SuzukiSavage.com - DUI, texting and cell phones

Jerry Eichenberger

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DUI, texting and cell phones
09/23/10 at 15:24:48

A few months ago I suffered the wrath of several members of the forum for my stance on DUI. Basically, I believe that the national .08% limit is too low, and that the legislators caved in to MADD. The old .15% is far more realistic as a measure of too impaired to drive.

.08% is TWO drinks for a small person; the average 120 pound woman or small man.

I've had clients whose lives were changed for years by the .08% limit, including being unable to enter Canada, for instance, for 5 years after their conviction.

Today on Yahoo there's a story about texting and cell phone usage, and how the fatal accident rates have soared.

There is a lot of proof that a simple cell call while driving impairs a person as much as being at .08% blood alcohol.

Texting is far, far more impairing.

I wonder if we tell our kids and others that a texter, doing so while driving, ought to be arrested on sight, thrown into jail, and treated like a child molester by society. In every logical sense, a texter ought to be treated like someone who drives with a blood alcohol level around .18%.

Fire away, I'm hunkered down for the incoming.

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Jerry Eichenberger
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Serowbot YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline OK.... so what's the speed of dark? Posts: 29282 Tucson Az Gender:	Re: DUI, texting and cell phones Reply #1 - 09/23/10 at 15:33:03 +1... ... Jerry Eichenberger wrote on 09/23/10 at 15:24:48: Fire away, I'm hunkered down for the incoming. Fire?... What fire?.... ...
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Ed L.

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Re: DUI, texting and cell phones
Reply #2 - 09/23/10 at 16:03:01

Got to agree about the .08 BAC being too low. Three or four beers in an hour will push it past the limit. On top of that even if you blow under a .08 the police can still arrest you if they decide that you are too impaired to drive. In other words just one drink could get you busted for a DUI if the cop was having a bad day. Texting while driving is just down right stupid and dangerous while talking on a cell phone is doable unless you are one of the multitude of people out there who can't walk and chew gum at the same time. Just my 2 cents on it.

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justin_o_guy2

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Re: DUI, texting and cell phones
Reply #3 - 09/23/10 at 16:29:45

If yer huntin an argument that the DUI laws are unreasonable, Im not ready to do it. As far as Im concerned, as long as someone doent cause or fail to avoiud an accident b/c of drinking, they have done nothing wrong. Then, SHOULD they cause a crash or, due to impairment, fail to avoid a simple little thing, then, then, let them feel the pain of the choice they made. Same is true for texting. Laws should be to control behavior, but to make people ACCountable FOR their choices.

We need accountability in DC, too.

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mick

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Re: DUI, texting and cell phones
Reply #4 - 09/23/10 at 19:59:31

Jerry,you think .08 is to low ? after I got my CDL (commercial drivers licence) that number goes to .00 ,that's right, zero. You have to be carefull you don't swallow any mouthwash with your morning gargle, arent Pilots subject to the same regulation ?
If and when I got 3 days off I could only have a drink on the first day,the other two were for drying out. Those were the days when a bottle of good Scotch whisky was norm for one night.
Why did something I love so much, treat me so bad. ?

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Demin Serious Thumper Offline We need more chlorine in the gene pool Posts: 2435 Warren,Ohio Gender:	Re: DUI, texting and cell phones Reply #5 - 09/23/10 at 20:13:41 A CDL is .04 away from your truck.0 if you're in your truck. It takes about 1 hour per drink to get it out of your system.
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mick

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Re: DUI, texting and cell phones
Reply #6 - 09/23/10 at 20:21:15

Demin wrote on 09/23/10 at 20:13:41:

A CDL is .04 away from your truck.0 if you're in your truck. It takes about 1 hour per drink to get it out of your system.

By away from your truck you mean off duty,if you are on a lunch break,and you get in you truck and you blow a .01 you go to jail .
Completly off duty the .04 applies what is that a half a drink ?
you are quite right.

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Demin Serious Thumper Offline We need more chlorine in the gene pool Posts: 2435 Warren,Ohio Gender:	Re: DUI, texting and cell phones Reply #7 - 09/23/10 at 20:25:53 Yeah,exactly.We as "professional" drivers(I use that term VERY loosley)are expected to be above the rest. There are some pretty losy truck drivers out there,but that's a whole other story.
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mick

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Re: DUI, texting and cell phones
Reply #8 - 09/23/10 at 20:36:48

Demin wrote on 09/23/10 at 20:25:53:

Yeah,exactly.We as "professional" drivers(I use that term VERY loosley)are expected to be above the rest. There are some pretty losy truck drivers out there,but that's a whole other story.

You are right again, I quit along time ago but my CDL was valid until last year. I have seen some very bad truckers out there ,most of em are doing bennies, quite a few doing coke,three of us got pulled over in the first port of entry in Utah, I was the only one who passed the pee test. needless to say I drove on,one of the drivers was a gal,they looked ok ,so I guess it was a drug of some kind ,not booze.
I was a pumkin driver (Schnieder National)

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Science and Logic fly you to the moon,
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Educatedredneck Senior Member Alliance Member Offline Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. Posts: 458 Hampstead, Maryland Gender:	Re: DUI, texting and cell phones Reply #9 - 09/23/10 at 22:34:19 I'll raise you Jerry, I say .00 period. If your gonna drink - DON'T DRIVE. Take a cab, get a ride, or have a designated driver or stay parked until your dang sure the alcohol is out of your system. You get to have your fun, and NO ONE gets hurt. My two copper's worth.
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PerrydaSavage

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Re: DUI, texting and cell phones
Reply #10 - 09/24/10 at 00:42:55

Since this topic is about driving impairment caused by cel phone usage and texting, I'll weigh in ... yes, cel phone activity while behind the wheel is a MAJOR distraction and impairment to the driver ... and should have same penalties as alcohol impairment IMHO. Cel phone/texting is a ticketable (and point accumulative) offense here in Nfld. but I see cel phone use behind the wheel EVERY DAY, yet rarely hear of anyone getting busted for it? In fact, I have actually seen on a couple of occassions, even the police using cel phones behind the wheel!

