Drinking and Driving...

[RickOKC]

A couple years ago a friend from work got a DUI. He wasn't a regular drinker, but a group of us had got in the habit of dropping by the pool hall around the corner after work on Fridays and he joined in a few times. On the way home one night, he got pulled over, arrested, car impounded, driving classes, 6 months of parole meetings, court mandated AA Meetings, over $5,000 in fees & fines, court dates, a breathalyzer installed in car and a lot of time missed from work. He went from being a happy-go-lucky, on-top-of-the-world type to being somber, depressed and near-suicidal ever since.

One day at lunch our friend said something that struck a nerve with all of us. "Everybody knows that a 0.08% alcohol level is a DUI. Some people know a 0.05% is a DWI. But NOBODY knows how that actually relates to THEM. One of the first things to go when you're drinking is your sense of good judgment."

He was right on the money - do you KNOW your alcohol level after 1 drink? 2? 3? How can you KNOW without some kind of measurement?

After thinking about that statement, a few of us got together and chipped in a few bucks to buy a consumer version of a breath test machine. Each person got it for two weeks then passed it on to the next person. I now have a better understanding of the shame, embarrassment and regret our depressed friend has been experiencing (ditto for everybody else in our group.) We realized we had been SO lucky that we didn't go through the same thing or worse.

Again, like he said, "The first thing to is your sense of good judgment." All this took place years after I watched a girl die on the highway due to drunk driving. I saw her weaving as she was coming up from behind my car so I moved over a couple lanes to get out of her way. As she passed me, I looked over and saw her red cheeks and bleary, dull stare. I can still see her face. A few minutes later, she hit a steel & concrete guardrail on an overpass head on. Her car seemed to explode in a ball of metal, dirt & dust. It took a second for it to register that the thing I saw fly up (looked like it went as high as the streetlight) was her body. I watched her land in the left lane. That was about 10 years ago and I can still picture every second in my mind as if it happened 5 minutes ago.

I had nightmares about that for months, yet years later I would still have a few beers after work and drive home.

I BEG you… if you drink at all, get one of those breath test gizmos from your local drugstore and LEARN firsthand about your personal alcohol level. Take your pick- $50 voluntarily, or $5,000 in fines or prison or death. It sure woke me up.

With an overwhelming sense of shame for what I've done in the past,
--Rick

[ZubrAZ]

many americans think that marijuana must be legalized. supporters backing it by stating they feel more concentrated while being high, and more productive.

how do members of this forum look on driving while being impaired by illegal drugs, marijuana in particular?

[Riff Raff]

many americans think that marijuana must be legalized. supporters backing it by stating they feel more concentrated while being high, and more productive.

how do members of this forum look on driving while being impaired by illegal drugs, marijuana in particular?

LOL, that's a perfect question for the almighty L-Bud.

[Ldub]

LOL, that's a perfect question for the almighty L-Bud.

A-least ya finally got the almighty part right frank......

You gotta be one of the slowest learners of all time...

[VX crazy]

And some people are impaired all on their own without medications......

[circmand]

many americans think that marijuana must be legalized. supporters backing it by stating they feel more concentrated while being high, and more productive.

how do members of this forum look on driving while being impaired by illegal drugs, marijuana in particular?

Since I know everyone values my opinion!!!! If you are impaired and driving reckless you should be pulled and fined, ticketed, o arrested accordingly. It does not matter if the substance is legal or illegal operating reckless should be punished. If illegal drugs you also get further punishment for the degree the drugs and amounts warrant. However to selectively punish one form of reckless over another because of the reason of reckless is not logical.

[ZubrAZ]

does it mean, if an impaired person driving carefully at a degree, where that person realizing he/she is not sober, however can still react to green/red lights, road signs, other moving objects, then it shouldnt be punishable?

[BigSwede]

Heh, I have a buddy who has declared, publicly, that he would rather ride with me driving drunk than most people driving sober. Not sure what that means... other than when both of us have had some drinks he perceives me as an excellent (or at least adequate) driver.

Whatever, I just ordered a Breathalyzer so I can take some of the guesswork out of all this.

[PK]

Sorry, but I really don't see the rocket science in this.

I drink, and I drive - but I never do both together.

Use the nominated driver method, or taxis, and it is very hard to make a mistake.

If my friends want me to drink to be sociable, I will have 1 or 2 light beers, but that is all. You will drown drinking light before you go over the limit.

And if your friends pressure you to drink more -







Then they are not your friends.

