Fact: Approximately 14,000 out of 307,000,000 U.S. citizens die each year in alcohol related driving accidents (this data from www.nhtsa.dot.gov reflects information which can alter the data such as accidents where the driver left the scene, refused testing…etc.) That is .00046% of the population of America! DWI related deaths……horrible …but in no way justification to make laws adversely affecting the gross majority! Our country doesn’t make sense……….Example: I drive my two brothers home (their drunk…..I’ve had zero…0…nothing) from a party where there was a fight and both whiskey and beer was tossed on all of us…….the cop decides I’ve been drinking since I smell like a distillery and wants me to take tests….I simply chose to use my right to be silent and not take any embarassing “watch the pen”, walk the line, recite ABC’s backwards AND breathalyzer tests! Result: We all go to jail (1st timers), forced to lay in urine/feces in a crowded holding cell for 9 hours on the floor….$2500 bond for myself…..$500 tickets each for brothers…..$10,000 lawyers fees, court costs….and still counting (I’m now in debt, about to lose my vehicle, lost my drivers license and I haven’t even been convicted of anything…..haven’t even been to court yet! The American justice system………priceless!!! Hint: Pro Bono lawyer representation accepted gratefully!!
uh…next time you decide to choose which rights to exercise, read the conditions under which you have a privilege to drive and under what conditions failure to take a sobriety test is cause for suspension of that privilege.
14000 deaths aren’t enough for you?
You violated the law when you refused the breathalyzer. You agreed to that when you received your drivers license.
Check your facts.
No one except drunk drivers oppose our DWI laws. And I am too busy to represent some idiot “pro bono” who made his own bed by acting like a fool, and now does not want to lie in it. It is hard enough to represent paying clients who don’t act like idiots.
You are a very unsympathetic character.
They don’t. The DWI laws are not made by the 14,000 dead – or by the additional tens of thousands of injured – but by legislators elected by a majority of the population.
Your problems are 100% your own fault, not those of the people killed by drunks. If you had not been drinking then you could have simply done the tests and driven on home.
Richard
They did not make those laws. They are dead.
If you simply took the test you and your brothers would have been able to go home. But like you said it was your right to refuse.
Driving is a privilege not a right. With the privilege comes consequences if you do not follow the rules.
The people who die aren’t making the laws. They are dead.
Our elected representatives are making those laws. We elected them. They are trying to reduce those 14,000 needless deaths every year.
And I’m glad they took you to jail. Stupidity should be punished. If you would have explained to the cop that you are the designated driver and spent 5 minutes with him, you’d have been home that night and much better off financially. Instead, you chose to be stupid and got where you were.
With all due respect, every one of our laws comes up out of a small, but potent minority. Our laws involving sexual assault, involving murder, involving child molestation, things like this, come out of the experiences and plight of a small minority. This is neither new nor unjust.
You should have simply taken the tests and avoided everything else. You had a whiskey and a beer thrown on top of you, if you were the cop, and you refused to take a test, and smelled like liquor, you’d think you were driving while intoxicated as well.
You should have taken the tests. It wasn’t the officers job to risk the lives of everyone else on the road based on the word of a person who even admits they ‘smelled like a distillery’. You’re at fault 100%. If you really weren’t drinking then you should have just taken the test.
If you were truly innocent, why wouldn’t you have taken the tests? I’m guessing you got an attitude and refused to take the tests because it was an “inconvenience” to you? So, how is all this wasted time and money treating you? Why would you stay sober then refuse to take the test? Your story just doesn’t make sense….
By driving, you consent to be evaluated for possible DUI when an officer has reasonable suspicion. (Having a driver’s license is a privilege, not a right.) You said it yourself – you smelled of alcohol. You had two drunk people in the car. Of course you’re going to be checked!
By the way, it sounds like you are saying that you refused the tests under your “right to remain silent”? Well, failure to submit to BAC and intoxication testing doesn’t fall under your right to remain silent. Furthermore, in my state, refusal is a separate crime which requires a 12-month suspension of your driver’s license. (Wonder what the law is in whatever state you call home?) Sure, you’ll probably win the DWI, but you may still lose your license.
Did you ever consider that maybe the reason there are “only” 14,000 deaths per year (your implication, not mine; 1 DUI death is too many in my opinion) is because it is illegal (deterring drunk driving)?
The premise of our laws is that anything should be legal until it’s specifically made illegal. Once it’s illegal, it becomes a crime to do it. But some people aren’t content with punishing crime. They also want to prevent crime from happening in the first place. So they make more laws to punish those who MIGHT do something later that’s a crime. Pretty soon we’ll be punishing people for nothing more than wondering about a crime. (That happens a lot, now, too.)
It’s not that America’s legal system is the best, it’s just better than most other places. Kinda like saying that the Lions are the best NFL team in Detroit.
“I fought the law
And the law won…”
~ Bobby Fuller Four
Wow, that is an interesting concept to say the least. Because we have drunk driving laws, somehow society is responsible for YOUR failure to obey the law? It is well known, and I’m sure the police explained this to you, that refusal to comply with a request (a REASONABLE request, given the situation) for a roadside sobriety test is illegal. Refusing to take the test makes you guilty of an offense, which usually has the same or greater penalties attached than DWI. Yes, you can refuse the breathalyzer, but you may NOT refuse any sort of test. You smelled of liquor, they had a perfect right to check to see if you were impaired.
Now, as to the the concept that 14,000 dead people per year ‘makes the laws’: no, the law is made by the politicians who answer to their constituents. The VAST majority of people agree fully with tough drunk driving laws. WE don’t want drunks on the road, not just the 14,000 dead (as well as the 10s of 1000s of injured, btw).
Your situation is your own fault, bud, sorry. Don’t hold your breath for a pro bono lawyer willing to take on a clear losing fight.
The policeman explained what would happen if you didn’t take the test. You accepted that and now you are crying unfair. If you would had zero to drink the breathalyzer would have shown it and you wouldn’t have gone to jail. Why did you get pulled over or did you have an accident? Seems to have been left out of your story. If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.>_<