Ever failed a roadside breath test?

Bretrick

Bretrick

Well-known Member
Location
Perth Western Australia
Driving home from work yesterday there was a booze bus has just set up close to my place. Peak hour traffic and all. People will be getting pissed off. Pun Intended šŸ˜„
I failed a breath test in 1990?
Spent the day at a Aussie Rules football match. At the end of the day I wanted to buy a carton of beer but the footy club was asking too much money.
So I drove to the bottle shop. Before I got there I came across a roadside breath tester. I blew over the limit.
Stupid me. Whereas the carton would have cost me 25% more than the bottle shop, the final outcome was I was fined $300 and suspended from driving for 6 months.
The stoopid things we do we inebriated.
 

Bretrick said:
Driving home from work yesterday there was a booze bus has just set up close to my place. Peak hour traffic and all. People will be getting pissed off. Pun Intended šŸ˜„
I failed a breath test in 1990?
Spent the day at a Aussie Rules football match. At the end of the day I wanted to buy a carton of beer but the footy club was asking too much money.
So I drove to the bottle shop. Before I got there I came across a roadside breath tester. I blew over the limit.
Stupid me. Whereas the carton would have cost me 25% more than the bottle shop, the final outcome was I was fined $300 and suspended from driving for 6 months.
The stoopid things we do we inebriated.
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Thatā€™s quite a large fine for being a kid. Iā€™ve never had a breathalyzer test. Luckily because I have driven drunk before. One evening I was so drunk I blacked out while driving my motorcycle. It was only a few blocks but I still shouldnā€™t have done it. Itā€™s scary when I think about it.

Did you at least have a bicycle to ride for 6 months?
 
Back in the 70's driving while wasted was a competitive sport here,, I've driven under the influence of just about everything, and ridden with other scoundrels as well. Acid was my favorite I loved dropping acid and going for long drives. Ironically, I wasn't even wasted when I got pulled over blew right at the limit and the guy must of had a quota to fill. I was immediately arrested, handcuffed, and taken to jail, and didn't stop, I didn't stop drinking for another six years. No excuses that's what I did I was a drunk and a druggie, I quit finally in 85 drinking alcohol that is, I've crawled out of a few wrecks, none I caused thank whatever you want, but it was who and what I was.
 
In April-May of '72 had just gotten back from Vietnam, bought a six pack of Colt 45 and a gallon of Tyrolia wine, and went looking for my friends. Friends weren't home, so I just went for a drive around the South Bay & Palos Verdes Peninsula and drink the Colt 45 & wine by myself.
Well I didn't think so, but I was pretty lit-up when I headed back to my mom's house in the City of Carson, where a couple of L.A. County Sheriff's deputies pulled me over because they thought I was driving funny. They didn't have me do a field sobriety test or breathalyzer, they just hooked me up and took me to the Firestone sub-station . Spent the night, went before the judge and got OR'd. Charged with Reckless, took plea for speeding. Whew.
 
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I have arrested several in my 37 years as a state Trooper. Drinking and driving has caused the lives of many people in this state. Number one reason is drunks going through red lights and stop signs.

I have stopped drivers that I knew where either drunk or high. When I asked them to step out of the car, they would sometimes fall out onto the ground. In this state, anything .08 BAC or above, you are consider DWI. The biggest number I had was a 2.6. I had to have him removed to the hospital for a blood draw to verify the breathalyzer I gave him and the number was 2.5.

I am very biased against drunk drivers. When I was a small boy, my motherā€™s sister, my aunt, was killed by a drunk driver. I try my best to stay neutral when I make a DUI arrest, but itā€™s very difficult sometimes, especially if the drunk caused an accident and injured or killed someone.
 
PeppermintPatty said:
Thatā€™s quite a large fine for being a kid. Iā€™ve never had a breathalyzer test. Luckily because I have driven drunk before. One evening I was so drunk I blacked out while driving my motorcycle. It was only a few blocks but I still shouldnā€™t have done it. Itā€™s scary when I think about it.

Did you at least have a bicycle to ride for 6 months?
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How did you stay on the motorcycle if you blacked out? One of my worse arrests for a DUI was when a cyclist thought he could go under a semi. When he hit the Mansfield Bar on the truck at an estimated 86 mph, he crushed his chest. The bike was removed some 25 feet from under the trailer.
 
TheOtherRick said:
Did they make you wear the pink underwear?
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No. I was in the DUI tents so it wasn't that bad, plus I went in March so I didn't have to put up with the heat. I was supposed to stay the full weekend but the first morning I was there I heard my named called out over the loudspeaker to report for checkout. It seems that they had a backlog of people to check in so they released me early. I got off light considering but never wanted to go through that again. Plus, second offense in Arizona is prison time, not jail time. And I did finally wise up to how stupid it is to drink and drive.
 
