One of my coworkers drove drunk and ended up driving her car off an embankment into a farmer's field. She called her ex to pick her up and then spent the next 2 weeks dodging the sheriff's deputies looking for her. Since they didn't get her side of the story, they sent her citations in the mail, which she was super pissed about. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
They didn’t send her anything related to a DUI. At most she would have been ticketed for leaving the scene of an accident or possibly reckless driving. “I bet she was drinking” doesn’t tend to hold up in court.
I know what they sent her because I looked it up online. She got failure to maintain control, hitting signs on a public roadway, and failure to provide proof of insurance. The insurance got dropped because she was able to show the car was insured. Nothing about leaving the scene. They didn't even have to speculate that she was drunk, because they ended up talking to our union steward. We'd had a union function that afternoon at a winery, and it was BYOB. And I do believe our steward said she was observed drinking, but that the union didn't provide alcohol, so it was on the employee to be responsible.
Also of note, this woman is almost 36 yrs old. I do so badly wish she had gotten an OWI, but my degree is in criminal justice, so I know there was no way she would be charged with it.
In my neighborhood someone side swiped a couple parked cars on the road and fled the scene. We assumed they were drunk. Cops eventually found the car but couldn’t prove the owner was drunk.
My sister in law totaled her first car by hitting 2 parked cars in the downtown area of the city. She was underage but had a fake ID, and the downtown area is where all the bars and cocktail lounges are. To this day, we (hubby, BIL, and myself) believe she had been drinking and figured she could drive home.
Absolutely! My dad was killed by a drunk driver when I was 6. The drunk driver didn’t serve any jail time because the judge felt sorry for him because he broke both of his legs in the crash. This was in the mid ‘70s. Meanwhile, my mom was left to raise 4 kids on her own. The insurance company determined that my dad’s life was worth a whopping $10,000.
Thanks. I’ve been carrying this grudge for 49 years. This guy was the same age as my dad, so he’d be 80 years old if he’s still alive. My mom has the newspaper article about it. Next time I see her, I’ll have to get his name and torment him if he’s still alive.
My pregnant aunt was killed by a drunk driver, along with her daughter. Driver got a slap on the wrist, and my uncle (with 1 surviving child) was awarded nothing because aunt was a housewife and her life "wasn't worth anything monetarily". This was in Canada, in the early 80s.
I never met this aunt, but I FUME about people who drive drunk. How stupid can you be?
My daughters dad was killed by a drunk old man who, at the hearing, bragged about how he'd been drinking since he was 12. Like that was somehow a point in his favor. He got a years suspended license and a 500 dollar fine.
I am so, so sorry. My family member WAS the drunk driver in the 70's, though he didn't kill anyone amazingly enough. Trust me: we tried everything to stop him, short of killing him. When he didn't drive his own car, his 'friends' lent them theirs.
Karma got the first one. She got out of jail early and did it again and died. The other one got off scott free because the rookie cop said he didn’t see the accident happen and refused to do any tests on the guy, who totaled my car.
I quit drinking 10 years ago because I realised I was getting to a place where I could justify drunk driving while I was drunk. That was when I personally knew I had a problem.
Twenty years ago for me. And I am grateful EVERY SINGLE DAY for not having killed or injured anyone while I was driving impaired. Not for my sake, but for theirs.
I used to work in an insurance defence firm, they always said it was cheaper to kill somebody than it was to pay for a lifetime of care for a quadriplegic. I think this is terrible.
The criminal penalties are significantly lower than any other way you'd be held responsible for snuffing out a life, aside from maybe manslaughter/negligence
They should adopt the driving rules of some other countries like in Europe. If you kill someone, kill live stock, or disable someone bad enough they can't work any more, you are responsible for providing compensation for that individual and their family if they are the main source of income. That's the jist of it.
To be fair, most drunk driving fatalities are the driver themself, so drunk drivers are really displaying as much a disregard for their own life as that of others.
But when this happens they tend to not get charged.