As for the legal level of impairment when it comes to blood alcohol level ... well, I'm no doctor so I won't speculate as to what is, or isn't considered actual impairment. Driving while intoxicated is just plain wrong ... but I don't know if I could go so far as to agree that a "zero tolerance limit" is where the law should go (as it is in some European countries I believe).

I have been told (off the record) by folk I know in both the law enforcement and legal fields that most repeat DUI offenders and those involved in alcohol related accidents are chronic alcoholics ... where the legal BAL limit is set makes no diff as far as those folk are concerned ... if they have access to a vehicle, drivers license or no, they will often drive under the influence ... the average Joe/Jane Blow driving after consuming a drink or two over the course of an entire evening aren't the problem on our roadways ...

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Toymaker Serious Thumper Offline Dragon Rider Posts: 1534 Granite Falls, NC Gender:	Re: DUI, texting and cell phones Reply #11 - 09/24/10 at 02:16:18 well since I have ahd major closecalls because of cell phone/texting, I think the texters should be shot, quartered, shot again then stabbed with their freaking phones, then we should all go out and pound a few to celebrate.
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photojoe FSO

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Re: DUI, texting and cell phones
Reply #12 - 09/24/10 at 04:42:40

One of my new favorite bumper stickers: "Handguns kill less people than drivers on cell phones."

I will not answer my phone while driving, even when it's work calling when I'm on the road. The caller will have to wait until I pull over and call back.

New fad here in the last year is people on bicycles doing the same thing. Texting with no hands on the handlebars, and talking on cell phones while riding against traffic. They're totally oblivious to their surroundings.

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Jerry Eichenberger

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Re: DUI, texting and cell phones
Reply #13 - 09/24/10 at 05:12:35

I'll try to respond to several posts.

First, as for flying, the limit is .04%, AND at least 8 hours since the last drink. Reasonable - landing a jet in the rain at night has almost no relationship to going 45 mph down a country road in broad daylight.

I know nothing about the limit for truckers.

But the big one is that those who cause accidents, who go up a freeway the wrong way, the chronic "drunk drivers" are just that - DRUNK. Meaning that they are typically near .20% or higher. These folks should be dealt with severely.

My issue is that .08% isn't drunk - yes, it may be a little impaired compared to nothing at all. But we allow one eyed people to drive, we allow paraplegics to drive in cars equipped with all hand controls, and an ever increasing problem - the truly elderly who can barely walk 10 yards or whose cognitive functions have severely declined all still drive. None of these folks is unimpaired; in fact, they are quite impaired compared with a normal, healthy person who has had no alcohol.

So, we don't have a zero tolerance policy, nor should we. I simply advocate returning the legal limit to around .15%, where is was for decades until MADD became so powerful. .15% is drunk.

But the business person, the guy or gal who just got off his/her shift at work, and all of the rest of us who stop on the way home for a couple of drinks should be left alone. .08% is not drunk, nor any more impaired than all of the other impaired drivers who legally drive everyday, and who cause accidents too.

As for zero tolerance, sorry - I'm not a tea totaler. But if you are, please don't drive when you have a common head cold and may feel a little groggy from your doze of Nyquil the night before - you're worse off than the guy who is at .08%.

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Jerry Eichenberger
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Re: DUI, texting and cell phones
Reply #14 - 09/24/10 at 06:02:09

my .02

Dealing with impaired drivers every day, I'm a fan of getting them off the road. In the past someone who was impaired during the day was a rare thing, and was usually either an alcoholic, messed up prescription drugs, or a diabetic. Friday nights was a different story then it was the drunks (alcohol abusers - binge drinkers - college students - birthday girls etc.) Now it is cell phone users. The laws are in place to deal with all of them. Most states have laws on the books for both drunken driving (easy to measure and prosecute). The laws for impaired driving are harder to enforce. Just like the person that says they can drive fine when they've only had a few beers (usually said standing rocking back in forth by the side of the road at the scene of an accident or after they've gotten a ticket) is difficult to convince that they shouldn't have been driving.
States are slowly beginning to put laws in place to combat cell phone usage and electronic usage. I agree that someone using their computer is bad, but so is using a cell phone. And if you think you aren't impaired, you need to have someone impartial observing your driving while answerring, talking, dialing iow using a cell phone in your vehicle and then listen to what they have to say. The only reason we haven't put laws in place universally is because not enough people have been killed, so not enough people are directly affected by cell phone users. I think it's coming, and faster than it did with drinking and driving. Mostly because more people do it, and because younger - less experienced drivers are doing it also. Finally, (imho) because it is more impairing that a couple of drinks, a slight side effect from a medicine, or waking up groggy.

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