out on the horse.)

I want to live in a place where it's cool to ride a horse to a bar.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: I want to live in a place where it's cool to ride a horse to a bar.

It is always cool to ride a horse to a bar.

dculberson wrote:

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: I want to live in a place where it's cool to ride a horse to a bar.

It is always cool to ride a horse to a bar.

NSFW, but funny; Rubber Bandits, "Horse Outside"