Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I remember reading a Wapo article/series about 15 years ago about what happens when you get a DUI. It featured a few seemingly reasonable people who had recently been charged with their first-time DUI and it wen through how their case was resolved. It struck me at the time bc one was the people was similar to me: a petite woman who claimed to just drink wine with dinner. She blew just over the limit on her way home to Arlington and didnt realize she was over the recently lowered standard.
Dont remember exact details of the whole series but my take-aways were: getting a DUI for the first time is the equivalent of spending $10,000 for taxi ride (pre-Uber days) and the people who got a lawyer faced fewer consequences.
No sympathy. If you drink (at all--even "just wine") don't drive. If you go out to dinner and know you will be driving home--don't drink AT ALL. It's that simple.
I agree. In one of my first jobs a man in my office and his family went to Pennsylvania for family Thanksgiving and on the way back a drink driver crossed lanes and hit his car broad side. His wife and three children were killed instantlyand he had permanent brain damage. This was before drunk drivers were charged and he wasn't even scratched. Drunk drivers should be put in jail and the key thrown away and lawyers who represent them are the scum of the legal profession.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Can you refuse a breathalyzer?
I don’t trust them. I’d rather have a blood draw.
You CAN refuse all testing, but check the laws in your jurisdiction about the consequences for doing so. I suppose the police could get a court order for blood testing, but since alcohol leaves your system over time it doesn't seem like it would be worth it.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:As a person who was recently pulled over for speeding, the money grab doesn’t end with DUIs. Anything over 15 over is reckless driving and a misdemeanor in VA. I now only drive with cruise on.
Did something change? It was anything more than 20. Also, anything faster than 80 mph.
It's not a revenue grab. 20 over the speed limit *is* reckless driving.
The other reason it's not a revenue grab is often cops will put the citation just under the reckless driving limit, assuming you're white and compliant.
I was speeding on 81 by Lexington, VA. anything over 80 is an RD. So my 86 in a 75 was RD.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:As a person who was recently pulled over for speeding, the money grab doesn’t end with DUIs. Anything over 15 over is reckless driving and a misdemeanor in VA. I now only drive with cruise on.
Did something change? It was anything more than 20. Also, anything faster than 80 mph.
It's not a revenue grab. 20 over the speed limit *is* reckless driving.
The other reason it's not a revenue grab is often cops will put the citation just under the reckless driving limit, assuming you're white and compliant.
Anonymous wrote:Can you refuse a breathalyzer?
I don’t trust them. I’d rather have a blood draw.