DUI: What are your thoughts on them?

[Ulfhednar]

Anyone who knowingly drives under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or mobile phones, or anything else that seriously impairs function and ability to focus in most people should Die In A Fire!

 

[BoomerD]

http://www.whatsdrivingyou.org/resources/reading_room/other_countries.html
Drunk Driving Penalties in Other Countries

AUSTRALIA: The names of the offenders are published in the local papers under the headline "He's Drunk and In Jail."

BULGARIA: A second conviction results in execution.

COSTA RICA: Police remove license plates from car.

EL SALVADOR: Your first offense is your last. Execution by firing squad.

ENGLAND: One-year suspension of license, a $250 fine and jail for one year.

FINLAND and SWEDEN: Automatic jail for one year at hard labor.

FRANCE: Three-year loss of license, one year in jail, $1,000 fine.

MALAYA: The driver is jailed. If he is married, his wife is jailed too.

NORWAY: Three weeks in jail at hard labor, one-year loss of license. If second offense within five years, license is revoked for life.

POLAND: Jail and fines, and forced attendance at political lectures.

RUSSIA: Revoked for life.

SOUTH AFRICA: A 10 year prison sentence and the equivalent of a $10,000 fine or both.

TURKEY: Drunk drivers are taken 20 miles from town by the police and are forced to walk back under escort.


http://www.nobac.org/tough.html
Tough BAC Maximums
.00% is the maximum BAC in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kyrgyzst, Romania, and the Slovak Republic.
.01% is the maximum BAC in Albania.
.02% is the maximum BAC in Norway and Sweden.
.03% is the maximum BAC in Moldova, Georgia, and Turkmenistan.
.04% is the maximum BAC in Lithuania.
05% is the maximum BAC in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (Republic of), Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, The Netherlands, and Turkey.
.08% is the maximum BAC in a number of U.S. states and cities, as well as in Canada, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and Zimbabwe.

http://www.dui.com/drunk_driving_research/

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Germany:
The penalties for driving under the influence in Germany are harsh. Severe penalties are assessed to first time offenders, usually including the suspension of your license. Penalties for drunk driving now start with a blood alcohol limit as low as 0.03. With the high alcohol content of German social beverages, it doesn't take long to hit the limit. And, if you have an accident, the courts may determine whether alcohol was a factor even if your blood alcohol content is below the limit. The best advice is this: if you drink AT ALL, don't drive! Don't forget that driving under the influence of drugs (prescription or recreational) is also illegal.

(source)

 

[5to1baby1in5]

Originally posted by: Ulfhednar
Anyone who knowingly drives under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or mobile phones, or anything else that seriously impairs function and ability to focus in most people should Die In A Firey Auto Crash!

Fixed

I actually don't agree with this statement. You should only be held accountable when stupid shiite you do if it adversely effects others. The consequences of your actions should should reflect the damage done to others. Let the threat of capital punishment be the deterant for driving drunk/high and killing someone. Same would apply to messing with your cell phone while driving down the interstate and killing someone.

 

[aswedc]

Marijuana is better than being drunk on regular roads, but it is definitely not safe at highway speeds.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Shawn
don't be a fvcking idiot and drive under the influence. if it was up to me anyone who was caught driving under the influence would lose their driver's licence perminantly.

If it were up to me people wouldn't be allowed to post until they could at least spell big words like license and permanently.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I'd say weed probably has less affect on your ability to drive a car. Still, I wouldn't recommend driving on either one.

 

[bignateyk]

lol@ 0.01% to 0.08% limits. This planet is fvcked up. There are about a thousand things a person can do while driving that are more dangerous than driving with a BAC that low. Cell phone use, sleep deprivation, and even talking to a passenger to name a few.

I propose that if a person is found operating a vehicle on less than 4 hours of sleep in 24 hours, they should be jailed for 10 years.

 

[Vic]

Multiple government studies, performed by various governments worldwide, have proved conclusively that (1) marijuana has little to no impairment on driving ability (a British government study, in particular, proved that marijuana actually makes people drive safer under certain conditions), (2) alcohol does not impair driving ability in most persons until BAC levels of 0.10% and above, and (3) most accidents are caused by driver inattention.

