Police agencies that are part of the Centre County Alcohol Task Force have announced there will be increased roving DUI patrols and Cops in Shops details throughout the upcoming Blue-White weekend.
Extra officers will be on duty looking for drunken drivers and police officers will be working beer distributors and state stores looking for underage purchases and fake identifications — all aimed at preventing drunken driving deaths, injuries and crashes. Police are urging partygoers to appoint a designated driver.
As a matter of full disclosure I've never had a DUI and I try to be responsible but .08 is a really small amount of alcohol in the system and arresting someone for such a paltry amount is not "preventing drunken driving deaths" it's more paying the bills at the expense of the public the police are tasked to protect. I have had several friends get pinched for it and they all have the same experience when going in front of the judge – as they sit and wait their turn they watch Heroin Addict A plea bargain down to a slap on the wrist just before they get fined like they attempted to assassinate the president. No, DUI laws are so strict and straightforward that they've become a cash cow for the police. If a motorist is actually driving like they are drunk then pull their asses over and arrest them but don't randomly pull me over, say "blow in this" and haul me away because I had three beers in an hour's time. That's not preventing anything but my fun.
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Heroin totally makes you a better driver, just ask the professionals:
http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/truck/news/story?id=3336865
I'm not surprised by this. Last year we had to go through a DUI checkpoint on Rt 220 through Jersey Shore after the Ohio State game. I think you'll see a lot of small towns along 322 and I-99 start setting these up after the 8 PM games to make some coin.
As one of my friends is fond of saying, "you don't have to walk to drive."
Did I just read that correctly? Nevermind the fact that you think drinking and driving is ok...You think PA DUI laws are too strict? Not compared to other states, some have mandatory jail time.
If you really want to post an interesting topic, how about the strange ability of drunk drivers able to walk away from a a wreck where they killed a whole family?
I knew the obligatory "drinking and driving is ok" comment would arise. Again, I don't think drinking and driving is ok, but I also don't think .08 BAC is drunk. My point is this - if I'm out on a date (with a beautiful woman I might add) and I have three 12 oz. beers in an hour’s time, say while we’re eating dinner, by law I'm not capable of driving. To a person that has never taken a sip of alcohol before that it IS drunk but to someone that has a tolerance it doesn’t even affect me in any way yet I’m treated in the same manner as the lightweight. Let me put it to you this way, give me three 12 oz. beers and test my driving ability and reaction time against 100 people with valid PA drivers’ licenses over the age of 70 and if I don’t beat every one of them I’ll give up my license forever. Deal? With three 12 oz. beers in my system I’m not going to kill a carload of straight-A kids on their way to church.
Hey hey hey, I have as much against bible-beaters on their way to church as you do.
Anyway, .08 is .08 whether you're a 105 lb freshman girl or Tony Johnson. How impaired is TJ vs. Tri-delt Ashley? Sure, it's probably different. But you have to draw the line somewhere. Cops have enough room for "creative ticketing" as it is. If it were up to them. .01 would be a DUI.
Back to your date with the hot chick...it's not how drunk you are, but how drunk she is...muhahaha Go State!
Actually this discussion came up a long time ago here at TNL and a guy came up with a perfect solution. Make the cops put cameras in their cars so that juries can see why a person was pulled over. That way the conviction is obvious if the person was indeed drunk and cops couldn't sit outside a bar and pull people over as they leave. They would have to have probable cause. I think that's the best solution I've ever heard and quite fair.
oh, and I would just like to add that technically you don't have to be at .08 to be arrested it could be any amount if the officer thinks you are impaired. And as for the girl, I’ve used the “you’re too drunk to drive why don’t you stay at my place I live right down the road” line with success.
Are you saying you weigh 120Lbs? Have you looked at a BAC chart? I would guess you would likely be closer to 5 drinks in an hour to blow a .08........
The number of drinks is really not an issue. The BAC limits have been developed by testing reflex/judgement impairment on an conservative-average basis. You have an unmatched destructive capacity when driving, I would prefer society err on the side of caution.....
Here you go: BAC
4 drinks will put a 180lb. male at .08. I weigh around 170 so with 3 drinks in my system I'm very close and believe me they'd arrest me in a heartbeat. Again my argument isn’t to let people drive around drunk my argument is that BAC is a bad indication of impairment. It’s perfectly legal for a cop to sit outside a bar and pull you over because he sees you leaving the bar and that’s wrong especially with a BAC of .08 (3-4 beers in an hour). Again if I’m missing a turn or driving erratically, pull me over and arrest me but don’t pull me over because you saw me leave a bar. If it’s legal to do that than it should be legal to pull someone over randomly and test them for everything under the sun but it’s not and there’s a reason for that.
And for the record I was the designated drunk but I had a designated driver Saturday.
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