Props to the Timberwolves for having some guts.

[jlprk]

driving drunk is the same as shooting live ammunition blindly into a crowd and every bit as dangerous.

You know you're lying, we know you're lying, but everyone is so stunned into polite silence when you say that stupidity, that you just keep saying it.

 

[MickZagger]

He had two in a five year span and was not even thirty. On the second one he was not pulled over for erratic driving, but only because of a tip from a private investigator.

Bad? Yes.
Unforgivable? Absolutely not.

I don't get it. So they were less of a DUI because he was under 30?

He's got an alcohol problem.

To bring up Camby getting busted with a little bit of pot and comparing it to a multiple DUI offender is silly.

 

[blue32]

That is all true as far as it goes. The critics of the current system are pointing out that .08 isn't particularly inebriated. It is a legal line in the sand that was moved due to a campaign launced by an advocacy group that are not legal scholars, not scientists, not doctors.

.08 is so low, that now people that take any of hundreds of prescription medications; have a cold; have alergy flare up; some late shift workers; some jetlagged folks; etc. are functionally equivalent to those that blow right at or close to .08. That does not even include the entire spectrum of "distracted drivers" where texting has been shown in tests to be significantly more imparing than a .08 reading, and having an intense hands-free conversation (on average) is about the same as .08. Should we throw the book at everbody?

These were people that wanted blood - and they got it.

Most legal scholars had been pointing out for years before and continuously since, that the key way to reduce alcohol related traffic deaths is to keep repeat offenders off the road.

There is little evidence that focusing on a wider group of population (a bigger net) and treating them all equally harshly is the most effective use of resources. At this point, it has become a HUGE source of revenue generation for many local governments. They won't give it up now.

But in terms of public policy, isn't it more effective to spend 80% of your time and money focusing on the 20% of alcholics who cause the fatal crashes, then the opposite - which is the current MADD based policy?

.08 is what, equivlent to one beer? Every single one of you here (minus the non-drinkers) have driven after 1 beer; which is complete hogwash.... .08 = revenue generation to the max. and whomever was talking about the sober idiots driving on the freeway everyday not signaling and just being plain shitty drivers... I agree, the police should be going after them... with the same attention they give .08 people.

 

[e_blazer]

.08 is what, equivlent to one beer? Every single one of you here (minus the non-drinkers) have driven after 1 beer; which is complete hogwash.... .08 = revenue generation to the max. and whomever was talking about the sober idiots driving on the freeway everyday not signaling and just being plain shitty drivers... I agree, the police should be going after them... with the same attention they give .08 people.

More like 5 beers, but it depends on your weight, alcohol content of the beer, and how fast you're drinking it.

Here's a calculator: http://www.ou.edu/oupd/bac.htm

I don't know about you, but IMO some idiot drinking five beers in an hour and getting behind the wheel of a car deserves whatever the law allows as punishment.

 

[e_blazer]

E_Blazer, I think the diversion program is perfect for a first offense with that option only available once. Indiana has it available again if it is completed successfully and not for sure about Oregon. Second time it should result in losing your drivers license for a year plus jail time and the third time resulting losing your license for life plus more jail time. Just my opinion though.

Keeping a guy from being able to keep a job is pretty harsh. I could see him being fired from being around high school kids, but the pro teams are a different story.

I don't have a real problem with a diversion program for a first offense as long as the program works. As far as harsh goes, how harsh is it to lose your life because some asshole is driving drunk?

 

[Masbee]

I don't have a real problem with a diversion program for a first offense as long as the program works. As far as harsh goes, how harsh is it to lose your life because some asshole is driving drunk?

Or someone who is texting?

Or someone who has a bad cold?

Or a trucker who is falling asleep at the wheel from overwork?

Or someone distracted by a phonecall?

Or a teenager under the infulence of peer pressure?

Or someone driving agressively?

Or someone dropping ashes from a cigaratte on their lap?

Or someone fiddling with their radio?

Or someone fiddling with their GPS?

Or someone putting on mascara while driving down the freeway? (I witnessed this in LA - twice!)

Or someone reading the newspaper while driving?

Or someone who is old and has reduced functionality, but refuses to accept it and keeps driving?

Or someone who has had a previous stroke or seizure but continues to drive despite the significantly increase risk of further events?

MOST people who are in car accidents there is no alcohol involved. MOST people who die in a car wreck do not die due to alcohol.

The U.S. has the one of the lowest automobile fatality rates in the world. So we are already safer then most. And yet some people want to fixate on one portion of the risk that does not account for even half that risk, and act like it is extremely dangerous. "Drink just one drink and drive and you are no better than a criminal".

 

[Masbee]

I don't have a real problem with a diversion program for a first offense as long as the program works. As far as harsh goes, how harsh is it to lose your life because some asshole is driving drunk?

Again, let me clarify, there is "drunk" and then there is "drunk".

.08 is legally "drunk" now, but the imparment and increased accident rate at the level is modest (on the order of folks talking on their cell phone while driving or those with a cold or taking allegery medication, etc.).

Accident rates START a steep upward curve on BAC's of .10 and above. The average BAC of drivers involved in a fatal accident is .17.