PK

[RickOKC]

you know... to be completely honest.... the whole idea of buying a meter, testing yourself and expecting to know what your BAC is gonna be sounds like a terrible idea...

i think of it the same way i do radar detectors.. people think that because they have them, they will never get a ticket... well, i, for one know that it isnt true. i was clocked by aircraft on a highway going FAR over the limit because i was overconfident with my radar detector.
so, i actually blame that ticket directly on my radar detector... because i had a false sense of safety and security because i got so used to not having to worry about tickets.

i think the same could happen with a BAC tester. you could test yourself a few times after having 2 beers and think.. ok i know that im only at .06 after 2 beers... but what you dont think of is how much water you had.. maybe the days you tested it you had drank half a gallon of water, but one day you only drink one glass and have 2 beers at the bar.... BOOM.. dui....

make sense??

That absolutely makes sense and I think I understand what you're saying. You brought up some excellent points, but I still believe it is actually a terrific idea as long as you go into it with the right perspective.

I think what you're saying is that if you test yourself with the goal of seeing how much you can drink for the sake of "gaming the system", then yes, it is a complete waste of time and 50 bucks and dangerous. (My apologies if I misinterpreted your statements.) Anyone with that mindset will probably just gamble anyway and say "Oh well, I 'probably' won't get caught" or justify their actions in some other manner and drive anyway. Nothing will change.

However, it was more like a profound awakening for 100% of the people in my little group.

For example, when it was my turn to use the tester, I came home and had a couple beers during a 1 hour period just like we used to do after work on Fridays. I waited 20 minutes (as directed) and did the test. I could have been arrested if I had been driving. The next night I did the same thing during a 90 minute period. Could have been arrested. A few days later, I repeated the test with 1 beer instead of two in an hour. Could have been arrested. Next night: 1 beer in 90 minutes - probably could have been arrested considering the police probably have a more accurate machine than one that cost only $50. With food, without food, not much difference. Arrested. Arrested. No matter what I did the results were about the same.

In OK, a DUI is .08% but a DWI is .05%. Both have nearly identical legal ramifications.

The end result is that it scared the crap out of every last one of us and, where we used to think we were "OK" it made us realize the only "safe" amount of alcohol is ZERO.

It didn't bolster our sense of security, it actually destroyed our existing false sense of security. Everyone who participated were all basically the same age and we had always been told that one drink per hour was ok. That general guide proved to be incredibly FALSE.

That's why I spoke earlier about my embarrassment, shame and regret.

[pbkid]

rick- yes, you understood my statement correctly.
and ya, its amazing to see how long it stays in your system eh?

thats why i say 12 hours after your LAST drink. i have a breathilizer in my car and as long as i follow the 12 hours rule.. i havent failed once.... just an FYI (and mine is extremely accurate, maybe more so than the police.... mine is calibrated monthly)

[RickOKC]

rick- yes, you understood my statement correctly.
and ya, its amazing to see how long it stays in your system eh?

Whew, I don't like interpreting things wrong and misquoting without checking first!

What was REALLY amazing for me was during Week 2, I kept drinking another beer, waiting 20 minutes and then re-testing. I felt like I was perfectly fine to drive all the way up to a .15% BAC! That's nearly twice the legal limit and changes things here from a DUI to a FELONY DUI. Judgment truly is the first thing to go.

Dang, I HATE being this serious, but this was such a revelation for me that I can't shut up (sorry, everybody.) PBKid, I'm so sorry to hear what you're going through - it breaks my heart. Your experience is nearly a word-for-word description of the same awful pain that my buddy has described.

For those who want to try a consumer grade tester and don't know where to find one, check this out. It's similar to what we got. It comes with 3 mouth pieces so you can lend it to others without them getting a case of the "oogies." Share the gift of knowledge.

[pbkid]

well, all i can say for myself is that it was definately a lesson well learned...

now that you know what you feel like at different BAC levels... imagine getting pulled over at .1 and thinking that your perfectly fine... hence the lesson learned

[BigSwede]

I felt like I was perfectly fine to drive all the way up to a .15% BAC!

And that is exactly what I want to find out. Maybe I have been fooling myself (and lucky) all these years.

[circmand]

DUI does not mean drunk you may actually be fine to drive the nanny state decided .10% was too much awhile back the for political reasons changed it to .08% just so MADD would be happy and politicians could get their vote. As I stated I have never found any info that tests were done to determine when achohol actuall begins to affect driving in a measurable way. Also most states have a double whammy set up on DUI where they charge you with 2 things so they can plead you down to one thing. They get their money from you, your attorney gets his/her money from you and you think they did something for it and your insurance company gets more of your money. On the bright side the cop who pulled me was cool. At the hospital he let me go out and smoke while we waited for a blood test. He failed to show up at my arraignment so my costs were minimal and that Halloween as I was giving out candy at my folks house I found out he lived down the block from them and we chatted