DUI/DWI arrests

[MNtopcop]

MNtopcop here wondering what other Law Enforcement officers around the US feel about the new >08 legislation being imposed for stricter DUI/DWI laws.

Here in Minnesota, we are currently standing at .10 AC but with the federal highway funding at stake...we too will be at .08 sooner, than later.

As of 01-07-04, I have already put 4 drunks away for DUI/DWI and was wondering how many you guys put away per year. I am shooting for approximately 100 this year.

Also, those Officers with the .08 AC law, please give me your take on the new legislation....is it beneficial for Highway safety or taking from the innocent citizen who goes out and has two drinks and some dinner.

[Toeknee112]

Been .08 in California since 1990. I have no problem with it. If a person has two drinks and is .08 or over they shouldn't be driving. Period. I don't consider them "innocent citizens."

[Lfpdlieu302]

we got the .09 law last year, we were .10 before that. i personally like it, more incentive for people not to drink and drive.

[Stump]

NY just switched to the .08 law recently (months ago). I don't have hard statistics, but I know now the nights they do the roadside checks, they RAKE in DWI arrests!!!

[Scruit]

You shouldn't be driving if you've even had ONE beer. :mad:

[Cobra]

MN,

Where are you from in MN? I live in Woodbury.

[mcsap]

Agreed. I don't like people who drink and drive. If that offends anybody, no apologies from me. I don't imbibe.

.08 is fine, we just got it Oct 1st. People start to be affected by around a .05. Under 21 yrs old our BAC is.02 and any level of alcohol at all is a $100 fine and a 60 day suspension. For commercial drivers in a commercial vehicle it is .04, any level of alcohol is a $100 fine and they can't drive their rig for 24 hrs. This includes simple possession of booze in the CAB even if they didn't drink any.

[rdp]

We changed to the .08 in Oct. 03. Prior to that, it was common for me to find people just below the previous .10 limit that failed the FST's but the DA would typically drop the charge because they weren't the "per se" limit.

I am happy to see it at .08. It discourages people from drinking with the new law. I have ran into numerous people that are worried over the lower limit and won't risk driving when they used to.

[Scruit]

It amazes me how many of my friends (in professional jobs earning around $100k, so these are supposedly intelligent and educated people) will go for a drink after work, drive 3 or 4 beers then drive home. And then when *I* look up form my 4th glass of coca-cola and ask; "Did you call a taxi" suddenly *I* am the bad guy... :mad:

I drove drunk once, when I was 17, so I am not a 100% Angel myself - but I was nearly killed once by a drunk driver that crossed the median and hit me head-on at 80mph, and that sort of thing tends to polarize your attitude... ;)

I owuld like to see the limit at .02 for EVERYONE. We need to get past this strange concept that it's ok to drink a little - it's much easier for people to understand that even one single drink will wind up with them looking at the angry side of a cruiser's cage.

We don't trust people to decide what appropriate speed limits are - we give them speed signs and speedometers - when your speedomete is higher than the speed sign you are breaking the law - simple, yeah? People have NO easy way of determining their alcohol %, and how much you drink to get you there is different for each person. That's like putting a speed limit sign up, but not giving people speedometers!

So we either need to start putting public breatalysers in bars so that people who leave the bar get test their blood alcohol level and then make an INFORMED decision as to whether they should drive or now (and that won't work if you have beer in your stomach that is yet to make it to your bloodstream) - OR simply make the sule you cannot drink AT ALL and still drive.


Allowing people to guess how much they can drink and still be under the legal limit is like playing russian roulette, only the gun is pointing at the innocent family in the minivan.

[P01IC3M4N]

well, you don't drive around looking for a .08. you drive around looking for impaired drivers. the .08 is just evidentiary. i've yet to stop an impaired driver who blew less than a .12.

[Toeknee112]

Originally posted by P01IC3M4N
well, you don't drive around looking for a .08. you drive around looking for impaired drivers. the .08 is just evidentiary. i've yet to stop an impaired driver who blew less than a .12.

Very true. Statistics from California Dept. of Alcohol and Drugs: The typical BAC for a first time DUI arrest is .16 and second through fourth offenses is .18 :mad:

[mcsap]

We also recently picked up an open container law, any open container of booze = $105 fine. No matter where in the car. Used to be a vio only if they were actually drinking from it.

[Kahboom]

If I'm driving, I don't drink at all unless I know that I'm going to be at the place where I am drinking for a looong while. Even at that I limit myself to one or two drinks max and only if I'm with someone else who's not drinking, if I perceive that I MAY need to drive, and if I feel even "tipsy" I don't drive. It's just not worth it. There is too much for me and perhaps an innocent bystander to lose.

[rdp]

Originally posted by P01IC3M4N
i've yet to stop an impaired driver who blew less than a .12.

The more DUI's you do, the better you become at detecting a lower BAC.

When it was .10, I had several arrest right around .100- .102. I had quite a few that I could of arrested that PBT'd (after all the other FSTs) less than .10.

[acreature]

Been .08 as long as I have been on. I wish it were a zero per se law like we have all drivers under 21. Zero alcohol in your system whatsoever. We all know alcohol affects people in different ways and in differing amounts.


The only fair way to treat everyone equal is to have it at zero.