Pulled Over after Drinking and Driving

Voting for subsim drinking party in Wisconsin.

[Aramike]

Originally Posted by Rilder

Voting for subsim drinking party in Wisconsin.

Heh, good idea!

You're missing quite a few peoples' points here by sticking to the legal defense. "Legal" only depends on the country or state your at, and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with a person's ability to drive. It can and will be impaired with any amount of alcohol in your blood. Besides you said yourself that the limit at your place was .08 and your level was .06, so I'd say that proves very well you weren't sober and the policeman didn't shoot that far off the target by stopping you. Up here that close a result would land you waiting with the officers to deliver another test to see which way the level is going(the limit here is 0.05).

The legal defense is the only defense that matters. Anything else is just opinion, some of which is qualified, while others are not. Besides, had I been driving in any way erratically the officer could have preventing me from continuing to drive, despite the test result.

[Aramike]

Blood alcohol content between 0.06 - 0.10:

Effects on behaviours:

• Blunted Feelings
• Disinhibition
• Extroversion
• Impaired Sexual Pleasures

Impairment:

• Reflexes
• Reasoning
• Depth Perception
• Distance Acuity
• Peripheral Vision
• Glare Recovery

This is where some critical thinking must come into play. At .06 these effects are extremely mild if not non-existant in many cases. Even someone at .10 may only face slight effects, albeit stronger than lower BAC levels.

In any case, someone at .06 will often be more capable of driving a car than somone who's moderately fatigued. Both individuals (in this state, anyway) are legal to drive.

As such I am curious as to the reason for the outrage against someone at .06 versus someone who's simply tired? Clearly, safety and capability aren't REALLY the concern - at least, not completely. I believe that there has been an outright attempt and demonizing alcohol by politically motivated organizations such as MADD.

Look, if these people REALLY wanted to solve the problem, they wouldn't be after people with low BAC levels. Another point that seems to be ignored here is that people at .06 aren't the ones out there killing other people.

Penalizing those who are at a minimal risk the same as those who are at a dangerous one is counter-intuitive, in my opinion.

Also, something to consider is the law with respect to OTHER drugs. Let's say someone had a prescription for Vicodin, took a pill and drove. Is that illegal? The answer is yes and no. Yes if that person is found to be impaired, no if that person is not. Food for thought.

[Fincuan]

Frankly the legal side that important to me here, since it's easily proven that you were within the legal limit and that's it, but the moral side of it. The fact is that your blood alcohol level was at 0.06, and legal or not another fact is that that kind of level does have an effect on the average Joe's driving abilities.

"Driving irractically" isn't an effect alcohol has one one's driving abilities, it's only a result of the effects. Especially with little traffic your(as in any driver's, not necessarily Aramike's) driving can look perfectly fine outside, driving a car isn't very difficult after all, until you miss that one pedestrian or run a red light and have a collision thanks to a slower reaction time and misjudging the distance. Yes it affects your brain even at 0.06, and slowing down your reaction time is only one of the effects. Here the we have several cases of the police stopping people, who were driving perfectly well until that, because of a broken headlight or slight speeding, only to find that their blood alchol level is around 0.3 - 0.5. Personally I'd probably be passed out at those levels, so apparently training helps here too...

edit: You posted the last one while I was typing. No time to answer that one now, maybe later.

[Platapus]

I think we have beaten this horse to death.

Aramike clearly has his viewpoint. I don't think he will change, nor will he change anyone else's opinion. That's ok, everyone is entitled to their viewpoint on this issue.

It is really not worth getting personal.

[Aramike]

Originally Posted by Platapus

I think we have beaten this horse to death.

Aramike clearly has his viewpoint. I don't think he will change, nor will he change anyone else's opinion. That's ok, everyone is entitled to their viewpoint on this issue.

It is really not worth getting personal.

You're right: it's not worth getting personal. Also, I won't change. I will continue to follow the law. If they were to make the legal limit 0, I'd follow that as well (even though I'd disagree).

[Aramike]

only to find that their blood alchol level is around 0.3 - 0.5. Personally I'd probably be passed out at those levels, so apparently training helps here too...

Passed out? Dude, you'd be dead.

As such I am curious as to the reason for the outrage against someone at .06 versus someone who's simply tired?

Perhaps its because no one has written that they were pulled for being tired but were not really tired , so there is nothing to be outraged about on the tired front is there .

Originally Posted by Aramike

Passed out? Dude, you'd be dead.

Just awhile ago they found a woman I think who had driven her car around for some distance and eventually driven into a ditch. She had 0.7 level of alcohol. She didn't die.

Especially with the 'experts' (see: Drunks) the tolerance for high levels of alcohol is pretty amazing. It's all due to the fact that their livers develop a higher ability to burn off alcohol. Eventually though their livers will collapse due to the strain and this may lead to death.

I've heard stories about surgery patients who have been anesthesized for an operation only to get up and ask the doctor to give them something stronger. Really, some of these people have to be put out with like an elephant tranquilizer.

This is one reason why the level for DUI is very vague, the tolerance to alcohol is very different from person to person.