After taking a crash course on DUI, I choose to never drinking a drop if I am going to drive. I probably had a 0.06 BAC or less when I got in the car, but my life was nearly ruined by the charges.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I think it's important that people are wise on DUI laws. You can LEGALLY be arrested for DUI with double zeros. The fact is you now have a 'DUI arrest' on your record. If you ever get pulled over again, regardless the reason, the cop will pull up your rap sheet and there is the DUI arrest. Yes, not drinking anything will make your BAC level .00, but the officer doesn't know this nor does that matter if he wants you to blow at the station which will require a second DUI arrest. Be smart and educate yourself how you'll handle another pull over (at anytime of the day) - regardless of not ever drinking again.If you don't drink you'll know what your BAC is... 0.00
Not true.
A fine only?!?
How are the police rewarded by DUI arrests? I have never received a bounty or even a toaster.
This is typically a byproduct of proactive DUI enforcement anyway. There IS a correlation.
One can be impiared and still below the "per se" limit (it is NOT the "legal" limit, by the way).
There are few if any states where your criminal history is going to be accessed on a traffic stop. In my state we categorically would not be able to obtain that information in the field - particularly on a "simple" traffic stop. After an arrest, perhaps - not while detained for a traffic violation.
The point of the minimun fine at low BAC is not to eliminate the possibility of DUI (it may still be there under special circumstances), but so that people realize that drinking and driving are not acceptable at all. If a fine existed for low BAC levels people may realize that they are fooling themselves by saying "I'm following the law and being responsible by drinking one beer an hour". I fooled myself this way and it almost cost me my way of life. By instituting a small fine you are sending a strong message that obliterates all gray areas. I my particular case, it would have helped.A fine only?!?
That's ridiculous. DUI the equal of a traffic ticket .. .wonderful.
See examples of a typical reward here, http://jaablog.jaablaw.com/2007/07/18/100-dui-arrests.aspx. Your problem may be that you are being to honest and objective when if comes to DUI. You may need to embellish your police reports and be extra observant during the FST (say to yourself, "I must have missed something; no way he just nailed that sobriety test exercise, lets repeat it until I can see the mistake that must surely be there", or, "I'll just push the pen a little beyond 45 degrees since this DUI is good at hiding his nystagmus"). Of course you don't want to go overboard (http://www.dui.com/dui-library/oregon/news/oregon-police-officer-busted-for-arresting-sober-motorists-for-dui).
Yes, there should be a correlation as you eventually find the high BAC drivers among the low BAC arrests, but could you lower the overall deaths by shifting some focus to other areas (say, aggressive drivers)? Are you sure that your resources are being distributed optimally after a victim's advocacy group helped define what an "alcohol related" accident is (any accident where any party has BAC > 0.01)? A definition that has little to do with impairment and has deep consequences for police resource analyses?
Explain how one gets "the arrest expunged" and at what cost to do so.
That's a lie. DUI laws allow for arrests that don't involve alcohol. You CAN be arrested for DUI while taking a perfectly legal, over the counter drug. And you can be charged if they find it in your system and THINK it was the cause of the accident. The level of the drug in your system and the timeframe in which you took the drug will be up to your lawyer to defend. It's not the cop or DA's job to help you.