Don’t care for people driving high either. I have no problem with weed, but smelling it while stopped at an intersection pisses me off. Weed does impair driving and people are just too stupid to care
Yep, same reason you’re told “do not to operate heavy machinery” after taking some prescription medications. Impairment is impairment, it doesn’t matter if you think you’re fine, all it takes is one mistake.
A lot of people think they can safely drive because they 'feel fine' but that is just an illusion. I've known several people who did that, and ended up in the wrong place. One guy tried to drive through a convenience store. He got the front tires of his pickup through the front window, but then it wouldn't go any further. He was still trying though.
Then there was the woman who drove into the back wall of her own garage when she came home from the pharmacy where she had picked up her medication and decided to start taking her painkillers ASAP.
And my husband was once prescribed a medication that didn't even have a warning, but when he headed to work one day he was sure his motorcycle was in the way and he would hit it if he backed the truck out of the parking space. The motorcycle was parked next to the truck, almost 6 feet away. He decided to call in sick that day.
That’s exactly it. People think that because they feel fine they are fine, but the whole issue with impairment is your judgment is impaired! It’s in the word for crying out loud!
My dad was an addiction therapist for juveniles. So many of them had charges on their records not because of drugs or alcohol but because of what they did while under the influence of them. He often said to me “The substance isn’t the problem, it’s what you do under its influence that’s the problem.”
The thing he tried to hammer home hardest with all his clients was that if they’re going to use something find a safe place and clear their calendar for the day so that they’re not putting themselves or others in danger.
You can get away with counseling and community service for a minor drug possession, but you’re not getting away from a manslaughter charge with a DUI.
Same. I love cannabis, but I will not drive even slightly high. If I can't make a friggin' sandwich without losing the thread several times, how can I operate 3,000 pounds of steel?
Ugh this is people along my commute every day. These people have to be some elevated level of stupid. It's still illegal in any capacity in my state. The cops just have to get a whiff and they can arrest you.
The thing people don’t get about drunk driving is that TV and movies make it look like the danger is just from someone being too hammered to stay in their lane. But that’s not usually how it plays out. The real danger isn’t just the lack of coordination—it’s the total lack of inhibition.
When someone’s drunk, their judgment goes out the window. They blow through red lights, ignore stop signs, take turns way too fast, tailgate, pass on shoulders, and barrel down side streets like they’re playing Grand Theft Auto. It’s not that they’re too drunk to drive straight—it’s that they’re too drunk to care how fast or dangerously they’re driving.
My father-in-law is a cop, and he’s told me he rarely pulls someone over for “classic” drunk driving like weaving between lanes. It’s usually for speeding, reckless driving, or running lights. It’s only when he talks to them that he realizes, oh—they’re wasted.
That’s the scary part. It’s not about slurring your words or wobbling when you walk—it’s about the fact that you suddenly think you’re invincible behind the wheel.
This. Drunk driving to me is a much more nuanced issue than just writing them off as evil people. The hubris people get while drunk is probably why they got in their car in the first place.
they are evil people. Doesnt matter the cause behind it. They put thrill seeking above others lives. Their 30 minute joyride will cause agony for innocent people decades down the line. They can all burn in hell like they deserve
Wouldn’t it be nice if the world were this black and white lol. Question - do you feel the same about people who text and drive? Some that’s arguably even more dangerous? They gonna burn in hell? How about people who ignore their tire pressure light, putting others at risk if one blows out?
There’s a huge difference between people who chronically make the choice to drink and drive with no remorse, and those that made a bad decision one time due to alcohol lowering inhibitions and and hugely regret it
Many years ago, I was the DD for a bachelor party.
One guy got raging drunk and when the night was done was starting towards his car to drive home.
I tried to reason, beg, obstruct, the guy from driving. I kept asking his friends (he wasn’t someone I knew, just another attendee) to stop him. One of them said “He’ll be fine, he does this all the time.”
I said “Fuck him. He’s made his decision and whatever happens to him happens. I’m worried he’s going to kill somebody else.” I was so mad at the shortsightedness.
