How drunk is drunk? Officers want state's legal limit lowered (Texas)

KENS ^ | 10/08/2010 | Nadia Ramdass / KENS 5

[Responsibility2nd]

SAN ANTONIO -- How drunk is drunk? Some police officers in Texas want a newly revised definition.

Currently, the blood alcohol level (BAC) of 0.08 or higher is considered to be under the influence, but one police chief wants to lower that number and change the legal limit.

KENS 5 talked to drivers about the proposed new law and we observed a varied reaction.

The next time you are at the bar or perhaps at a sporting event enjoying a casual cocktail, you may want to think twice about drinking that alcoholic beverage before planning to drive.

"I guess if I got pulled over and had one drink, I would be pretty upset about it," said driver and moderate social drinker April Brown.

The national standard is 0.08, but Austin's Police Chief Art Acevedo is pushing state lawmakers to allow officers to arrest drivers with a BAC between 0.05 and 0.07. The Chief said too many people are being arrested for DWIs and then plea bargaining for a lesser charge.

"One glass or maybe even one beer shouldn't be where you get in trouble for that," said driver Melody Segura.

The American Beverage Institute is urging Texas lawmakers to reject the proposed new law, saying it's attacking moderate social drinkers. The trade group responded with the following remark:

"By further lowering the legal BAC level, this proposal ignores the root cause of today's drunk driving problem, hard core alcohol abusers" (Sarah Longwell / Spokeswoman, American Beverage Institute)

"I think it's great" to lower the limit, said driver Max Sanchez.

Sanchez is for the proposed new law after years of watching his father battle with alcohol abuse and racking up many DWIs over the years.

"I really feel from the moment you take that first drink you know what you’re doing. So I think it's a good thing," said Sanchez.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) of South Texas released this statement in response to the proposed law change:

"In 2009, 1,235 people died and 17,833 were injured in drunk driving crashes on Texas roadways. MADD is committed to supporting our partners and heroes in law enforcement in their dedicated efforts to keep our roadways safe. MADD remains focused on legislation proven to save lives, such as requiring ignition interlocks for all convicted drunk drivers with an illegal BAC of .08 or greater and allowing law enforcement officers to conduct sobriety checkpoints." (Jennifer Northway / Executive Director, MADD South Texas).

[ThunderSleeps]

You're absolutely right. Show me the statistics that show people at 0.05 to 0.07 are more of a threat than say, a 16 year old driver with his/her brand new license talking on a cell phone or to a car-load of friends. This is all about money and generating revenue, pure an simple. This cop / these cops have forgotten that they are there to protect and serve, not generate bucks for their local governments.

Couple of times a month I'll see a County Sheriff's Deputy running a speed trap on the way to or from work. Now, this is a fairly remote location, so it is obvious all he's doing it pulling in bucks off the poor working stiffs commuting to the same place I am. Note, there are no connecting roads, no houses along the road, 95% or more of the traffic is headed the same direction, nothing but antelope and some cattle around. There is absolutely no history of accidents along this road - in 5+ years I've heard of exactly 2. One caused by someone running the one red light at the one cross street. The other caused by someone dropping their cell phone, reaching to pick it up, and swerving off a straight and level road...

So when I see them, I think "You really don't have anything better to do? There's no crime in the County? No meth labs to look for, property crimes, crimes against people? We live in such a peaceful County that our officers have nothing better to do with their time than stick it to working stiffs?" I don't blame the officers, I blame the Sheriff. He sets the priorities, he assigns the work. I'm voting for who-ever is his challenger. Oh, and the City and County are crying to the public, asking for a tax hike or "vital" services such as Police and Fire coverage will be reduced. BS. There are lots of other non-vital {expletive}-programs they have no business being in that can and should be cut. And if all the officers have to do is sit on the side of the road, I guess we can cut a few of them too. Not one incumbent City or County official is getting my vote. Not a one.

[poobear]

Exactly! Everyone who drives is drunk regardless! Leave home? $5,000. Where’s your papers punk? Another $5,000 or incarceration.

[zeugma]

The neo-prohibitionists are on the march again. .08 is rediculously low as it is.

[libertarian27]

MADD’s wet dream - check their website for what they really want.

Canada provinces pretty much just instituted .05% BAL recently.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2010/09/30/nl-driving-laws-930.html

And if you weren’t surfing FreeRepublic now - you’d never know about it....

