Drunk Driving, A Forever Controversial Issue

Drunk driving continues to be a controversial issue because it affects so many people. When someone makes the decision to drive after ingesting alcoholic beverages, there is an increased risk that this person will cause an accident. Furthermore, these types of crashes are often worse than other collisions because they can cause much more serious injuries, including broken bones, paralysis and even death.

Once law enforcement officers arrive at the scene of the accident, they give the driver a sobriety test. If he does not pass, the driver is arrested on a DUI charge. This arrest can affect people in several different areas of their lives. For example, if the accused drives a vehicle for a living, her job will be in jeopardy after her bosses learn that she has been arrested for driving under the influence.

In some instances, people lose their driver licenses and are forced to give up their vehicles. This makes it difficult for them to go to work, visit the grocery store and take their kids to school. Their spouses and friends may be forced to drive them everywhere, and this can place a strain on their relationships.

An arrest on a DUI charge is also expensive monetarily. In order to have their licenses reinstated, they must have the Ignition Interlock Device or IID installed in their vehicles, but they will be required to pay for the installation as well as the maintenance. They must also pay much higher auto insurance premiums.

The problem is compounded when someone is seriously hurt in the collision. Just this fact alone is enough to make them feel extremely guilty. If someone dies, they would be charged with vehicular manslaughter, and this could result in a prison sentence.

Although you may feel remorseful, you do not have to plead guilty to this offense. You have the right to hire a DUI lawyer and defend yourself in court. Contact a DUI lawyer today if you have been arrested on a drunk driving charge.

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Bay Area Police Reconsider Controversial DUI Arrest Procedure

By guest-writer

A traffic court judge near San Francisco ruled last week that Pinellas County police officers cannot perform a key DUI test off camera, according to a recent report from Bay News 9.

During DUI stops, police officers in Pinellas County keep onboard cameras rolling during the entire arrest process, with one key exception.

Sources say that the officers do not film an important roadside test called the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus, which is also known as HGN and is considered the most important roadside test to determine a driver’s sobriety.

During this test, officers look at a driver’s eyes to determine whether he or she is drunk. If the drivers are inebriated, their eyes will jerk from side to side during the test. But this test is the only part of a DUI arrest that isn’t filmed.

Last week, a judge ruled that this practice was unlawful after hearing a complaint from Christopher Hastings, who was arrested for a DUI last year and challenged the legality of the arresting officer’s decision to make him perform the HGN test off camera.

At trial, the state prosecutor asked the arresting officer why he chose to perform the test off camera, and the officer claimed he was just abiding by the police department’s policy. This statement proved true, as the police department does ask officers to keep the HGN tests off video.

This practice, however, was attacked by the defendant’s DUI attorney, who claimed that the policy was intentionally implemented to exclude evidence from trial. The DUI attorney also claimed that the policy was “crazy and archaic.”

The judge sympathized with this perspective, and ruled that it is unfair for the police department to exclude proof of the HGN test from trial but still go to court and testify about the results of the test.

As a result, the prosecutor cannot use the results of the HGN test to convict Hastings. Of course, Hastings allegedly had a blood alcohol content of 0.16 at the time of his arrest, so he still faces a tough battle in court.

But Hastings and his attorney may have stumbled into a watershed moment for DUI laws in California, despite skepticism from some law enforcement officials.

Some observers claim that filming the HGN test will not show a person’s eyeballs moving back and forth, but supporters of the new rule claim that the video can show if police violate procedures during the test. This, perhaps, would be the most important benefit of filming the HGN process.

View the original article here

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