In other words, as stated before, most of the bad accidents are for those who are shitfaced.

 

[Charcoal Filtered]

For some reason, I am not able to quote.

In response to Mick, the comparison of the pot that Camby was carrying was in response to an earlier remark that said the Portland newspapers would go nuts if they hired Adelman because of his son's DUI's. You may not think anything of it, but Camby having an illegal substance in his car that most people believe to impair driving skills is a big deal. You obviously think differently with continually minimizing the Camby incident with "little" and magnafying Adelman's two offenses with "multiple". It would be different if this was still the Jail Blazer era and had a roster full of knuckleheads, but think it would not be as big of deal now. I also think the age when things happens does make a difference. Young people tend to take more chances and usually wise up after time.

In response to E_Blazer, there are many different forms of negligent driving that are comparable or worse to driving drunk. What if we had the chance to sign a big free agent, but then find out that he has some speeding tickets, does not have a hands free device, and texts? Are we supposed to add public villification to whatever punishment our system of law recommends?

Good example of this was Sabonis wife. Was there the same outrage to release him when his wife was getting arrested for driving drunk?

 

[e_blazer]

Sorry, but in my book you can't use other crappy behaviors to justify another. Driving impaired is driving impaired. If you fall asleep at the wheel, go off the road and kill somebody, you can go to prison for that as well. Personally, I don't think having five beers in an hour and then driving is just a minor thing. You're strapping on 2-3,000 pounds of hardware and rolling down the road at speed when you do not have full command of your body.

 

[e_blazer]

In response to E_Blazer, there are many different forms of negligent driving that are comparable or worse to driving drunk. What if we had the chance to sign a big free agent, but then find out that he has some speeding tickets, does not have a hands free device, and texts? Are we supposed to add public villification to whatever punishment our system of law recommends?

Good example of this was Sabonis wife. Was there the same outrage to release him when his wife was getting arrested for driving drunk?

I never said that I wouldn't hire a guy who had a DUI conviction. If he's paid up whatever his penalty was and has his act together, I wouldn't hold it against him. A pattern of doing that is another thing.

 

[Masbee]

Sorry, but in my book you can't use other crappy behaviors to justify another. Driving impaired is driving impaired. If you fall asleep at the wheel, go off the road and kill somebody, you can go to prison for that as well. Personally, I don't think having five beers in an hour and then driving is just a minor thing. You're strapping on 2-3,000 pounds of hardware and rolling down the road at speed when you do not have full command of your body.

The United States put more of their population in prison than any other developed nation.

Just sayin.

 

[3RA1N1AC]

theyre trying to build a prison, for you and me

 

[e_blazer]

The United States put more of their population in prison than any other developed nation.

Just sayin.

Yeah, and all I'm saying is that all it takes is using a designated driver to avoid becoming another prison statistic.

 

[Masbee]

Yeah, and all I'm saying is that all it takes is using a designated driver to avoid becoming another prison statistic.

How trite.

 

[jlprk]

More like 5 beers, but it depends on your weight, alcohol content of the beer, and how fast you're drinking it.

Here's a calculator: http://www.ou.edu/oupd/bac.htm

I don't know about you, but IMO some idiot drinking five beers in an hour and getting behind the wheel of a car deserves whatever the law allows as punishment.

Your link actually admits that it is police propaganda. I'm surprised at its honesty. Anyway, .08 is really about 2 beers, not 5.

 

[MARIS61]

The United States put more of their population in prison than any other developed nation.

Just sayin.

To be fair, many countries just shoot 'em, rather than feed, clothe and detain.

But IMO drunk drivers should be treated just like someone firing a gun into a crowd. Once you have people you know killed by them you realize there's little difference in the killer's behavior. No sympathy for them here.

 

[e_blazer]

Your link actually admits that it is police propaganda. I'm surprised at its honesty. Anyway, .08 is really about 2 beers, not 5.

What do you weigh, 75 lbs? Or are you taking a shot of whiskey after each beer?

Here's another blood alcohol calculator that isn't from a police agency. http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/blood-alcohol-bac-calculator

 

[e_blazer]

How trite.

I always stick with what's trite and true.

 

[BlazerBeav]

You know you're lying, we know you're lying, but everyone is so stunned into polite silence when you say that stupidity, that you just keep saying it.

Methinks we've hit a nerve with some personal experience - not a good user of a designated driver, eh?

I'm perfectly happy with every effort to keep people with poor judgment off the road, thank you very much.

 

[Nikolokolus]

What do you weigh, 75 lbs? Or are you taking a shot of whiskey after each beer?

Here's another blood alcohol calculator that isn't from a police agency. http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/blood-alcohol-bac-calculator

2 ales, 200lbs, 1 hour ... .05

 

[MARIS61]

Here's a typical drunk driver:

http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120306/NEWS0107/203060396/1115/rss

A Bend woman was arrested on suspicion of driving while under the influence of intoxicants after crashing her car into the front of a northeast Bend home Monday evening, the Bend Police Department said.

Tamira Julian, 44, drove her Acura through the living room of a house on Northeast Moonlight Drive at around 10 p.m.