.05 will happen in the US within our lifetimes, most of the world is at or below that now. It will destroy the hospitality industry in the US as we know it.

Order delivery....

[Redbob]

".08 is rediculously low as it is."

Roger that.

I've got a better idea:
Why don't they just pull over the people who are driving erratically, and charge them with that?

I've seen more accidents caused by drivers jamming on the brakes at the sight of a cop than by "drunk drivers."

[italybub]

These people have created this huge industry into itself which isn’t bringing in the $$$, hence they up the ante. I know in WA state once they are done with you it’s a $12000-$17000 bill.

[chuckles]

The problem isn't .08, its driving at .15 and getting probation. If you watch the real world, some of these yahoo's can't stand up or get their license out of their wallet and they get nothing. I can't see how lowering the limit will do anything except raise more money. It certainly won't save any lives. It's the same bugaboo all the time,...we catch the criminal then we let him go to do it again. I don't care whether it's dope, robbery, or murder, they get out and do it again. We can't even keep Lohan in jail for a week without letting her back out. Arresting people just overworks the cops and stuffs the jails. If you want to stop crime, put em in jail and make it stick. Some of these people have had 10 DWI and have killed and injured people and are still driving. Course if you are illegal, nothing matters anyway. Kill them or maim them it's still Arizona's fault.

[Sto Zvirat]

Geez, raise it to .15, you need that to live in Texas.

[Republic of Texas]

It’s more likely a way to pad revenue.

[rawcatslyentist]

Alcohol and beer giants beware the feds are going to come for you next.,.

Gotta wonder if Juan Mc Lame, would have run differently if he'd have known about this?

Nah..... They promised him his senate seat, and he's gonna get his senate seat.

They didn't mention the walls and ceiling though!

[Sarajevo]

All the cops would have to do to bag their quota is arrest everyone leaving a nice restaurant.

That was TABC's course of action. They would grab people as they left a restaurant, hotel, or a bar and falsely accuse them of DWI. It stopped when they picked up a politician.

[mmanager]

I lived in Wyoming for 22 years and in 1980 I was pulled over outside of Casper, WY for speeding. Had a .357 loaded in a gun belt wrapped around my steering column in my pickup and a Bud sitting next to me.

Got a warning. Was legal to drink and drive. Those were the days!

[freeangel]

MADD HAS gone mad. This is simply ridiculous. That would put you in jail for a piece of grasshopper pie.

[panthermom]

NOBODY should drive drunk, but these laws are also there to collect fines. It is a huge source of income for the state.

My son was at school and got an MIP, minor in pocession of alcohol. He did have a fake ID, he was not driving but was walking on the street. The police gave him back his fake ID! When we showed up in court to pay the fine $300.00 and another $200.00 to take a 4 hr. class on alcohol awareness, there were so many people there that they had to take us in in groups. Were in the 2nd group, I would say there were probably at least 3 groups behind us. EVERY person in there was for the same thing. All fined $300.00+$200.00.

This is a major college town. I realized while watching this that the police let them keep the fake ID because this is the way they make money. It is a revolving door.

[zeugma]

I've got a better idea:
Why don't they just pull over the people who are driving erratically, and charge them with that?

I'm sorry, but the police state just can't allow such radical notions as that.

I've seen more accidents caused by drivers jamming on the brakes at the sight of a cop than by "drunk drivers."

... Or red-light cameras.

I'm so sick of our big government ninnies I could just spit.

 

[Atlas Sneezed]

Your typical accident-causing drunk has a blood alcohol level of OVER .15....nearly twice the legal limit.

DING DING DING DING

We have a winner.

---

Yup. One year, I made it a point to pay attention to every DUI fatality story in the big daily newspaper of a west coast city. There wasn’t a single fatal DUI less than 0.15. There was one fatal at 0.12, but it was some kids doing triple digit racing, so it was their idiocy, and not the alcohol impairment that primarily caused their death.

I looked at the medical stats, and the chart of BAC versus accident risk had a gentle slope to about 0.10, then had a knee and bent sharply upward. Medicine agrees with the news reports, that the risk is in the 0.15 and up range.

Moreover, when police resources are dedicated to roadblocks and processing barely tipsy accident-free drivers (for the criminal-industrial complex), they aren’t out there detecting the obvious drunks that genuinely imperil other motorists.