911 said:
How did you stay on the motorcycle if you blacked out? One of my worse arrests for a DUI was when a cyclist thought he could go under a semi. When he hit the Mansfield Bar on the truck at an estimated 86 mph, he crushed his chest. The bike was removed some 25 feet from under the trailer.
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Blacked out meaning I didnā€™t remember anything. There is a difference between passing out and blacking out. Blacking out , you are still functional but donā€™t remember.
 
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PeppermintPatty said:
Blacked out meaning I didnā€™t remember anything. There is a difference between passing out and blacking out. Blacking out , you are still functional but donā€™t remember.
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Blacking out in many instances means to lose consciousness. It has been used several times in court, especially when people are either drunk or have used drugs beyond the ability to remain conscious.
 
911 said:
Blacking out in many instances means to lose consciousness. It has been used several times in court, especially when people are either drunk or have used drugs beyond the ability to remain conscious.
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A drug-related blackout is a phenomenon caused by the intake of any substance or medication in which short-term and long-term memory creation is impaired, therefore causing a complete inability to recall the past. Blackouts are frequently described as having effects similar to that of anterograde amnesia, in which the subject cannot recall any events after the event that caused amnesia.

Blackout (drug-related amnesia) - Wikipedia
 
PeppermintPatty said:
A drug-related blackout is a phenomenon caused by the intake of any substance or medication in which short-term and long-term memory creation is impaired, therefore causing a complete inability to recall the past. Blackouts are frequently described as having effects similar to that of anterograde amnesia, in which the subject cannot recall any events after the event that caused amnesia.

Blackout (drug-related amnesia) - Wikipedia
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I've been there a few times, it is scary waking up and having no memory of what happened the night before, usually with friends looking at you either in awe or disgust.
 
Pepper said:
I think I've fallen madly in love with you! ā¤ļø :ROFLMAO:
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I drove 500 miles to Minnesota one night with a carload of drunks passed out while I tripped my brains out we pulled into a Denny's the next morning to ease their hangovers with me still tripping. At the table next to us was a preacher counseling a guy and it was heavy, mind-blowing heavy. I had to get out of there I went and sat in the car while they ate.
 
The only DWI I got was because I accepted a pill from a biker I was drinking beer with. We got to know each other in a uncrowded bar and were having a lot of fun. I asked him what the pill would do, and he couldn't describe it. An hour later it hit me while driving home. I literally couldn't drive, and willingly went with the officers to jail. But, by the time I was being booked the pill had worn off, and I was sober. The desk clerk couldn't believe they were booking me for being drunk! But they did, and it caused a lot of problems afterward. I never had it happen again.
 
TheOtherRick said:
I've been there a few times, it is scary waking up and having no memory of what happened the night before, usually with friends looking at you either in awe or disgust.
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After one particularly successful 4th of July celebration I woke up the next [mid]morning in the back of my pickup truck. :sleep:
Paco Dennis said:
...I accepted a pill from a biker
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What could possibly go wrong? :p
 
PeppermintPatty said:
A drug-related blackout is a phenomenon caused by the intake of any substance or medication in which short-term and long-term memory creation is impaired, therefore causing a complete inability to recall the past. Blackouts are frequently described as having effects similar to that of anterograde amnesia, in which the subject cannot recall any events after the event that caused amnesia.

Blackout (drug-related amnesia) - Wikipedia
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Not here in PA. I read the code again and a blackout is just what I said it ā€œcouldā€ be. I know states in the west are more lenient with this rule, not law, but judges may also inject their own definition. IOW, the law is a written rule, but the interpretation is what people do not understand.

This is why people use a lawyer when or if they go to court. The way a law reads and the interpretation of that law are many times not exactly as it reads. For example, our law reads that any person showing signs of being inebriated and over the legal limit of .08 BAC may have his vehicle searched without the Officer retaining a search warrant.

Usually, if you are drunk and meet the BAC test of.08+, but no accident, the normal charge us a misdemeanor. If the accident causes property loss or an injury, it may be a felony.

The interpretation to that law is that police officers may search without a warrant if the officer suspects the driver of being inebriated, however, (and here is the Catch 22), the Officer shall produce a video account of his suspicion. That is the new law that took effect on 7/1/2022. IOW, I would have to follow the driver with my dash cam turned on and take at least enough video to show weaving or any other irrational driving issues. If heā€™s speeding, my dash cam will also record that issue with a time/date stamp. Our dash cams are not like the cams the public can purchase from Amazon. Some of our vehicles also have rear dash cams and our cams are able to pan the area.

What state do you reside in?
 

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