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Leaving Hyde Park and then subsequently heading south on Summit at 5th Ave on your way to Gahanna doesn't quite add up.
Columbus Underground Messageboard » General Columbus Discussion
drinking laws here are a total joke
[88 posts] [35 contributors]
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naps
Houston,TX
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lifeontwowheels wrote >>
All it takes is a phone call and, at most, 40-50 bucks in cab fare to avoid the cycle you describe. Or waiting an hour or two.Not realistic in the every day mentality...I just had 2 beers at dinner/happy hour hmmm let me wait here 2 hours doing nothing, or spend $50 more to get a ride home and leave my car here?? Not going to happen, correct??
Better off not drinking right??!! But damn that's un-American if you ask me!! ;)Posted 1 year ago # -
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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naps wrote >>
lifeontwowheels wrote >>
All it takes is a phone call and, at most, 40-50 bucks in cab fare to avoid the cycle you describe. Or waiting an hour or two.Not realistic in the every day mentality...I just had 2 beers at dinner/happy hour hmmm let me wait here 2 hours doing nothing, or spend $50 more to get a ride home and leave my car here?? Not going to happen, correct??
Better off not drinking right??!! But damn that's un-American if you ask me!! ;)So basically don't take responsibility for your own actions, but sure as hell blame whatever is convenient when your hand gets caught in the cookie jar.
Can't find the link but there is a service where people will come out and drive you home. COTA runs late night service for those on the line. Cabs, of course. Options exist for one to act responsibly.
Posted 1 year ago # -
StowCbusCleveland
Jackson Township, Canton, OH
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I agree with the crowd saying the ultimate responsibility is on the OP, but at the same time I completely feel for somebody who has one drink, leaves, gets hit by someone else, and gets a DUI. To me, that's not being irresponsible.
It can be his fault and a screwed up outcome at the same time. Sometimes the universe decides to take its magnifying glass and focus the sun's rays on you and there's not much you can do about it.
Posted 1 year ago # -
hugh59
Aboard the ultimate power in Olde Towne East
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I worked as a criminal prosecutor for a year and litigated a few drunk driving cases at the felony level. I agree that the .08 level for DUI is a bad joke. It makes it easier for the police to make an arrest. But it does not make us safer.
The truly dangerous drunk drivers are much harder to stop. They have usually been through the system a few times and have learned how to resist the police and make it more difficult for evidence to be gathered to get a conviction.
I worked in a county prosecutor's office so we only handled cases at the felony level. In order to get there, a driver had to have a series of convictions for DUI within a given period of time (I forget the number of convictions and the time limit). These people put up a real fight. Their lawyers fight to get the traffic stop thrown out by arguing that the cop did not have probable cause to make the traffic stop. Then the challenge the testing procedures. Any flaw in the arrest or procedures and vital evidence gets thrown out.
The end result is that a casual drinker who is mildly intoxicated (but no more dangerous than a person talking on a cell phone) gets hit with a DUI conviction. The truly dangerous drinkers get one or two convictions at the misdemeanor level, then fight like hell at the felony level.
There was one case in the last decade where a man was arrested for driving drunk on a Friday night. He had been arrested several times before for DUI...enough to make his latest arrest a felony. Except that some of those cases were still in progress....there were no convictions. He KNEW he was going to get hit with a felony, so he had less of a reason to control himself. Anyways, he was arrested on a Friday night after driving his car into a store front. He was released Saturday morning. Later that night, he got totally wasted and was driving down the wrong side of the interstate. He got into a headon collision and killed himself AND a nurse who was on her way to work a late shift.
Posted 1 year ago # -
melikecheese
Merion Village
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Capital letters must be a joke to this guy too. I'm just glad you managed to find the period on the keyboard.
Posted 1 year ago # -
groundrules
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hugh59 wrote >>
I worked as a criminal prosecutor for a year and litigated a few drunk driving cases at the felony level. I agree that the .08 level for DUI is a bad joke. It makes it easier for the police to make an arrest. But it does not make us safer.
The truly dangerous drunk drivers are much harder to stop. They have usually been through the system a few times and have learned how to resist the police and make it more difficult for evidence to be gathered to get a conviction.
