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Prom DUI Prevention Advice for Teens
Alcohol is linked to as many as one-third of all teen car accident fatalities every year, and prom season is when many of those accidents take place. Drinking is illegal if you are below 21, but underage drinking is widespread on prom night.
Unfortunately, according to one study, as many as 90% of teenagers believe that their friends would drive while drunk on prom night. This indicates that these practices are extremely widespread.
Teenage drivers need to take precautions, and avoid driving under the influence of alcohol. Remember, prom night is an important night for you, but it is also when many teens are arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. A DUI conviction could mean a permanent blot on your record. It could interfere with your ability to get into a prestigious college, and could have all kinds of other consequences for your education and employment prospects in life.
Make arrangements for safe transportation much ahead of prom night. Discuss these means of transportation with your parents, and take their advice. Avoid attending parties where alcohol is served. If this is not possible, choose nonalcoholic options over the evening.
Sobriety Testing Cars Could Reduce DUI Risks
According to new research, if all cars came with alcohol testing devices that would silently test motorist blood alcohol concentration levels, it would significantly reduce the risk of DUI arrests and alcohol-related accident fatalities.
According to the study that was published recently in the American Journal of Public Health, the savings in terms of lives in car accidents, would be tremendous. The researchers believe that as many as 10,000 lives will be saved over a 15-year period, if all cars roll out of factories with these in-car alcohol testing devices installed.
The devices that were tested as part of the study are called DADSS, or the driver alcohol detection system for safety. These devices are unlike the breathalyzer devices that motorists are required to install in their car after certain types of DUI arrests. Those ignition interlock devices require motorists to breathe into the device, and detect the amount of alcohol on the person's death. The device will proceed to shut the ignition down if the alcohol limit is beyond a certain set limit.
Avoiding a DUI Arrest on St. Patrick's Day
Your risks of a DUI arrest spike on St. Patrick's Day. You're likely to see more numbers of DUI sobriety checkpoints on Los Angeles roads, over the holiday. Learn how to avoid a DUI arrest.
The easiest way to avoid a DUI arrest is to stay sober, if you expect to drive. If that is not possible for you to do, designate someone to drive you home. Plan beforehand, and arrange for a taxi service to pick you up from the venue, at a specified time.
You are likely to come across more than a few DUI checkpoints in Los Angeles on St. Patrick's Day. DUI checkpoints are legal in the state of California. However, there are quite a few guidelines attached to the establishment of these DUI checkpoints. For one thing, the checkpoint must be publicly advertised. The pattern of pulling motorists over should be neutral. Officers at the checkpoint cannot simply choose to pull motorists over, because of their ethnicity, for example.
California Driver in Train Accident Had Previous DUI Conviction
Investigations into the train accident near Los Angeles, which left more than 50 people injured, are now beginning to focus on the DUI history of the truck driver involved in the accident. He has several DUI convictions on his record.
The man, José Alejandro Sanchez-Ramirez apparently drove his truck onto the tracks, believing that it was the roadway, and later abandoned it. The train crashed into the pickup truck, and several of the cars derailed. More than 50 people were injured, and one of the engineers who sustained injuries in the accident, has since died.
Police found Sanchez-Ramirez more than a mile from the accident scene, walking and in distress. Prosecutors are waiting to file charges against him, and reports indicate that he has several previous DUI violations on his record. Tests have been conducted on him, but results are pending. It is not yet known whether drug or alcohol use were a factor in the crash.
DUI and Child Endangerment in California
In those DUI cases in which a person is driving while drunk with a minor child below the age of 14, he is exposing himself to not just charges of driving under the influence of alcohol, but also felony or misdemeanor charges of child endangerment.
Under California law, it is illegal to drive under the influence of alcohol anyway. However, when you are breaking the law, and also have a minor in your car with you, the charges against you are aggravated. You are eligible for charges of child endangerment to be filed against you. You don't have to be involved in an alcohol-related car accident for these charges to be filed against you.
The law will not look at your intentions while driving under the influence of alcohol, or any of the excuses that you provide for driving with a minor in your car while intoxicated. It will not even consider the effects of the results of your intoxicated driving. California law will only look at whether you had a child below the age of 14 in your car at the time that you were driving under the influence.
Florida Motorists Refuse DUI Checks at Checkpoints by Rolling Up Windows
In Florida, a DUI defense lawyer hit the headlines recently for his daring advise for motorists at DUI checkpoints.