Addressing the OP, I believe that it is wrong to drive while under the influence of intoxicants, however I believe that our laws are written by knee-jerkers looking to be overly harsh, and then selectively enforced in order to make examples of the minority of offenders who are actually caught.

 

[AMDZen]

Originally posted by: DainBramaged
I believe that the current .08% is artificially low.

I concur x 1000

 

[Baked]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
Drunk Driving Penalties in Other Countries

EL SALVADOR: Your first offense is your last. Execution by firing squad.

OMFG! WTFBBQPWND!

 

[ebaycj]

Originally posted by: bignateyk
The current limit of 0.8% for alcohol is just absurd. For my weight, thats barely a beer. If I am going out, I limit myself to 5 beers throughout the night if I know I have to drive somewhere afterward.

Driving while sleep deprived is just as much of an issue IMO.

Do you happen to weigh 65 pounds and meant "that's barely two beers" ?
EDIT: "That's barely two beers IN ONE HOUR" (24 fl.oz, 3.3%, 65 pounds, 1 hour)

http://www.1800duilaws.com/forms/bac.asp

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: Baked
When you DUI, please drive off a very high cliff and hopefully into very solid rocks, and explode.

:thumbsup:

 

[AMDZen]

Originally posted by: ebaycj

Originally posted by: bignateyk
The current limit of 0.8% for alcohol is just absurd. For my weight, thats barely a beer. If I am going out, I limit myself to 5 beers throughout the night if I know I have to drive somewhere afterward.

Driving while sleep deprived is just as much of an issue IMO.

Do you happen to weigh 50 pounds and meant "that's barely two beers" ?
EDIT: "That's barely two beers IN ONE HOUR"

http://www.intox.com/wheel/drinkwheel.asp

http://www.1800duilaws.com/forms/bac.asp

So you think that Intox site is the be all end all or what?

Its not just your weight, its how fat and/or muscular you are. Lets take a 230 lb male, is he 230 lbs because he is overweight, or because of muscle mass? Muscle, believe it or not - actually makes your tollerance higher. Where as the myth is that the bigger you are (the fatter you are) the more alcohol your body can absorb. This is sort of true, but a 6' tall 230 lb guy thats IN SHAPE, will have a lower BAC then the 5'8" 230 lb fat guy. This is a fact. So that site you linked is merely a guideline, and is no where close to accurate

 

[Deeko]

If you drive while high, the penalty is the same as for the WORST DUI. FYI.

 

[Ausm]

My mother was killed by a drunk driver when I was 6.


Ausm

 

[amdhunter]

I drank and drove once in my life about 2 years ago. I was so nervous the entire time, that I thought I was gonna kill myself looking out for the police, than I did from being high.

Never ever again, it's just the stupidest thing to do.

 

[Mark R]

DUI is an extremely anti-social act - it shows pure selfishness and irresponsibility, and demonstrates gross lack of responsibility such that an intoxicated driver should have no right to hold a driving licence.

Alcohol gets the most press, as it is the most common and demonstrably responsible for most deaths - but other substances are a significant problem, and there is less experimental/observational data to suggest exactly how serious the problem is.

The bulk of public education has been directed at alcohol, so there really is no excuse for drunk driving. People know the dangers of drunk driving, alcohol is known to be harmful, and suppliers of alcohol should at least make some a token effort to discourage their customers from driving.

There has been a lot of 'folk lore' about DUI of cannabis - how it makes people safer because they drive slower, etc. This is clear experimental and observational evidence that this is false. In a experimental trial, subjects who smokes a single cannabis cigarette before taking a driving test (simulator based) were found to be more severely impaired than subjects who had taken alcohol and were slightly over the legal limit. What was more concerning, was that the subjects imparied by cannabis had less insight into their impairment, and that the impairment remained for over 48 hours after smoking.

