Over the Top DUIs

Posted by Ann Sattley on Tuesday, August 7th, 2012

I don’t agree with drunk driving. I’ve read arguments to legalize drunk driving, but that’s not necessarily my position…yet. Unlike some other regulations that I discuss, drunk driving has the potential to seriously harm another individual. However, the laws raise enough concerns for me to be troubled by them.

Drunk driving laws lead to witch hunts. Of course, I am referring to police check points. If you have to stop every single car, question the people therein, and administer random breath tests in order to tell whether people are too drunk to be operating a vehicle, maybe the law is too strict. After all, they were enacted for safety purposes. So, if the person isn’t causing a disturbance or driving poorly, maybe they aren’t dangerous after all.

They say that a blood alcohol level of 0.08% can affect your reasoning, depth perception, and peripheral vision. However, just a few decades ago, the legal limit was 0.15%. Either way, did you know you can get cited for DUI if you are under the legal limit IF an officer claims that you showed “signs of impairment?” That’s pretty subjective. However, there is no provision for NOT getting a ticket if you are over the limit and DON’T show signs of impairment.

I don’t point all of this out because I support drunk driving. I just definitely don’t support unfair laws. There are many over the top instances of DUI citations. I’m reading a book right now written by an attorney, Michael D. Cicchini, that gives examples of people getting DUI citations for turning the key halfway on (accessory mode) and sleeping in the car.

The most recent example to make the national news is that of an Alaska man who was given a DUI for floating down a river on a raft while intoxicated. I suppose this was for his own good, because it can’t be construed as being a public safety issue.

(The original article I linked to about this story is no longer available. Efforts have been made to find a replacement, but the details may not always be the same in cases like this.)

Related posts:

  1. Speed Traps
  2. Eating While Driving
  3. There’s a Law for That
  4. Wherein Legislation Does Not Keep You Safe
  5. Even to Keep Us Safer…

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6 comments
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rachhoyt
rachhoyt

The idea of getting a DUI for sleeping in your car is pretty infuriating, but I am ok with check points.  I think it's easier to catch the drunks before accidents happen if you set up a check point near the bars and keep a few officers patrolling the surrounding area looking for those who try to dodge the check point.

csmallo17
csmallo17

I knew a guy who was sleeping off a drunk in a car that had a dead battery.   He put the key in to show the cop that the car would not even turn over and got nabbed for a DUI.     In Kentucky we also had a case where a man had a fight with his wife and drove on the family farm to a creek to cool off.    The cops had been called and they arrested him for DUI.  The courts said that even though he was never on a public road, he could have been and they upheld the conviction.