Posted on 03/12/2017 6:01:58 AM PDT by C19fan
Utah could soon have the strictest DUI threshold in the nation after state lawmakers on Wednesday night voted to lower the limit for a driver's blood-alcohol content to 0.05 percent, down from 0.08 percent. The measure heads to Utah's governor, who has said he supports the legislation.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
This is contrary to the evidence.
Every pharmacologic study of low-dose alcohol effects show that this amount of alcohol is a stimulant, not a depressant.
In other words, you drive better after a beer or a drink. But one is about the limit.
You can easily google it if you like.
I have no problem with this.
It would create the expectation that if you go out and plan to drive, it’s a one-drink limit. If you want to drink more than that, fine, just arrange for a means of transportation. With services like Uber, this is feasible in every community regardless of size.
Or, do your drinking at home, or within walking distance.
Reminds me of an instructional video we were shown when we were in driver's education class in high school. The purpose of the video was to demonstrate the effect of alcohol on a driver's abilities. They had a road course set up with hundreds of orange cones in a giant parking lot somewhere, and they have four drivers drive through the course several times. The drivers were scored based on the number of cones they knocked over while they were driving through the course ... i.e., the higher the score, the worse they were driving.
They first sent each driver through the course completely sober, then had them drive through it a second time after drinking two beers, then a third time after drinking two more beers, etc. I think the drivers did the last round of the test after they had consumed ten beers. As you can imagine, it was pretty comical by the time they got to that point, with orange cones knocked down all over the place.
It was a good lesson for the class, but here's the thing I remember most about it: One of the drivers actually did better in the "two beers" round than he did when he was completely sober. I'm not sure THAT was part of the lesson they wanted to give us.
Never been able to figure out why a perfectly sober person would drive to an establishment, drug themselves and then drive back. If the need to drug oneself is so bad why not just prepare a nice meal at the house and they can drink to their livers content. If a person cannot go out and enjoy a nice meal without alcohol then they need to take a serious look at themselves.
What was your grandson's BAC?
Have you ever seen a wreck caused by a drunk driver, who actually walks away from the accident, while the family of five, mamma, daddy and three little kids are smeared around the vehicle and street?
If you've ever seen one of these, I am willing to bet $1,000 that the drunk driver in question didn't have a BAC of 0.08%.
This just happened in my town. A woman was looking for a piece of gum while driving.
This illustrates the folly of passing more and more laws to crackdown on alcohol when other actions are more dangerous.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2itvw2oETg
Believe it or not, some cough drops contain alcohol. Although cough drops may not have as much alcohol in them as the other cough medications mentioned above, they could still cause a higher breathalyzer reading. This is especially true if a piece of the cough drop gets caught between the teeth after it’s chewed.Does asthma have you reaching for the inhaler? Unfortunately, Albuterol, which is the medication within inhalers, contains methyl groups. Breathalyzers test for the presence and amount of methyl groups, which are the primary chemical bonds found in alcohol. Therefore, if a person submits a breath sample to law enforcement shortly after using an inhaler, the BAC reading may be erroneously high.
This list is not exhaustive. Be sure to read the labels on both prescription and over the counter drugs. Remember that, not only can medications cause someone to be “under the influence” for purposes of a California DUI, but they can also cause a person to provide an unusually high BAC reading on a breathalyzer. Medications Can Affect a Breathalyzer
So, if they limit it to an absolute of 0.0 should I have to spend hundreds, if not thousands, to "prove" that I'm not drunk but, instead, just used my inhaler?
Since I live in Utah, and his case is in Colorado, I haven’t been able to find out yet...he goes to Court on March 23 for ‘probable cause’ and then I will know...
They have a law there that if the ‘investigating officer’ doesn’t do a blood draw at the scene, the hospital does it and not all the time will the court approve of the ‘hospital blood draw’ but the investigating officer told me he was over the limit...0.08%...
I’m sorry for your loss, but after reading the tragic story you posted I strongly suspect that alcohol was really only a very small part of the problem your family members were dealing with.
Thanks. I may just do that.
“If your drinking and driving your not a responsible drinker.”
Oh please, having just a wine or beer with dinner is being responsible and I can think of far worse than a wine or beer, like people who drive on some of the legal prescription drugs that are prescribed. Instead of throwing half the population in jail focus on the drunks who are driving, or how about cracking down on the bartenders who continue to feed alcohol to the person at the bar who’s speech is slurred and is about to pass out. People who keep their alcohol consumption at a low and reasonable level are not the problem. The person driving at high BAC levels is.
There are a lot of problems in families now days...drinking is a small part of family life...
I was fortunate enough to have four children that lived a good life, had jobs to support themselves and their families...still am...
Things happen in our society today that we, as ‘grandparents’ didn’t have when we were raising children, the world and their moral values have gone to the dark side...
Drugs, drinking, split families, no belief in God, no morals as to how to act like a ‘Lady’ or a ‘Gentleman’ has gone by the way side...
I don’t believe there is a family around anymore that can say that there isn’t a problem in their families...and until we start to bring God back into our homes, schools, and lives, the problems are only going to get worse...and no I’m not a Mormon, I’m a Catholic so I know what I’m talking about to a degree...just look at the jackass we have leading our church right now, that should tell you the story...
This does support the argument those opposed to the .05 law are making. If he was at .06, it would be a different matter. Again, I'm very sorry for your loss. I can't imagine what you must be going through.
It is not prohibition. Today’s society does not tolerate impaired driving.
You can drink all you want, but after the first sip, get a stone-cold sober person to do the driving.
And more than just alcohol should be covered, every drug that affects judgment or reaction time should get the same treatment.
Arguing against this law is a fools errand.
How about you just don’t drink and drive, are you incapable of that?
I don’t make the laws, but live by them...
When riding with my buds, yes we partied and there were some that would hop on their Harleys and way they would go just coming out of the bar all night long, later we would hear they didn’t make it home...
Drinking and Driving anything is not smart...motorcycle, car, semi, and yes I still have my CDL and it is 0.04 for that reason, but like I said, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink...
If you think your good enough to drink and drive, just remember you might not make it home, either because you just killed someone or your killed yourself...your choice...
I prefer to stay at home if I’m going to have a beer that way I don’t have to worry about it...
Don’t drink and drive. Take a taxi or have a designated driver
A college student driving with her smart phone is much more of a hazard to others.
She/he thinks they are so smart nothing bad will happen to them. Plus with daddy’s money, all can be fixed.
That’s right up to the point of impact.
It happens all to often.
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