Posted on 10/06/2010 7:44:45 PM PDT by only the truth
A campaign to create a new category of driving while intoxicated is being promoted at the Capitol as one way to curb growing problems in Texas' system of punishing drunken drivers.
Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo, among the supporters of the change, said the idea behind a new offense of "driving while ability impaired" — DWAI — would cover drivers whose blood-alcohol content is between 0.05 and 0.07
(Excerpt) Read more at statesman.com ...
It was a relatively low-speed collision.
I was driving a ‘92 Dodge Dakota mid-size pick-up and had stopped at a four-way. The other car was approaching, but appeared to be slowing down for the sign, so I went through.
As I got to the middle of the intersection, I looked left, and saw her looking at her phone and texting with one hand. She completely missed the stop and hit my truck square in the middle of the bed, flattening the left side tire, bending the rim and screwing up the rear end.
Surprisingly, the sheet metal damage was minimal.
I’m OK now, but I did miss a day of work. I had the shakes really bad for a while. I probably hurt my lower back, but it’s so screwed up anyway, that it’s hard to tell how much is from the accident.
I’ve had worse, but in a smaller vehicle I probably would have had far greater injuries.
They really are. You can’t even go out for dinner and a glass of wine anymore.
My point exactly....thus one that covers all acts of ignorance.
And remember....ignorance of the law is “still” no excuse !
This new impaired law is revenue based (duh) an driven by the money mongers in Austin.
But this means yer prescription or OTC meds can get ya busted as well.
Yer right...all BS !
Pineapple juice!
I don’t think it’s right to get a DUI after a single beer or something, but, just anecdotally I recently heard about a female friend who used to enjoy a Grey Goose on the rocks. She has dropped a lot of weight, and apparently got totally hammered by one when she tried it lately. Luckily she was not the driver at the time, since it was completely unexpected.
Just read that tonight on Ann Coulter's column sourced to Joe Sobran.
Rather than advocating for even more onerous oppresive laws that criminalize even more aspects of American lives I say start reducing some of the hundreds and maybe even thousands of nuisance criminal laws and get out of our every day lives. Forget the nanny state, we are fast turning into a totalitarian state.
...did the acident report show that she was texting?...I would think that would be hard to prove unless she admitted it to the cop...just wondering...texting drivers are just another form of DWI in my book.
I heard an idiot from MADD the other day in Dallas that is trying to get legislation passed to have all cars have a breathalyzer interlock on all cars.
It wont let you in unless you ‘blow before you go’
Brilliant. Add to the cost of everyone’s car with an expensive device that could be overridden with something a basic as a pocket bellows.
Fortunately, we have now developed an ignition interlock device. Within a couple of years, they could be made to be standard equipment on all new vehicles. Technology is just solving one modern problem after another.
I just don’t drink and drive.
I got popped once. Thats all I ever want.
I have never understood, assuming they really want to cut down on drunk drivers, why they don’t station themselves outside of every college bar parking lot in sight.
Easy, pull the phone records. If you weren’t on the phone, you weren’t using it and it’s not a cause of the accident. They pull phone records all the time to determine if someone was talking on a cell phone when an accident occurred.
Indeed.
FYI - I experienced an accident in 1997 where I was driving along Highway 101 in CA during a heavy rainstorm. A large rock rolled down the hill directly in my path and I wasn't able to avoid colliding with it. The damage to my vehicle was extensive (took out the transmission and steering). A CA Highway Patrolman drove by within minutes of the accident. I explained what happened. He wrote up an accident report and submitted it to DMV. They took a point from my license, apparently claiming that I was "distracted" and didn't see the rock - I have no idea what the "LEO" wrote in that report, but I wasn't distracted. As there was no impact upon my license or insurance, I didn't contest this. But, I think you get my point.
There is nothing new under the sun parisa.
People have been pulling this **** since the dawn of time.
Death penalty eh? He’s pretty screwed for life as it is. Do you know how hard it is to get a job if you can’t get car insurance, much less a driver’s license? I’ve interviewed enough people with poor driving records I can tell you they are screwed. way screwed. Unless they’re rich that is. not to mention the felony. A felony and no driver’s license pretty much limits you to janitorial, gas stations, and fast food jobs.
Criminalizing everyone and everything is in no way related to extracting ever greater amounts of revenue to feed the avarice of public sector employees.
It’s simply to protect us feeble-minded citizens from ourselves.
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