Heart Of Stone wrote on Dec 27
th, 2008 at 12:56pm:
So much media talk about Alcohol & the Season, I thought I'd do this poll to find out about our members & how they are with booze, or how they feel about it, in Toronto there were more D.U.I's then last year, just curious.
most everyone i know has a dui or 2. i had a friend who was scared straight for months after his first offense and every time he came over i would offer him a beer and he'd be like no way man, i gotta drive. i was like you are allowed 1 beer, but he was adamant about not drinking anything. the other week we went out for burgers and, you guessed it, drinks. i won't say how many we had, but i'm pretty sure if he were to be pulled over he would have gotten his second within a year. its weird how people forget or just give up caring about stuff like that.
in ny, 9 times out of ten if you are popped for a dwi [drunk] for the 1st time you can get it reduced to an ability impared [not so drunk] which is a lesser crime and lesser fines. this is with help of a lawyer. if it happens a second time within 5 years chances are you're screwed. they will not reduce it. this is what happens here in the hudson valley anyway. in ny city it is a totally different story. pretty much the bottom line is...if you get 3 within 5 years, you may be jail time. not that i have been there.
one thing that confuses me tho and i am not sure i agree with it. just say you and a friend are sitting in your car down by the river, drinking of course, keys are in the ignition and you are listening to tunes but the car is not idoling. now a cop pulls up...he can technically bust you for a dui. i don't jive with that...the vehicle isn't moving.
bottom line is pretty simple...just don't do it. call a cab.
Loose laws in NY. Here in Oregon, the first offense (or first in 10 years) gets you a diversion: treatment and fees, but no conviction or jail--provided no one else was injured. Conviction carries mandatory minimum two days jail (typically up to 10 days for first offense in most counties). A third conviction in five years turns the misdemeanor DUII into a felony. And a third conviction, no matter howe far apart, carries a permanent revocation of driver's license (with opportunity to apply for reinstatement in 10 years--if and only if you haven't been caught driving in the interim). Washington State increases the mandatory minimum jail time depending on the BAC.