The lawyer in South Florida distributed a number of flyers that simply encourage motorists, who find themselves at a checkpoint to refuse a DUI test, and keep their windows rolled up. The lawyer’s flyer distributed across the South Florida region, informs motorists that all they have to do when stopped by police at a DUI checkpoint is to keep their car windows rolled up, and hold up the flyer, so that police can read it.
The flyer also advises them to hold up their license, vehicle registration, and insurance documents to police at the window. It advises them to keep silent, and not speak at all. It also advises them to record all that happens on audio, or video.
Police officers however are not impressed. They uphold that DUI checkpoints are legal, and have been legal since 1990 when the Supreme Court upheld the use of such DUI checkpoints. According to police officers, motorists will not be allowed out of a DUI checkpoint until they open their mouth to talk.
Uber’s DUI Reduction Claims Questioned
Taxi share service Uber is coming under criticism for its claims that cities that have seen an increase in the use of its ridesharing app have also seen a corresponding drop in the number of DUI arrests and accidents.
Recently, the ridesharing service published the results of a new study together with Mothers against Drunk Driving (MADD) in which it claimed that the rising popularity of Uber had led to a reduction in the number of drunk driving accidents, and even drunk driving arrests in states like California. However, critics are not so impressed. According to them, there is no clear connection that conclusively establishes a relationship between the popularity of the ridesharing service in certain cities and a reduction in DUI arrests or drunk driving accidents.
According to Uber, since the service launched in California, the number of drunk driving accidents has actually decreased by 60 accidents per month. Those statistics translate into 1,800 few accidents over the past one and half years alone. However, the company has no conclusive evidence to show that the use of its ridesharing service prevented so many of these accidents. In fact, Mothers against Drunk Driving, which co-authored the study that came up with those findings, says that there is no causation relationship between the drop in DUI accidents, and the increasing use of the app. In other words, there is no clear evidence that shows that cities where Uber is popular see fewer drunk driving accidents.
Mother in Trouble after Children Report her For Drunk Driving
A Florida mother is in deep trouble after a DUI incident in which her children reported her behavior.
The woman was driving with her children and at least three other 11-year-old kids, when the children stopped the car, and ran out into a nearby restaurant. They told people in the restaurant that one of the children's mother was driving them under the influence of alcohol. Her driving scared them so much that they felt that they had to get help.
According to the children, the woman was very drunk and was swerving all over the road. She struck a pole, and that incident resulted in damage to the car. However, when they came to a stop outside the restaurant, the children jumped out of the car and ran in for help.
That wasn't all. It actually gets worse for the drunk woman. Eye witnesses at the restaurant reported that she simply staggered into the restaurant, and began screaming at the kids, yelling at them to get inside the car immediately. People at the restaurant were able to separate children from the mother, and restrained the mother till police arrived.
Lawmakers’ DUI Attorneys Ask for Charges to Be Dropped Until Legislative Session Concludes
Lawmakers getting into trouble for DUI don't exactly make the news in California. However, DUI defense attorneys for one lawmaker who was recently arrested for driving under the influx of alcohol have called for charges to be dropped against him for a unique reason that was drafted by people riding in horse-drawn carriages.
They argue that the lawmaker is currently in the middle of a legislative session in the state, and therefore, should not be arrested for DUI at this stage.
According to the attorneys, charges against Kentucky’s Senator Brandon Smith must be dropped, because of a provision in the Kentucky Constitution that holds that a lawmaker cannot be arrested while the legislative session is in progress. Senator Smith was arrested on January 6, which also happens to be the day the 2015 session officially began.
Senator Brandon Smith was driving home when he was pulled over by officers, who smelt alcohol on his breath. He was administered a breathalyzer test. He registered a .088 on the test, which is just above the maximum permissible alcohol limit.
Holiday DUI Crackdown Kicks off in Southern California
Across the Southern California region including across Santa Ana and Los Angeles, law enforcement officers are gearing up to kick off the most intensive holiday DUI crackdown of the year. Several law-enforcement agencies in Southern California are participating in the effort to get drunk drivers off the street.
If you are driving under the influence of alcohol over the next few days, your chances of being arrested for DUI are the highest in the year. The special task force that has been designed to help crack down on intoxicated motorists is the Avoid DUI Task Force.
The message is clear - Drive Sober or Get Pulled over. The campaign is a no-tolerance campaign that is targeted at getting intoxicated motorists of the road. The counties of Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura are included this year in the task force's efforts.
The campaign kicked off on December 12, and over the next few weeks and through the New Year's holiday, you will see more numbers of police officers, DUI checkpoints and driver’s license checkpoints. In Los Angeles, you're also likely see greater number of saturation patrols. You'll find more numbers of police officers on freeways, pulling motorists over and administering alcohol tests.
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