So I'm going to Prison for 2 years

[mrh86]

MuresanForMVP, you are given a chance to prove your coordination when you're suspected of drunk driving. If you pass the coordination tests flawlessly, you will most likely not be tested via breathalyzer. I've been in a situation where my friend who had not been drinking was pulled over while driving my car on the way home from AC. The car smelled strongly of alcohol, but he got out and performed coordination tests flawlessly and wasn't even tested via breathalyzer.

If you have been drinking though, and you suspect that you're under the legal limit, you have a right not to tell the officer that you've been drinking AND refuse coordination tests. You just can't refuse the breathalyzer.

[tuq]

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and for those of you saying 0.8 is a stupid arbitrary line - 0.8 is pretty drunk - it definitely affects your ability to drive. there have been many, many studies done on this (none of which i'm going to look up cuz i'm lazy).

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10 you are wrong
20 goto 10

This thread is like a very simple BASIC program.

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10 you are an old man
20 you have no friends, no life. probably not married but if you are you're definitely not getting any.
30 you spend 100% of your free time on 2+2
40 that is pretty pathetic

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Is this type of personal attack really necessary? My point was that your point about 0.8 (sic, but who cares, I got your point) definitively "affecting ability to drive" is wrong, it's been proven wrong, and we've been through this already. But I mean whatever, obviously attacking me as a person nullifies all of this.

[tuq]

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A cop has to have a reason to pull you over

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"LOL"

[MuresanForMVP]

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MuresanForMVP, you are given a chance to prove your coordination when you're suspected of drunk driving. If you pass the coordination tests flawlessly, you will most likely not be tested via breathalyzer. I've been in a situation where my friend who had not been drinking was pulled over while driving my car on the way home from AC. The car smelled strongly of alcohol, but he got out and performed coordination tests flawlessly and wasn't even tested via breathalyzer.

If you have been drinking though, and you suspect that you're under the legal limit, you have a right not to tell the officer that you've been drinking AND refuse coordination tests. You just can't refuse the breathalyzer.

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The problem with this is that if the officer wants you to fail this test then he will find a way. and like you said, you can't refuse a breathalyzer. Actually you can, but then your license is automatically suspended, but w/e. I think my idea is far better than the current system. Cops can almost literally pull you over for any reason, and often do if they know the bars just got out and you look of college-age or whatever. It appears that you're putting FFAARRRR too much confidence in the police to use discretion in these situations.

[Edge34]

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A cop has to have a reason to pull you over

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"LOL"

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"LOL" all you want, its cute. However, its true. Even if its something as weak as failing to signal or not coming to a complete stop at a red light when you're going to make a right turn. Save the cutesy "zomg cops have too much power" for another thread, please.

I'm not saying it has to be a STRONG reason, but unless they're at a DUI checkpoint where they basically do everybody, they HAVE to have a reason logged for pulling you over. Simple as that. Keep it on the straight and narrow and don't give them one.

[MuresanForMVP]

And I don't wanna just prove my coordination. I want to prove i'm very capable of operating a vehicle according to the normal MVA standards for receiving a driver's license, with a certain BAC. Therefore I should legally be able to operate an automobile at that level.

[CallMeIshmael]

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*insert Daliman reference*

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yeah i was talking per mille, which is standard in europe. next time i'll try to remember to convert to american.

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*insert comment about which country Im in and which country you're in right now*

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i'm on the internet. where are you?

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries

[X] America
[ ] The Internet

[MuresanForMVP]

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"LOL" all you want, its cute. However, its true. Even if its something as weak as failing to signal or not coming to a complete stop at a red light when you're going to make a right turn. Save the cutesy "zomg cops have too much power" for another thread, please.

I'm not saying it has to be a STRONG reason, but unless they're at a DUI checkpoint where they basically do everybody, they HAVE to have a reason logged for pulling you over. Simple as that. Keep it on the straight and narrow and don't give them one.

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"Officer, why did you pull the defendant over?"


"Your honor, it was approximately 1:40am, the bars had just gotten out, they appeared to be of college age, and were driving from the direction of said drinking establishments. Given my years on the force, my experience in situations like this, and the totality of the circumstances, I decided to stop them on the suspicion of drunk driving. When I approached the car, the defendant seemed nervous, and the car smelled of alcohol. I instructed the driver to step out of the car, and I administered a field sobriety test. The defendant did not complete the test to the specific guidelines set forth, and upon receiving a breathalyzer reading of .09 I arrested him for driving under the influence."

Judge: Pwned, guilty.


You'd be surprised, man. You can make a reason out of essentially nothing these days.

[tuq]

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Cops can almost literally pull you over for any reason, and often do if they know the bars just got out

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Not "almost" literally.

The most frustrating case of this that I know involved a friend who already had a DUI. He was at a titty bar in Scottsdale, ~15-20 miles from his home in Chandler. He had since become a huge advocate of getting taxis and being safe. Mostly from the law, not from each other, because that's what it's become.

Well the titty bar he was leaving (Babes, for those of you familiar) had parking mostly in the rear, i.e. not visible from the street, thus a vandal's dream. He pulled out of there to go to a laundry <1/2 mile away, and had already called a cab. Well a cop was camped in the parking lot of the antique stores across from the bar and popped him for an illegal turn (by law you must turn into the first lane, he turned into the third lane because he needed to make a fairly immediate left turn...not to mention that loose turns are the #1 indicator of drunk driving).

The reason I know he wasn't BSing was that the turn was away from his home, I used to live right by that laundry, and I know what a zealot he had become. He was putting the public at negligible danger driving on an empty six lane road ~1/3 mile to park his car and get a cab home. But whatever, right? I don't remember his BAC reading but I knew it didn't fall under the extreme rules. To his credit, he tells this story with no apologies and no complaints, and only upon prompting.

[Edge34]

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Cops can almost literally pull you over for any reason, and often do if they know the bars just got out

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Not "almost" literally.

The most frustrating case of this that I know involved a friend who already had a DUI. He was at a titty bar in Scottsdale, ~15-20 miles from his home in Chandler. He had since become a huge advocate of getting taxis and being safe. Mostly from the law, not from each other, because that's what it's become.

Well the titty bar he was leaving (Babes, for those of you familiar) had parking mostly in the rear, i.e. not visible from the street, thus a vandal's dream. He pulled out of there to go to a laundry <1/2 mile away, and had already called a cab. Well a cop was camped in the parking lot of the antique stores across from the bar and popped him for an illegal turn (by law you must turn into the first lane, he turned into the third lane because he needed to make a fairly immediate left turn...not to mention that loose turns are the #1 indicator of drunk driving).

The reason I know he wasn't BSing was that the turn was away from his home, I used to live right by that laundry, and I know what a zealot he had become. He was putting the public at negligible danger driving on an empty six lane road ~1/3 mile to park his car and get a cab home. But whatever, right? I don't remember his BAC reading but I knew it didn't fall under the extreme rules. To his credit, he tells this story with no apologies and no complaints, and only upon prompting.

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No apologies and no complaints. Does it suck that people like that get DUIs? Yeah. I'm glad he had already called a cab and hopefully the issue didn't screw up his insurance or whatever. Keep in mind that obviously different jurisdictions have different regulations. Some places may have more leeway with borderline breathalyzers. Apparently Arizona isn't one of them. Minnesota, the state where nothing is allowed, may have some room for judgment.

So, really, your friend was a victim of the technicality of the law. I will never say EVERY drunk driver is a menace, but if you don't want to only prosecute DUI when they hurt somebody, sometimes there will be people who get pinched on a close call. It happens.