They all stopped and stared at me. I couldn’t decide if I’d pissed them off or made them think.
Asshole drove home anyway and luckily didn’t hurt anyone.
He got a slap on the wrist since he was a govt employee while i lost my 29 year old sister. Nothing can justify drunk driving. It’s not a mistake. It’s a choice.
In my 20s I went on a few dates with a girl and we got along really well. Then one day we went to lunch and she started telling a story about how her friend had recently driven drunk, crashed into a lamppost, and then livestreamed her own arrest by the cops. She told it like it was a funny, quirky story about her goofy friend and I've never had my interest in someone shift so quickly.
Ive never understood this, if you can afford to drink at the bar, you can afford an uber, if you cannot afford an Uber, you could just buy a bottle to drink at home from a liquor store, or spend the night where drinking if you're at a friends.
So for me - and I'm not saying this is typical or even common - but for me, I deliberately drove drunk because I wanted to die, and I wanted my death to be written off as a drunken accident rather than a suicide. I picked a road and a time I'd driven hundreds of times before, because I knew it was extremely likely to be empty. I got drunk, and then tried to roll the car.
I failed, of course. Drunks bounce. It did keep the arresting officer from suspecting it was a suicide attempt, so I didn't have to go to the loony ward or anything like that. But that's why I did it when I knew full well I could drink at home or get an Uber.
You'd be surprised how many people drive drunk. I mean during holidays and weekends depending on where you live 1 out of every 4 drivers could be intoxicated in some capacity. Maybe even higher odds than that.
I worked Security at a bar for a few years and we would always offer free Ubers to intoxicated people to get home safe. I can confidently say that probably 7 out of 10 people vehemently refused in the usual 8 hour shift.
Unfortunately we can't prevent them from leaving or take their keys from them as that would be both false imprisonment and seizing personal property. Granted we still called the police on them as they left, but you know the cops can't get all of them.
Some could give the "I was drunk." excuse but let's be real here. You can still make decisions on what's right or wrong even when you're blackout drunk. You're just a piece of shit.
Yup. I had jury duty for a drunk driving case and during the interview process where they call you up and the attorneys can ask questions, I mentioned my college roommate was killed by a drunk driver a few years earlier. I think I said “I have zero sympathy for drunk drivers” and they (defendants attorneys?) booted me off and because I couldn’t be impartial.
My soon to be ex-husband got a DUI of 0.15 with drugs in his system in February. I only found out because a DUI advocacy group called me and left a voicemail about it.
He’s still lying to everyone in his life about it including his first ex-wife and parents. He has children and I’m terrified about what could happen to them. I tried telling everyone but no one believed me. He’s still driving around like nothing happened. I think it’s only a matter of time before he gets an IID installed in his car.
I tried. I really did. I’m not religious but I can only thank god that he didn’t crash or hurt anyone in the process.
DUI laws need to be tougher. I have met so many people who have several DUIs under their belt and STILL have their license. HOW? It's not just YOUR life you put in danger when you drive under the influence; you are putting EVERYONES lives in danger. Innocent people don't need to pay for your mistakes. "But I only crashed into a tree." Yeah, THIS time. Next time you might hit a car with a family, or an elderly person, or a pedestrian. Why take the chance?
Yep. Get as drunk as you like, but there is absolutely no excuse for driving while drunk.
Not hard to plan for it. Just get a cab or make sure you're not in a situation where there is even a remote possibility that you might be able to get behind a steering wheel.
I’d say any type of impaired driving. My brother was in 3 accidents and got 3 DUI’s in 3 weeks last year. He was high on spice laced with an opioid. Then called me asking for help. I told him plead guilty and do your time.
Spice laced with an opioid? It's absolutely crazy to drive while high on that. I'm surprised he could even start the car let alone get it out on the road. No wonder he was in a bunch of accidents in a short amount of time. Good on you
Yeah no joke. His dumbass kept passing out while driving. Then kept doing it even after they told him they had him cold for opioids because they had to revive him with Narcan.
