matthewk

There is another side to this story, often over looked. It is not very often that someone that blows the legal limit (.08 here in TX) is the drunk that is causing the accident. Jim your theroy of lifetime loss of license is not a good one given todays standards of determining if you are drunk. After a long day of dragging me around the mall a girlfriend and i came back to my place where her car was. she had a (yes i mean ONE) glass of wine before she left. She was pulled over for not having a front plate on her car. the officer smelled the wine on her breath and took her in. She blew a .08 (probably due to only having a body weight of 102 lbs) she was cited for a DUI. Do you think that in this case she was drunk or should loose her right to drive for life????

Todd W

No one can lose their right to drive for life if there are no viable alternative lifestyles. If public transportation weren't such a joke in the US (except for very few of the larger cities), then I would never be pressured to drive drunk and I would not be at risk from drunk drivers.

Make it so that I can drink without having to drive and yes I will drink more, but drive less. $50 in cab fare to go to happy hour is not a valid alternative.

Todd W

daphne

the reason people drive poorly when they are drunk is because they don't do it often enough? He was arguing to raise the legal limit.

Seriously, though. Drinking and driving is a no-no in my book, but I agree that the limits in some states are pretty low. Fact is that most of us have probably driver over the legal limit but didn't feel even the slightest bit impaired. Unfortunately, alcohol affects different people in different ways, and some people will be highly skilled drivers at higher blood alcohol levels simply because of their better normal reaction times. Ultimately the authorities need to govern at some level, and in many states the legal limit is the lowest common denominator.

Hey Matt - your friend should never have agreed to the breath test, especially if she had just finished a glass of wine. Blood is the only true measure.<p>Daphne
daphne@bogert.net

nubS4

MatthewK,too many "what if" scenarios here. She broke the law. Pretty basic to me.

TGABTG

I'm totally of the persuasion that if you are caught driving under the influence once you should have your license revoked for life, caught again and you go to jail for a long long time. It's so easy if you drink don't drive, if you have to drive don't drink.

how many countless lives have been taken by drunk drivers, most repeat offenders. I love beer, but if giving it up, could bring back even one of those innocent victims I would do it in a heartbeat.

S-Curve

especially after growing up in New Orleans where you get this out of your system at a young age...and can definitely handle "having a few beers" over the course of 2 hours and get behind the wheel. Unfortunately, it's just like speed limits, most of us can handle going 85-90 mph on the Interstate, but 75-80% of the population can't. So we've got to legislate to the least common denominator.

Todd W

How can you drink without driving? Sit at home by yourself???

How can you live without driving? Be dot-com guy???

The solution to both problems is public transportation.

Todd W

matthewk

Nub, have you ever had 2 beers over lunch and drove afterwards?? you would have been drunk. &gt; .08

LCP

My advice as a Texas attorney to anyone in this state that has had anything to drink and is asked to take a breathalyzer is to NOT do it. They are not accurate all of the time. If you don't take it you will go to jail and they will suspend your license, but it will be very hard for them to convict you of a DUI (what do you want to win, the battle or the war?). You can probably get a restricted license at the administrative hearing anyway, so your driving rights may not be greatly affected. I also would not take field sobriety tests unless I had successfully practiced and completed those under the same circumstances as exist when the cop is administering them -- most people could not perform these flawlessly the first time when completely sober on a good day. You don't have to do any of the tasks that an officer asks you to do, but of course they can arrest you if you don't.

nubS4

Prolly so.