The resident of the house, Sarah Clark, 38, was on the living room couch at the time of the crash and sustained minor injuries. Her two young children were asleep in their rooms, and one of them also sustained minor injuries during the crash.

Police responded to the scene and found that the collision caused a natural gas leak inside the home. Julian was trapped inside the vehicle and had to be removed by Bend Fire Department personnel. She was taken to St. Charles-Bend and treated for minor injuries. Julian was found to have been driving while under the influence of a controlled substance and was arrested on suspicion of DUII, reckless driving, assault, criminal mischief, and recklessly endangering.

Police later found that Julian had also been arrested on Saturday evening for DUII.

http://www.ktvz.com/image/30619103/detail.html

This is why we have jails, to protect us from dangerous people.

 

[MARIS61]

• One person is killed every half-hour due to drunk driving
• Each year approximately 16,000 are killed in alcohol related crashes
• Alcohol is a factor in almost half of all traffic fatalities
• Every other minute a person is seriously injured in an alcohol related crash

 

[MARIS61]

The Drunken Adelmans - IMDB

Soon-to-be-released Documentary on basketball's most inebriated coaching family.

http://deadspin.com/5362826/the-bac-of-the-entire-adelman-family-is-about-74

The BAC Of The Entire Adelman Family Is About 7.4
This is...impressive. Daughter of Rockets' head coach Rick Adelman, Kathryn Naro, a high school women's head basketball coach was pinched for her second DUI earlier this week, bringing the total number of Adelman children busted for DUIs to three.

Seriously: Adelman's son David was arrested for his second DUI back in February. Adelman's other son, RJ, was arrested for a DUI back in 2007.

Naro resigned from her position after last week's arrest because it was her second offense within the year, and one that violated the conditions of her diversion program she entered last year — a legal deal hashed out by the judge in lieu of heftier charges. Of course, the most important condition of that deal was that Naro, you know, not get busted for another DUI.

Proud papa Rick hasn't made any comment on his daughter's arrest nor on the troubling frequency of his brood's enjoyment of boozin' and cruisin'. But outside of "I guess we shouldn't have nursed them with Wild Turkey" he probably couldn't offer much insight into the situation.

 

[Charcoal Filtered]

• One person is killed every half-hour due to drunk driving
• Each year approximately 16,000 are killed in alcohol related crashes
• Alcohol is a factor in almost half of all traffic fatalities
• Every other minute a person is seriously injured in an alcohol related crash

In 2008, there were 37,261 fatalities on our Nation’s roadways. Of these; 11,674 (31 percent) were speeding-related!

So label the person with multiple DUI's the same as you would someone with multiple speeding tickets.

 

[jlprk]

Last year the U.S. had the fewest vehicle deaths since 1949. In the 1970s there were 50,000 deaths per year. This shows that the laws passed since 1949 have made this a more dangerous country. The penalties for drinking while driving, the illegality of LSD, and racial integration should be reversed to bring down the number of fatalities.

 

[barfo]

Outlaw stupidity and old age and traffic deaths will decline precipitously. Don't do that, and you aren't addressing the real problem.

barfo

 

[jlprk]

1.4 million DUI arrests per year divided by 10,000 deaths per year equals 140 American lives ruined for each death, 139 of whom would have proceeded to drive home safely. The ratio of 139 to 1 is much too high.

If you don't believe in freedom, and believe that government should protect us from all risks no matter what the cost, fill in the blank.

The chance of ___ is less than 1%, but government should destroy as many millions of Americans for the rest of their lives as it possibly can to prevent it (actually, to fail to prevent it).

Feel free to insert drug illegality (1 million arrests per year, multiply by your life expectancy and divide by 300 million to find the probability of them getting you), or whatever your dictatorial little mind wants. Don't forget to kill millions in wars to force all this "freedom" on unwilling countries who see right through this.

10,000 per year
http://www.alcoholalert.com/drunk-driving-statistics.html

1.4 million per year
http://www.numberof.net/number-of-duis-per-year/

 

[barfo]

I'm an advocate for a real driver's license. Those who can't pass the test can't drive. The test is a serious test of driving skill - probably administered via simulators like pilots use to qualify. Cut the number of people on the road by at least 50%; increase mass transit to take care of the new non-drivers. For those that pass the test, speeds could go up considerably due to the reduced traffic and also due to the increased skillset.

Yeah, I know. I'm dreaming. I'm a dreamer.

barfo

 

[Boob-No-More]

Last year the U.S. had the fewest vehicle deaths since 1949. In the 1970s there were 50,000 deaths per year. This shows that the laws passed since 1949 have made this a more dangerous country. The penalties for drinking while driving, the illegality of LSD, and racial integration should be reversed to bring down the number of fatalities.

Or maybe improved safety features (seat belts, air bags, cars designed with "crumble zones", etc.) have played a part in reducing the number of traffic fatalities.

BNM

 

[Charcoal Filtered]

I am by no means advocating relaxing drinking and driving laws. I am just against condemning someone for life after they have served whatever the legal system recommends. Glad that some lean to the extreme though.