I worked in a county prosecutor's office so we only handled cases at the felony level. In order to get there, a driver had to have a series of convictions for DUI within a given period of time (I forget the number of convictions and the time limit). These people put up a real fight. Their lawyers fight to get the traffic stop thrown out by arguing that the cop did not have probable cause to make the traffic stop. Then the challenge the testing procedures. Any flaw in the arrest or procedures and vital evidence gets thrown out.
The end result is that a casual drinker who is mildly intoxicated (but no more dangerous than a person talking on a cell phone) gets hit with a DUI conviction. The truly dangerous drinkers get one or two convictions at the misdemeanor level, then fight like hell at the felony level.
There was one case in the last decade where a man was arrested for driving drunk on a Friday night. He had been arrested several times before for DUI...enough to make his latest arrest a felony. Except that some of those cases were still in progress....there were no convictions. He KNEW he was going to get hit with a felony, so he had less of a reason to control himself. Anyways, he was arrested on a Friday night after driving his car into a store front. He was released Saturday morning. Later that night, he got totally wasted and was driving down the wrong side of the interstate. He got into a headon collision and killed himself AND a nurse who was on her way to work a late shift.while I'm sure all this is true, I don't see any of it as justification for raising the legal definition of impaired. I do see it as justification for implementation of the 'super DUI' that the OP was complaining about.
So J, how'd the cop know you were drinking?
Posted 1 year ago # -
naps
Houston,TX
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lifeontwowheels wrote >>
naps wrote >>
lifeontwowheels wrote >>
All it takes is a phone call and, at most, 40-50 bucks in cab fare to avoid the cycle you describe. Or waiting an hour or two.Not realistic in the every day mentality...I just had 2 beers at dinner/happy hour hmmm let me wait here 2 hours doing nothing, or spend $50 more to get a ride home and leave my car here?? Not going to happen, correct??
Better off not drinking right??!! But damn that's un-American if you ask me!! ;)So basically don't take responsibility for your own actions, but sure as hell blame whatever is convenient when your hand gets caught in the cookie jar.
Can't find the link but there is a service where people will come out and drive you home. COTA runs late night service for those on the line. Cabs, of course. Options exist for one to act responsibly.he didn't hit anyone, he was not driving erratic...all he did was have a beverage? His hand was not in any proverbial "cookie jar".
I do feel as if he did nothing wrong at all and was more likely a safer driver and has better reaction time than any 75 yr old on the road. Like I said, this is my opinion, but I feel as if giving out DUI's like candy to ANYONE who blows a .08 or more is a major injustice facing American society and it's not getting better or making the roads any safer...Maybe I am longing to be more European, where they have better public transportation and less strict drinking laws ;)
Posted 1 year ago # -
somertimeoh
Harrison West
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Still think there's more to this story. How was your demeanor to the person who hit you and the cop working the accident? At what point were you asked if you had been drinking? I don't see why that would be an automatic response to a person in an accident at 7pmish? I've had lots of accidents and never once been asked if I'd been drinking.
Posted 1 year ago # -
joev
Merion Village
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groundrules wrote >>
hugh59 wrote >>
I worked as a criminal prosecutor for a year and litigated a few drunk driving cases at the felony level. I agree that the .08 level for DUI is a bad joke. It makes it easier for the police to make an arrest. But it does not make us safer.
The truly dangerous drunk drivers are much harder to stop. They have usually been through the system a few times and have learned how to resist the police and make it more difficult for evidence to be gathered to get a conviction.
I worked in a county prosecutor's office so we only handled cases at the felony level. In order to get there, a driver had to have a series of convictions for DUI within a given period of time (I forget the number of convictions and the time limit). These people put up a real fight. Their lawyers fight to get the traffic stop thrown out by arguing that the cop did not have probable cause to make the traffic stop. Then the challenge the testing procedures. Any flaw in the arrest or procedures and vital evidence gets thrown out.
The end result is that a casual drinker who is mildly intoxicated (but no more dangerous than a person talking on a cell phone) gets hit with a DUI conviction. The truly dangerous drinkers get one or two convictions at the misdemeanor level, then fight like hell at the felony level.
