How not to go through a tollbooth [Archive]

racermike

06-03-10, 10:26 AM

I wonder if she was on a bender on an incoming flight, as she was driving out of DFW.

I think airlines need to tighten up drinking on-board. I cant tell you the number of asshats I have had to sit next to that drank the entire flight, and could barely pull their asses out of their seats after landing.

Elmo T

06-03-10, 10:32 AM

Drunk driving laws in this country have to be tightened up now.:mad:

The number of truly impaired drivers is unbelievable. The number of repeat offenders :flame: .

High Sided

06-03-10, 10:48 AM

this video was next up to view, little car kicks 18 wheelers ass:tony:...
8ExNMQL-hOE&NR=1

edit.. that is sebastian vettel in the little car :eek::laugh:

racermike

06-03-10, 12:49 PM

The person in the Porsche Cayenne has some mad skillz at evading said Pepsi truck.

dando

06-03-10, 01:16 PM

Meh. She was just trying to duplicate the stunt from Die Hard 4 where Bruce Willis (aka: John McClain) launched a car into a helicopter. :gomer:

-Kevin

extramundane

06-03-10, 01:39 PM

I thought that was just the Tejas version of the EZ-Pass?

Methanolandbrats

06-03-10, 02:53 PM

The person in the Porsche Cayenne has some mad skillz at evading said Pepsi truck.

Ya, nice move and an excellent arguement for keeping two hands on the wheel at all times and not doing other **** while driving.:thumbup:

Ankf00

06-03-10, 02:55 PM

all the best car crashes happen in DFW these days

TKGAngel

06-03-10, 03:11 PM

Check what that Pepsi dude was doing on his onboard computer.

Last winter, a semi crashed into a stalled car on the 90 because the driver was watching the pr0n on his laptop in addition to being in violation of the HOS rules.

Indy

06-04-10, 12:58 AM

Drunk driving laws in this country have to be tightened up now.:mad: And no, that's not "political" unless you consider the booze industy and tavern owners league a political party.

Unfortunately, they are tightening up the allowable percentages, which means, in effect, if you have a single beer you could potentially end up with a DUI. And now they are calling for "zero tolerance" of any alcohol and driving. The various organizations pushing this, MADD in particular, at some point shifted focus from serious drunk driving to drinking and driving at any level. This is not reasonable and clearly a form of neo-prohibitionism.

IMO, what we should do is make the punishments for drunk driving harsher. The people causing the mayhem are largely the degenerate drinkers, those who drive on a regular basis hammered. Why do we continue to slap them on the wrists while enforcing draconian punishments on relatively minor offenders? The answer to that question reveals a lot about the true motivations of those pushing the agenda.

Andrew Longman

06-04-10, 05:39 AM

Unfortunately, they are tightening up the allowable percentages, which means, in effect, if you have a single beer you could potentially end up with a DUI.

Legit point. There was almost no credible evidence that lowering the threshold to .08 would reduce accidents or deaths and it has proven out that way as well. But MADD pushed for it (having run out of things to push for) and the Feds forced it on states under threat of yanking their highway funding.

Punishments are in fact pretty harsh in most states. In NJ 6 mo loss of license for first offense, 2 year and 10 year loss for second and third. Mandatory. Thousands in fines and surcharges plus mandatory treatment programs. Jail in many cases for second and third offense.

Best action IMO is more roadside testing. The drunks are out there. They are sick and deterrence and consequences are of little concern to an alcoholic. That is part of the disease. I don't know what else to do except remove the people from the road who can't make that choice for themselves.

Indy

06-04-10, 07:45 AM

Totally agree, except that I think punishments should be harsher for the guy who blows .15 or more in his first offense. 10 years mandatory loss of license, lifetime plus prison for second offense. Driving without license, add ten years in prison.

But have no doubt, zero tolerance is the goal. First they will get .05, then go for .00.

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/4981/carrienation2.jpg

Temperate temperance is best. Intemperate temperance injures the cause of temperance, while temperate temperance helps it in its fight against intemperate intemperance. Fanatics will never learn that, though it be written in letters of gold across the sky.
- Mark Twain

Methanolandbrats

06-04-10, 08:39 AM

Unfortunately, they are tightening up the allowable percentages, which means, in effect, if you have a single beer you could potentially end up with a DUI. And now they are calling for "zero tolerance" of any alcohol and driving. The various organizations pushing this, MADD in particular, at some point shifted focus from serious drunk driving to drinking and driving at any level. This is not reasonable and clearly a form of neo-prohibitionism.

IMO, what we should do is make the punishments for drunk driving harsher. The people causing the mayhem are largely the degenerate drinkers, those who drive on a regular basis hammered. Why do we continue to slap them on the wrists while enforcing draconian punishments on relatively minor offenders? The answer to that question reveals a lot about the true motivations of those pushing the agenda. I agree. I also think .08 is pretty buzzed. My personal rule is no more than two beers if I will be driving, but in my state it is amazing how many people think drinking a six pack and driving is ok, and if you weigh 230 lb and have been at the bar for two hours you only blow .07 :eek: It's that casual attitude that it is "ok" to drive "buzzed" that has to be changed as well as going after the serious repeat offenders.

High Sided

06-04-10, 11:25 AM

Missouri has new laws going into effect this august. one of which is mandatory jail time for .15 and over.

http://house.mo.gov/content.aspx?info=/bills101/bilsum/intro/sHB1695I.htm

nrc

06-04-10, 01:33 PM

Part of the problem is that as the consequences get ratcheted up, it becomes more and more worthwhile, especially for the real problem cases, to bring in a lawyer and really use the system against itself. Ask for a jury trial, drag things out, out make a deal, everything in the book.

