Posted on 12/16/2013 8:56:37 AM PST by moonshinner_09
Troopers all across Texas are going after drunk drivers this holiday season.
The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is aiming to lower the amount of drunk drivers across the state by increasing the amount of troopers, working overtime, and enforcing stricter rules.
No refusals are among the stricter rules being enforced, meaning if an officer believes you are drunk and asks you to take a blood test you will most likely have to still take one.
If you say no, the officer will get a warrant from a judge immediately to get your blood specimen.
Saying no to a breathalyzer will also prompt authorities to get a warrant for a blood test.
"For example if you are a 0.05 you can still get arrested if the officer believes that you have lost physical and mental capacity to safely operate a motor vehicle," Trooper Maria Hernandez said.
Anything over a 0.08 blood alcohol concentration is deemed too dangerous for a driver to be behind the wheel.
Another rule is if they catch you intoxicated while driving with children under 15-years-old, you will get a $10,000 fine, two years in state jail and your license will be suspended.
This is the first time DPS is teaming up with police, fire departments and emergency medical services (EMS) to decrease the amount of drunk driving related accidents.
(Excerpt) Read more at valleycentral.com ...
The appropriate response: “Am I being detained or am I free to go?”
Plenty of YouTube videos show that these “magic words,” repeated until you get an answer, will insulate you from rogue cops. Continuously ask this until they state they are arresting you or you are free to go.
Don’t get of your car. If you do, firmly state that you do not consent to a search. They will try to use scare tactics like threatening to bring out drug-sniffing dogs, etc., and that’s fine.
“Am I being detained, or am I free to go?”
“I do not consent to any searches.”
IANAL, but if you refuse a blood or breathalyzer, you will automatically receive a license suspension in many states. This will occur even if a warrant is obtained, you are blood or breathalyzer tested and found to be under the legal limit. This is the doctrine of implied consent. By obtaining a license in a state with implied consent, you are implicitly giving your consent to be tested for alcohol. If you subsequently refuse, your license is suspended, even absent any criminal conviction. I know this is the law in Pennsylvania where I live; obviously laws vary in other states.
Uh, the law?!
Yes, it does. Yes, it is. Yes, there is.
Wow, that was easy.
Too many other place have let MADD steamroll them down to 0.02, where a couple beers makes you a slobbering drunk in their eyes.
Who draws the blood and how? It’s tested right there?
Not really, since you STILL have not provided one shred of evidence to back up your three claims, my simple statements remain perfectly adequate as arguments against yours.
I gratuitously refuted your gratuitous statements. That is perfectly consistent with the rules of logic.
By the way, based on your statements on this thread, you do not appear to me to be a “life-long conservative Texan with an extreme bent for conservatism - none of this “moderate” hogwash”, so much as a naïve, nanny-state-loving sheep who places WAY too much trust in the government.
Conservatives cherish individual self-determination and wish to have LIMITED government.
And this just happened this morning, stupidity gets a pass.
HOUSTON -
A driver thought she was doing everything right when her car stalled out on the South Belt. Sadly while that woman was waiting in her car for her, another car rear-ended her vehicle, killing her.
The accident happened shortly before 6 a.m. Monday at 6000 South Sam Houston Parkway East service road. Houston police say the victim was in a blue Toyota Camry that was stalled in the right lane of the eastbound service road.
According to family members, she was on her way to work when she got a flat tire. She called someone for help and waited in her vehicle.
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She was wearing her seat belt when the driver of a black GMC Sierra pickup truck traveling at a high rate of speed, struck her vehicle.
The 37-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene. Her identity is pending notification to family members by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.
The driver of the truck was questioned and police say alcohol does not appear to be a factor. There are no charges in the accident at this time, pending further investigation.
Had this truck driver even had .05 BAC, you can bet your ass he would be prosecuted.
I wonder if they change those needles and observe proper protocols. What a way to get HepC or HIV...
An attorney friend of mine printed up a bunch of business-card sized cards with the following statement on them:
“OFFICER: PLEASE BE ADVISED - I hereby exercise my constitutional right to remain silent and therefore will not answer any questions. Further, I do not consent to any search of myself or my property, I exercise these rights under the 4th and 5th Amendments to the United states Constitution. If I am being arrested please advise me so that I may contact my attorney. If you are going to issue me a citation please do so and allow me to leave. If I am not being arrested nor issued a citation I wish to leave now.”
He advises everyone to simply hand the card to any police officer who detains you and then say absolutely nothing.
I’ve used the card three times with the following results: Two immediate releases and one speeding ticket.
That calculator is BS. The law is designed to capture moderate social drinkers, not just binge drunks.
What the heck is a state jail? I've heard of county jails and state prisons, but never a 'state jail'. Here in Ohio, misdemeanors are served in county jails and felonies are served in state prisons.
“Uh, the law?!”
What law would that be? Do you have a link, or can you give us a clue where to find it?
I wonder if they change those needles and observe proper protocols. What a way to get HepC or HIV...
They probably use some perverted 3rd rate physicians assistant who takes blood from drivers who suddenly find themselves strapped down to a table at the local cop shop.
That’s very similar to cards I’ve seen local attorneys recommend. I’ve not had any run ins with the law since in the last 10 years or more, but in today’s environment, it seems everyone’s got a story about legal malpractice on the part of law enforcement.
“I vote for stopping all with liquor on their breath.”
All well and good, but as someone is driving, and a cop is driving behind him or her, how is the cop supposed to know whether or not the driver has liquor on their breath? ESP?
As a Texan, this absolutely disgusts me. I’d be banned if I said what I wish happens to jackboots participating in this.
What about rogue, i.e., crooked cops?
I remember seeing two threads here on FreeRepublic.....
One thread was about a female state trooper in Utah who had arrested more people for drunk driving than any other police officer in Utah. As it turns out, most of the drivers she arrested were innocent.....they were not impaired at all. There was a big uproar when the truth was learned.
Another thread was about a man in Arizona who was stopped and given a breathalyzer test. His reading was 0.00, but he was arrested for drunk driving anyway!
Want one of those <b>so</b> bad.
Can't give you a specific answer but Texas does have State Jails, State Prisons, County and city Jails. I think the state side has something to do with the length of incarceration and maybe the type charge. Here is a list of them: http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/unit_directory/index.html
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