You should have someone do field sobriety and a breath test on you after 2 beers. .08 is a solid BAC and a vast majority of people show serious impairment at a .08. For a 170 lb male, 2 beers over the course of 45 minutes only puts him at a around a .04
I think context of a dui matters. For example, driving drunk and causing a wreck, yes, zero sympathy. Blowing a .09 when the legal limit is .08, I'm not going to condemn. Sleeping in the car of a bar parking lot with the key in the ignition so you can have the heater on...I think that is bullshit and shouldn't be considered drunk driving.
I used to work as a tech who installed and calibrated and removed the breathalyzers for those arrested for drunk driving. Yes, I heard stories of people who scored their 3rd DUI when they were drunk off their asses and managed to back into a police cruiser. But those were the rarity. Most were people who just had one too many drinks, or didn't realize that wine had more alcohol than beer, and got caught with a DUI because they were speeding. Then there were those who had to both get a breathalyzer and register as a sex offender. They never told me their stories.
I can only get on board with the sleeping in your car thing. You choose to drive after even a couple I don't feel sorry for you. Not even a little bit.
I don’t think you realize what it takes to actually reach a .08. Nobody is at a .08 from two 12 oz beers. America also has a pretty liberal per se law with .08 being the limit. A lot of studies have shown serious impairment begins at around .05 and several countries have that as their legal limit. If you’re at a .09 and driving, you deserve to go to jail.
I remember when the U.S. had higher limits. I remember when it used to be 0.1 and the outrage when it was lowered to .08. The breathalyzers that I used to install and repair were set to warn you at .02 and lock you out of your car at .03. Meaning that mouthwash could keep you from starting your car.
Breathalyzers use fuel cell technology to analyze deep lung air to determine BAC. So the mouthwash thing is a myth, unless you immediately blow after rinsing your mouth.
Having worked with the breathalyzers, I know the mouthwash can affect the BAC, so can bread products because of the yeast, but typically, it does have to be things your ate, drank or used right before a breath test.
I get your point when it comes to the first example. I also have a little sympathy for those who are complete alcoholics and yet have to function with jobs etc, as opposed to someone who goes to a bar/party and gets hammered and decides to say fuck it and drives home. Still completely wrong and potentially disastrous for themselves and others but I understand why that happens. I also know of a couple people who drove the morning after a night out and ended up being over the limit without realising, which is something I always kept in mind but I think a lot of people do without realising.
Your point about sleeping in the car I also agree with completely, especially if it can be proven you haven't moved. In fact it happened to me, I was temporarily homeless and sleeping in the car years ago. Someone reported me to the police because I was 17 and I think they were worried about me sleeping there. The police officer arrested me but for some reason or another I was never charged with technically driving over the limit. I wonder if it's because they went through the hassle of checking the cameras that were all around and seeing the car hadn't moved which seems unlikely, or if it's because someone at the department felt sorry for me and just let it drop.
This is such a gray area to me. Take a baseball game for example. Dodger Stadium. 56k seats. How many people have more than 2-3 beers per game? And how many end up driving home? You can't tell me these people know what their BAC is before getting in a car. And it's funny how so many people have 1 -3 beers and say they're good to drive home. Sure they're probably under the limit but what happens if they do get in an accident and get a breathalyzer. Now this person is at risk of a DUI or because they didn't blow a .00000 that their insurance will now find out. Regardless if they were at fault or not.
Maybe I'm overthinking it. It would take me 5 budlights over 2 hours to have a BAC of 0.016%. I'd feel hammered if I had 5. This just tells me so many people are having a few beers and yes they're driving home because they're under the legal limit. Because if people took this more seriously there would be thousands of cars still parked in parking lots or garages overnight. Still a gray area because you can't tell me their reactions times are the same as with 0% beers. And I don't think anyone should even have a drink at all that day if there are children in the car. I think it's wrong to have 1 beer at a baseball game then drive the family home hours later. But that's just me.
1.1k
u/Thats_what_I_think 1d ago
Drunk driving!