Many countries in Europe have limits way lower than 0.05 percent, sometimes with fines/prison terms depending on blood alcohol content, and it works quite well for keeping drunks off the road. When combined with good public transport, there’s no reason to drink and drive.
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Yes. They initially charge harsh with the idea you hire a lawyer and plead it down. If you can’t afford a lawyer, you get a PD who rolls their eyes and says “you’re guilty, plead guilty”.
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It was a fricken 16 hour course! Did he do evenings during the week, or blow it off on the weekend?
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I can just look at someone and tell when they are impaired by too much power…
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Getting pulled over scares the shit out of me, so I try to do an impression of the most boring driver ever, and as if there’s a cop behind me every minute.
(also came across this. Uh, Thank you Google Images)
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I facepalmed when that officer was described as honorable, even though he altered the documentation showing negative blood test results in some cases, wrote a report about how successful the system had been (ignoring the failures), and referred to the investigative journalist as a liar. All that, but it took a racist comment on video for him to be removed. No wonder that woman scoffed when instead of apologizing, he just said he would be there for her.
The “everyone arrested is guilty” attitude reflected in the comments from higher ranking officers was chilling. They flat out refused to admit any problem with their methods. I felt disgusted every time they said all those innocent people just had their cases dismissed (as though they had gotten away with something) or that the blood tests must have been wrong. I’m going to check how many law enforcement agencies in my area use this “training” for their officers.
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There are some suspect methodology and tools around testing. The hair, saliva and sweat tests have a particularly high rate of incorrect positives and negatives. Some tests only look for the inactive metabolite that remains after someone straightens up. (THC from marijuana is converted to THC-COOH, which is fat soluble and can stay in the body for several months after use.)
It would seem best to look for the presence of THC itself which is present while a person is high and set a limit for THC based on actual impairment.
That seems pretty low. I’d heard 10ng/ml was equivalent to the legal drink-driving limit of 0.05 but that was some time ago. (Gmel G, et al. BMC Public Health 2009;9(1):40.)
I can see how these powers serve and protect Police interests. If it was about identifying driving impairment through performance they’d be testing for reaction time e.g. here or here. Or am I missing something?
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Of course, it’s different in the U.S. Here they actively try to come up with more reasons to encourage drunk drivers to get on the road. Obstruct public transport, place limits on the number of cabs, enact dry counties and blue laws with arbitrary time windows to encourage people to drive to the next state and back for alcohol when they could’ve got it by just walking to their corner store if it weren’t for those laws, etc.
The U.S. is a land of perverse incentives. Whatever might be good for society, we’ll find a way to enshrine the exact opposite into law.
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No unreasonable imho. Impaired by cold medicine is still unsafe to drive.
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Of course we could save ourselves and law enforcement lots of trouble and money by mandating breath interlocks on all new vehicles.
Simple elegant and enforceable. Sure it’s easily gameable so just slap another 10k in fines or permanent revocation of privilege for having a 3rd party blow for you. Car manufacturing had to put air bags and seatbelts in so why not This?
Nope unless the Google box is lying Colorado has a 5 nanogram limit. But even the number you use doesn’t have a direct correspondence to intoxication.
Remember THC metabolites persist long after the psychoactive effects(30+ days). Unlike alcohol and other drugs of abuse ( cocaine, opiates) which clear the system within hours or days
http://www.drugs.ie/drugs_info/about_drugs/how_long_do_drugs_stay_in_your_system/
Dashcams are great. But bear in mind that getting personal dashcam video admitted in court can be an uphill battle for your lawyer, and even if it’s admitted, the judge may or may not decide to ignore it as not credible. However, as long as you have a decent insurance company, it may help you when filling a claim.
Until and unless the legal system is meaningfully overhauled, additional tech-bro libertarian “solutions” like this will serve only to punish the poor for being poor, destroying the lives of the underprivlaged while those wealthy enough to exercise their nominal rights can afford to break the law. The problem is not a lack of technology; the problem is a punitive system that grinds down the poor and people of color and a school-to-prison pipline for the children of the poor and racially redlined families.
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Yes there is a direct correspondence to intoxication. I’m talking nanograms of THC which is present while a person is high (not THC-COOH). Testers could set a limit for THC based on actual impairment.
In 2007 a research team led by Franjo Grotenhermen at from the Nova Institute in Germany showed a THC level in blood of 10ng/ml was equivalent to the legal drink-driving limit of 0.05. (Gmel G, et al. BMC Public Health 2009;9(1):40.)
Setting a THC level that is based on evidence and comparable to alcohol impairment would be more widely accepted by drivers and smokers.
As opposed to “the Dr. Dre Evaluation,” which could potentially send you to straight to Death Row.
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So your talking about roadside blood draws?
Roadside testing too I guess or will we just be arresting everybody and then waiting for the results to get back from a lab or (ye ods and little fishes) have Mr police officer use a little false positive prone test strip ?
Yeah no chance of a break in chain of custody or tampering there.
I bet you can see why nobody has put this idea forward as a practical measure!
imagine every traffic stop resulting in a barely trained jackbooted thug drawing blood?
I will however read that study if I can find it (and see what I can actually understand) but im sure you agree that one study does not good science or policy make.
I read the citation you provided but the sample size is a wee small and relies on a lot of self reporting.
Update : read the elevator pitch from the good doctor here https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/17916224/
And it sounds like somebody is getting ready to sell something expensive to law enforcement .
unfortunately I can’t see his methodology Because It’s behind a paywall.
I spent a fair amount of time looking, but this is the only document I was able to find (note, clicking on the lind downloads a small .pdf)
https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/811654
The table combines all fatal accidents with BAC .01-.07 together, so it’s not possible to tease out the change which would result from the drop from .08 to .05.
I’m guessing that if 5% of fatalities fall in the under .07 range, that perhaps 1.5% would be in the bottom half.
So it’s not zero, and I apologize for talking through my hat on that. But it is a small number, less than 400 fatalities a year, and if we can extrapolate, less than 2% of alcohol related accidents.
Not an unalloyed good however. The tradeoff is the tens of thousands each year who would have their lives destroyed as the article explains, because they blew an 0.6 on the breathalyzer when in fact their driving skills were not impaired.
I don’t think that’s a tradeoff worth making.
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.
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