Prescription medications are also a rather unknown issue. A number of prescription meds can cause severe driving impairment (painkillers containing codeine, morphine, oxycodone, etc.), some allergy medications, diabetes medications (e.g. insulin), etc. Although the doctor should warn anyone taking these medications that they should not drive, or should take suitable precautions, law enforcement doesn't always follow up these offences as thoroughly as perhaps they should. I saw a case on one of these cop shows where a suspected drunk driver was actually hypoglycaemic from insulin - however, no action was taken after appropriate medical help was obtained. This event was easily preventable if the driver had checked his blood sugar before setting out. He was either negligent because he failed to take proper precautions and stop at the first signs of illness, or medically unfit to hold a driving licence because he became impaired before he experienced warning symptoms.

 

[AMDZen]

Originally posted by: Mark R
There has been a lot of 'folk lore' about DUI of cannabis - how it makes people safer because they drive slower, etc. This is clear experimental and observational evidence that this is false. In a experimental trial, subjects who smokes a single cannabis cigarette before taking a driving test (simulator based) were found to be more severely impaired than subjects who had taken alcohol and were slightly over the legal limit. What was more concerning, was that the subjects imparied by cannabis had less insight into their impairment, and that the impairment remained for over 48 hours after smoking.

Your making that up, I guarentee it. Prove me wrong with a link.

And it better be at least mildly credible. I don't want MAM sites linked

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: AMDZen

Originally posted by: Mark R
There has been a lot of 'folk lore' about DUI of cannabis - how it makes people safer because they drive slower, etc. This is clear experimental and observational evidence that this is false. In a experimental trial, subjects who smokes a single cannabis cigarette before taking a driving test (simulator based) were found to be more severely impaired than subjects who had taken alcohol and were slightly over the legal limit. What was more concerning, was that the subjects imparied by cannabis had less insight into their impairment, and that the impairment remained for over 48 hours after smoking.

Your making that up, I guarentee it. Prove me wrong with a link.

And it better be at least mildly credible. I don't want MAM sites linked

There's quite a lot of misinformation out there. On NORML's own site they quote something which appears to demonstrate the opposite of what they are saying. Something to the effect of smoking within 1-3 hours is like being mildly intoxicated. Therefore, they conclude, it's not as bad as being intoxicated. Also, on some sites they say people high are more likely to be aware of their impairment, and on others it's people who are drunk.

 

[Nutdotnet]

Driving high sucks. I've tried it...and can't do it. What sucks about it is I get so focused on TRYING to drive that I begin to do stupid things.

I know plenty of people who can drive high...I can't.

Driving under the influence of alchohol is retarded.

In fact...having marijuana illegal and alcohol not is even more retarded. MJ is safer...much...much safer. How many fights, rapes, deaths have been directly related to MJ as opposed to alchohol?

Stupid government.

 

[Fingolfin269]

My problem with DUI law is that eventually the sniff of an alcoholic aroma will end you up in jail and somewhat screwed in life (not related to the dropping of soap). Hell, I think I might blow a .08 if I have two beers and that is freaking ridiculous to think I cannot drive safely.

 

[Ronstang]

More accidents are caused by people on cell phones than people that have been drinking.

 

[yukichigai]

I think the limit needs to stay where it is, and I think there should be clear and indisputable guidelines as to when someone can be picked up for DUI, e.g. "person must fail at least one test, including breathylizer, field sobriety test as standardized by blah blah blah." None of this "up to the discretion of the officer" crap, leaves too much room for abuse, especially with something as serious as DUI. However, I do think that the penalties should go up. A lot. Something along the lines of:

First DUI: Revocation of license for one year
Second DUI: Revocation of license for two years + probation
Third DUI: Revocation of license FOREVER.
DUI while on suspended license: Minimum 5 years in jail + 10 years probation + revocation of license FOREVER.


That would keep the repeat offenders off the road pretty well.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
i have also driven high once, and it was no different than driving regularly... everything was fine, i was actually more cautious, and paid more attn to where i was going than what was around me.

And here is the problem with Marijuana and driving. You don't realise that you're impaired.

A motor vehicle requires full attention and should not be operated while under the influence of any drug that affects consciousness.

I'm sure that you thought you were OK to drive while stoned, but the simple fact is that you weren't.

ZV