There was one case in the last decade where a man was arrested for driving drunk on a Friday night. He had been arrested several times before for DUI...enough to make his latest arrest a felony. Except that some of those cases were still in progress....there were no convictions. He KNEW he was going to get hit with a felony, so he had less of a reason to control himself. Anyways, he was arrested on a Friday night after driving his car into a store front. He was released Saturday morning. Later that night, he got totally wasted and was driving down the wrong side of the interstate. He got into a headon collision and killed himself AND a nurse who was on her way to work a late shift.while I'm sure all this is true, I don't see any of it as justification for raising the legal definition of impaired. I do see it as justification for implementation of the 'super DUI' that the OP was complaining about.
So J, how'd the cop know you were drinking?Medically, people are impaired at .05 BAL. In some European countries, like wine-loving France - you can't even have a trace of alcohol in your system when you drive. Seems commonsense. If you're going to drink and then need to be somewhere else, you should find someone else to drive you.
Posted 1 year ago # -
somertimeoh
Harrison West
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Anyone used this yet? http://www.bemydd.com/our_services
I know that's been an excuse for me in the past to not act as responsibly as I should have - yes I need to get home, but I need to get my car home too.
Posted 1 year ago # -
berdawn
near that stretch of N. High Street in the Short North
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somertimeoh wrote >>
Anyone used this yet? http://www.bemydd.com/our_services
I know that's been an excuse for me in the past to not act as responsibly as I should have - yes I need to get home, but I need to get my car home too.Is this the same/similar business that was advertising/posting here?
Posted 1 year ago # -
somertimeoh
Harrison West
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berdawn wrote >>
somertimeoh wrote >>
Anyone used this yet? http://www.bemydd.com/our_services
I know that's been an excuse for me in the past to not act as responsibly as I should have - yes I need to get home, but I need to get my car home too.Is this the same/similar business that was advertising/posting here?
No clue. I recall seeing advertisements for a similar service in a bar recently, but when I googled that's the site that came up. Not plugging them, their site is awful and cheesy so I wouldn't use them, but something similar would be cool. The poster I saw made me think it was a dude that comes on a bike, drives you and your car home, and leaves on his bike. However that was a Top Gear episode so I could be mixing up memories. I drink a lot.
Posted 1 year ago # -
berdawn
near that stretch of N. High Street in the Short North
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somertimeoh wrote >>
berdawn wrote >>
somertimeoh wrote >>
Anyone used this yet? http://www.bemydd.com/our_services
I know that's been an excuse for me in the past to not act as responsibly as I should have - yes I need to get home, but I need to get my car home too.Is this the same/similar business that was advertising/posting here?
No clue. I recall seeing advertisements for a similar service in a bar recently, but when I googled that's the site that came up. Not plugging them, their site is awful and cheesy so I wouldn't use them, but something similar would be cool. The poster I saw made me think it was a dude that comes on a bike, drives you and your car home, and leaves on his bike. However that was a Top Gear episode so I could be mixing up memories. I drink a lot.
YEAH...the bike thing is what I was thinking of, too. I've not seen Top Gear, though. I'll likely stick to feet, COTA, and taxis.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Twixlen
Westgate, Columbus
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somertimeoh wrote >>
Anyone used this yet? http://www.bemydd.com/our_services
I know that's been an excuse for me in the past to not act as responsibly as I should have - yes I need to get home, but I need to get my car home too.How did I not know about this? That's a brilliant concept, and not spendy. Hell, waaaaay cheaper than a cab.
Posted 1 year ago # -
beersie1
Weinland Park
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A good friend of mine got stopped for expired tags after a couple of beers / dinner/ watching a game.
He agreed to blow, blew under the limit, but they still charged him with an OVI (operating vehicle impaired). I still can't believe that. Cost thousands of dollars- lawyer- court costs- the whole DUI shabang. From what I gathered, the "OVI" card basically allows it to be up to the cop's discretion regardless of any blood alcohol or sobriety tests. Pretty unfair/ outdated system in my opinion.So to an extent I can agree the laws are too harsh. But by the same token, they're so harsh it's not even
worth doing it. Take a cab, have a DD, sober up.Posted 1 year ago #
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