For those of you looking to take Traffic School online, here is the link. It’s Traffic School made easy. No need to sit in a classroom with a group of people you don’t know… this course is very easy and extremly informative.
12-Hour Advanced Driver Improvement Course
You will select this course if you have received a letter from DHSMV that your Drivers License has been suspended. You can sign up for this course if you are required to take the 12-Hour Advanced Driver Improvement (ADI) course.
More Police Learning to Draw Blood in DUIs
Phoenix, AZ. Dec. 18 – If you’re drunk behind the wheel in Arizona, chances are increasing that an officer might draw your blood to prove it.
During the past 15 years, most large law-enforcement agencies statewide have moved from using Breathalyzers in favor of using blood to determine alcohol levels.
Nesci said his greater concern is with officers drawing blood during tense situations.
“You need a license to cut hair in Arizona, but you don’t need a license to puncture a vein and draw blood. That in and of itself is frightening,” he said. “There are a couple (of) other things that go along with that. Was the person who drew your blood mad at you? Was it an adversarial situation?”
I’m not sure if this is a sad commentary on our criminal justice system or on the values of society generally, but…the following is from a recent Washington Post comparison of Las Vegas slot machines and electronic voting machines. I’ve taken the liberty of substituting breathalyzers for voting machines:
SOFTWARE
SLOT MACHINES: State of Nevada has access to all software. Illegal to use software that is not on file.
BREATHALYZERS: Software is kept secret by manufacturers. Neither the accused citizen nor the government are permitted access.
SPOT-CHECKING
SLOT MACHINES: State gaming inspectors show up unannounced at casinos to compare computer chips with those on file . If there is a discrepancy, the machine is shut down and investigated.
BREATHALYZERS: Software is kept secret by manufacturers. Neither the accused citizen nor the government are permitted access.
BACKGROUND SCRUTINY
SLOT MACHINES: Manufacturers subjected to background checks.
BREATHALYZERS: Manufacturers and manufacturing processes are not checked.
EQUIPMENT CERTIFICATION
SLOT MACHINES: By a public agency at arm’s length from manufacturers. Public questions invited.
BREATHALYZERS: Generic models are approved by state government, based upon manufacturer-supplied specifications but without software information. Individual machines are not certified. Public questions are irrelevant.
HANDLING DISPUTES
SLOT MACHINES: Casino must contact the Gaming Control Board, which has investigators on call around the clock. They can open up machines to inspect internal mechanisms and records of recent gambling outcomes.
BREATHALYZERS: No governmental agency exists for independently regulating breathalyzers or handling disputes concerning accuracy.
I guess that tells us a lot about our priorities.
(Thanks to Andre.)
The California Highway Patrol today said that so far this year holiday season DUI arrests are down statewide.
Officers have arrested 409 motorists for drunk driving and 11 people have been killed in DUI-related accidents statewide since Wednesday.
Last year at this time, the CHP tallied 13 drunk-driving related fatalities and 977 DUI arrests in the state.
In the Bay Area, CHP officers have arrested 48 drunk drivers, down from last year’s total of 164. There have been no DUI fatalities in the Bay Area since Wednesday; last year, three deaths on Bay Area roads were linked to holiday imbibing.
The CHP’s heightened holiday enforcement ends Sunday.
State officials, in cooperation with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, announced a new holiday campaign aimed at reducing incidents of driving under the influence in Florida. The $7 million campaign targets drivers between the ages of 21 and 24, the group most likely to be involved in an alcohol related accident with fatality. Ads will be featured on radio and television, as well as online. In combination with the ad campaign, law enforcement agencies across the state will target areas prone to Florida drunk driving arrests with extra patiols and sobriety checkpoints.
The Florida Department of Highway Safety reports a 10 percent drop in the number of DUI related fatalities in the state over the past ten months. Officials cite better law enforcement and a decrease in driving due to higher gas prices. December, however, statistically has one of the highest rates of DUI arrests, with a reported 4 out of 10 alcohol related accidents with fatality occurring in the last two weeks of the month.
Looking for a Florida DUI Lawyer?
Daughter of Bruton Smith injured in drunk driving crash.
NASCAR Daughter DWIThe 25 year old daughter of billionaire NASCAR racing mogul Bruton Smith has been formally charged with driving while intoxicated in North Carolina and driving with a suspended driver’s license. Anna Smith was involved in an accident on December 10 that left her seriously injured.