Along the way they learn all the tricks. Never stop for a fender bender. Always leave the scene when possible. Refuse the breath test. How to drive even after they take away your license and plates.

I'm not sure how you fix it. Lowering the BAC doesn't attack the real problem of severe and habitual offenders. Maybe continuing to up the ante for that group will help but it only increases their incentive to game the system.

grungex

06-04-10, 09:27 PM

The answer to that question reveals a lot about the true motivations of those pushing the agenda.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Didn't the founder of MADD resign in disgust?

devilmaster

06-04-10, 10:14 PM

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Didn't the founder of MADD resign in disgust?

well, disgust is a strong word.

but, that being said... she has been quoted that she feels MADD is now more of a temperance movement.... she doesn't mind the couple who have a glass of wine with dinner then drive home, but the man who killed her daughter has been caught time and time again driving drunk.... she fights to get those habitual offenders off the streets.... not to lower the legal limit.

Lightner has continued her disapproval of MADD’s agenda, telling the Washington Times in 2002 that “[MADD] has become far more neo-prohibitionist than I had ever wanted or envisioned… I didn’t start MADD to deal with alcohol. I started MADD to deal with the issue of drunk driving.”

oddlycalm

06-05-10, 07:01 AM

Here's a different take on this subject; the aftermath of as seen from 45yrs later. These were people I knew. Jack Torry was the neighborhood goofball as a kid, but he grew up to be a hell of a writer and this is an original perspective. The drunk driver in this case had wrecked a car at the exact same spot 4yrs earlier but didn't manage to kill anyone.

Rod Henderson and I had the same swimming coach, Cory VanFleet, and Cory and his wife Mary were so devastated by his death that it fundamentally changed their lives. He and his wife named their son after Rod. It impacted a lot of other lives and still does to this day. It is a recurring topic on the class facebook page.

Crash kills 3 (http://detnews.com/article/20100118/METRO/1180362)

Henderson's Light (http://www.amazon.com/Hendersons-Light-Jack-Torry/dp/0978619196/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275734670&sr=8-3)

oc

BarillaGirl

06-05-10, 10:14 AM

OC, that's an amazing article. My condolences....

opinionated ow

06-05-10, 10:41 AM

Methanolandbrats

06-05-10, 01:18 PM

I know Indy will go mad at me for this...but...any alcohol in your system impairs your judgement. We have a limit in Australia of .05 for fully licensed drivers and 0.00 for provisional, learner and public transport licensed drivers. Personally I think that limit is too high. Any drug that affects your system shouldn't be consumed before driving, especially a depressant!

Ya, that's what I was getting at, .08 is too high. You can go out and have a cocktail with dinner and be under .05, but you can't stay at the bar and drink six beers hoping you'll be under .08 and that is what a lot of people do in my area. The repeat offender is one problem, but the casual attitude toward driving with alcohol in your system is another problem.

Elmo T

06-06-10, 11:39 AM

From today's paper - :shakehead

Not that Dando, the other one.

Community rallies to support local firefighter (http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/the_intelligencer/the_intelligencer_news_details/article/27/2010/june/06/community-rallies-to-support-local-firefighter.html)

Out for a ride with his son, Dando, 46, was hit on Route 202 in Chalfont, not far from his home. He's undergone four reconstructive surgeries and multiple plastic surgeries in the hope he will recover use of his left leg. More operations are to come, but there has been slow improvement, his wife Kathy said.

According to court records, Deborah Kiesel, 31, was out on bail after pleading guilty to her third drunken driving charge, when she pulled a minivan out of a parking lot, crossed the center lane and collided with Dando's motorcycle. She allegedly fled after the crash.

:flame::thumdown:

racermike

06-06-10, 05:04 PM

You know what sucks, is drivers like me struggling to pay a massive car insurance premium, and I have a spotless record.

Part of the problem is I did not drive with my own insurance for 6+ years, as my employer covered my car insurance.

So I have almost 240k miles of driving since 2004, yet I have to file an SR-22 in Oregon to get insurance. Meanwhile, drunks get to keep driving as much as they want to, and probably pay half the amount I am paying for the privilege to drive.

Talk about a messed up system.

Indy

06-06-10, 05:14 PM

I know Indy will go mad at me for this...but...any alcohol in your system impairs your judgement. We have a limit in Australia of .05 for fully licensed drivers and 0.00 for provisional, learner and public transport licensed drivers. Personally I think that limit is too high. Any drug that affects your system shouldn't be consumed before driving, especially a depressant!

Fine, then no cell phones, no makeup, no drugs of any kind (they all affect you somehow), no food in the car, no drinks in the car...

Where does it end? Alcohol is not the only problem.

You take care of the light drinker with education, free cabs, peer pressure, more observant bartenders, etc.

You take care of the serious drunk driver with mandatory hard time. The repeat offender should get life in prison, no parole.

opinionated ow

06-07-10, 03:09 AM

Fine, then no cell phones, no makeup, no drugs of any kind (they all affect you somehow), no food in the car, no drinks in the car...

Where does it end? Alcohol is not the only problem.

You take care of the light drinker with education, free cabs, peer pressure, more observant bartenders, etc.

You take care of the serious drunk driver with mandatory hard time. The repeat offender should get life in prison, no parole.

I agree. Mobile phones shouldn't be used whilst driving-that's illegal here too unless it is hands free and even then I question whether that should be allowed either...BUT comparing food and drink to alcohol in the system is like comparing Paris Hilton and Angela Merckel.

As I said before the use of any depressant is bad news, alcohol is the most common one but most pain medications (especially those taken on prescription) count too.

I'm not a fan of nanny states but things like that are necessary legislation as is the requirement to use a seatbelt, use headlights at night etc.