The accident occured in Huntersville, NC, near Charlotte, around 5:00 am. Smith’s vehicle was found wrecked in a field, 200 feet from the road, and she had reportedly been thrown 40 feet away. Ms. Smith remains hospitalized at Carolinas Medical Center.
Bruton Smith is the chairman of Speedway Motorsports, Inc.
Source: DUI.com
Eat drink and be merry, just don’t get behind the wheel when you do. The likelihood of getting caught seems to be greater now than before because Traffic tickets, Dui arrests bring in money, something a lot of us don’t have or are reluctant to spend and here’s what you might encounter if you make that choice.
California has two basic drunk driving laws, found in vehicle code section 23152, sections (a) and (b):
A. It is a misdemeanor to drive under the influence of alcohol and /or drugs.
B. It is a misdemeanor to drive with .08% or more of alcohol in your blood.
In most cases, both the 23152(a) and (b) offenses will be charged. Even though there is only one act, the law says that a driver charged with drinking and driving can be convicted of both offenses. Vehicle Code section 23153 sets forth the “felony DUI” provisions where an injury results from the drunk driving, while Penal Code sections. 191.5 and 192 describe the crime of “vehicular manslaughter” where there is a death.
Under section B, if it is determined that your blood alcohol level is a .08% or greater at the time you were stopped, your license will be immediately suspended, under “admin per se,” you will be given a temporary license for thirty days and then your privilege to drive will be taken away, for a specific period of time, and a conviction will stay on your driving record for ten years.
It’s easy to cite laws and consequences this time of year, however a Dui is expensive and the likelihood of being charged with a “wet and reckless”, a serious driving offense involving alcohol, but not high enough for the .08% level is very good.
These tickets mean money to local, county and state municipalities, courts, jails, sheriff. The public is protected, and it’s a safer holiday season,. If you want to have a drink, keep in mind, it only takes one or two beverages, glasses of wine, bottles of beer, shots of a distilled spirits to be charged with a dui, don’t take the chance.
Looking for a California DUI Lawyer?
In a press release (following a press conference) the California Highway Patrol announced that up to 80% of the entire force will be working the holiday weekend from December 28, 2007 through midnight January 1, 2008. The funding for this incredible display of law enforcement is a grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, additional funds will permit the CHP to conduct at least 100 checkpoints and 65 DUI task force operations throughout 2008. Of course, Mother’s Against Drunk Driver’s was present to further its prohibition campaign.
As I’ve mentioned repeatedly in past posts, simply creating harsher drunk driving laws and penalties and increasing enforcement has not proven effective. The simple fact is that despite MADD’s hysterical "War on Drunk Driving", the DUI-related fatality statistics have remained unchanged over the past dozen years. See MADDness and MADD Statistics Again Debunked.
Perhaps we can draw a lesson from our neighbors to the south:
Beer-Loving Brazilians Adapt to the "Dry Law"
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Dec. 22 - …Six months ago, the government imposed one of the strictest drunken-driving laws in the hemisphere, what people here call the "dry law." Anyone caught driving with a blood alcohol content of .02 percent or higher (compared with .08 in the United States) faces a $400 fine, loss of their license for a year, an impounded vehicle and jail time…
The dry law, introduced in June, hit the country like a cold shower. Police swarmed the streets outside night spots in major cities, setting up sobriety-test checkpoints, handing out fines and seizing licenses. More than 5,000 people have been cited under the law, which joined a measure this year limiting the sale of alcohol along federal highways.
But it is difficult to say how well the new law is working — or whether Brazilians’ behavior has changed much…
The statistics suggest the roads are no safer than before. In the law’s first five months, the number of car accidents on federal highways in Rio de Janeiro state rose 17 percent, compared with the same period in the previous year. Injuries also rose, by 32 percent, although deaths fell by 8 percent, according to police.
Across the country, the picture appeared worse. In those five months, accidents, injuries and deaths on federal highways increased over the previous five months…
Einstein used to define "insanity" as "doing the same thing over and over and always expecting a different result".
Perhaps it’s time for a different approach, one focused on problem drinkers rather than on Draconian laws and unconstitutional procedures. See my post Time for a Change.
It comes as little surprise that both DUI arrests and DUI accidents rise during the holidays, but just in case you wanted proof, here’s an article from WMTW.
Government officials on Wednesday said drunken driving accidents increase each year during the holiday season.
Those recently over the legal drinking age are particularly at risk. Drivers aged 21 to 24 are involved in more fatal drunken-driving crashes than any other age group, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data indicates
Those of you who read this in January because you received a DUI in December take note: judges and prosecutors don’t tend to have much ‘holiday spirit’.
