Our Orange County DUI Lawyers have learned that the Costa Mesa Police will be stopping cars at Bristol Street and Randolph Avenue from 6 to 11 p.m. Tuesday to check drivers’ licenses and look for drunk drivers.

Advance publicity of the DUI checkpoints is one of the criteria California courts use in determining the legality of a checkpoint if it ends up being challenged.

The high courts have not ruled on the legality of stopping cars to check for drivers’ licenses, but have upheld DUI checkpoints for two decades, even if they are not as effective as DUI roving patrols, our Newport Beach DUI Lawyers think.

Huntington Beach Considering Posting Names of Suspected Drunk Drivers on Website

Our Orange County DUI lawyers have learned that the Huntington Beach Police Department may soon post the names of drunk drivers on its website, as part of its attempt to cut down on DUIs.

The Huntington Beach Police Department submitted a report to the City Council which outlined proposed tactics for reducing DUIs. Among the proposed tactics are posting the names of those arrested for DUIs online, in order to send a message that the city is serious about enforcing its DUI laws. However, critics of the proposal point out that suspected drunk drivers should be considered innocent until proven guilty.

The city typically makes 1,700 DUI arrests each year, which is the third-highest in California for cities with similar populations. Huntington also has the fourth-highest number of alcohol-related traffic accidents for its population. According to officials, Huntington Beach’s DUI problems are concentrated in the downtown area, which is very popular with tourists. About 19 percent of the city’s liquor licenses are issued to businesses downtown.

In March, the Police Department began keeping records of where individuals arrested for DUIs have had their last drink, and notifying those businesses’ managers that they may have served their customers too much. The Police Department located two particular restaurants in the downtown area that are suspected of over-serving customers, although both restaurants deny the charges and claim they take measures to prevent drunk driving.

Our Orange County DUI lawyers can help if you have been arrested for a DUI in Orange County.  Call us at (714) 568-1560 anytime, 24 hours a day.

Lawrence Taylor, in his excellent duiblog (duiblog.com), points out that “breathalyzers” do not measure alcohol: they actually measure the presence of a molecular group in chemical compounds. Ethyl alcohol (aka ethanol) contains the group, and so when the machine detects its presence (or, more accurately, infrared energy is absorbed by it), it simply assumes that the detected compound must be ethyl alcohol.

Problem: there are thousands of compounds containing the molecular group — of which well over one hundred have been found on the human breath.

Breathing gasoline or paint fumes, for example, or merely absorbing the fumes through the skin, can create false breath test results for days afterwards. And as Dean taylor has posted in the past, the problem is particularly acute when the suspect happens to be a diabetic, as diabetics often have high levels of acetone in their breath — a compound which contains the group in its molecular structure.

However, you do not need to be a diabetic to have high levels of acetone. Scientific research has established that acetone can exist in perfectly normal individuals at levels sufficient to cause false high breath-alcohol test readings.  See “Excretion of Low-Molecular Weight Volatile Substances in Human Breath: Focus on Endogenous Ethanol”, 9 Journal of Analytical Toxicology 246 (1985).

Fasting or radical dieting, such as with the Atkins diet, can also cause significantly elevated acetone. Studies have concluded that fasting, for example, can increase acetone in the body sufficient to obtain breathalyzer readings of .06%.  This is cumulative — that is, the .06% will be added by the machine to any levels actually caused by alcohol or other compounds.  Thus, a true breath alcohol of .03%, for example, would be reported by the machine as .09%. “The Likelihood of Acetone Interference in Breath Alcohol Measurement”, 3 Alcohol, Drugs and Driving 1 (1987).  And low-carbohydrate diets have long been associated with high levels of acetone production.

Of course, for many years law enforcement denied that any such problem existed.

How reliable are breathalyzers? Not very.

Our Los Angeles DUI lawyers have been notified of a DUI checkpoint this weekend in Glendale.

The Glendale Police Department in cooperation with the Avoid the 100 regional DUI task force) will be conducting a DUI/Drivers License checkpoint on Friday, May 7, 2010, from 6:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. In an effort to reduce the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol involved crashes, DUI checkpoints are conducted to identify offenders and get them off the street, as well as educate the public on the dangers of impaired driving.

All too often, members of our community are senselessly injured or killed on local roadways by impaired drivers. This DUI/Drivers License checkpoint is an effort to reduce those tragedies, as well as insuring drivers have a valid driver’s license. A major component of these checkpoints is to increase awareness of the dangers of impaired driving and to encourage sober designated drivers.

A DUI checkpoint is a proven effective method for achieving this goal. By publicizing these enforcement and education efforts, the Glendale Police Department believes motorists can be deterred from drinking and driving.

Traffic volume and weather permitting, all vehicles may be checked and drivers who are under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs will be arrested. Our objective is to send a clear message to those who are considering driving a motor vehicle after consuming alcohol and/or drugs – Drunk Driving, Over the Limit, Under Arrest. The public is encouraged to help keep roadways safe by calling 911 if they see a suspected impaired driver.

I loved reading Freakonomics, and look forward to reading SuperFreakonomics, but even before I do, I came across some eye raising information related to DUI politics, from the new book:

The authors, Steven Levitt and Steven Dubner, write:

“Each year, more than 1,00 drunk pedestrians die in traffic accidents. They step off sidewalks into city streets; they lie down to rest on country roads; they make mad dashes across busy highways. Compared with the total number of people killed in alcohol-related traffic accidents each year — about 13,000—the number of drunk pedestrians is relatively small. But when you’re choosing whether to walk or driver, the overall number isn’t what counts. Here’s the relevant question: on a per-mile basis, is it more dangerous to drive drunk or walk drunk?

After running through some numbers, they find:

“Doing the match, you find that on a per-mile basis, a drunk walker is eight times more likely to get killed than a drunk driver.

They add a caveat that drunk walkers don’t kill other people, as drunk drivers do; but even factoring for that, “walking drunk leads to five times as many deaths per mile as driving drunk.”

Add to that the stats showing that distracted driving, like using radios and CDs in a car (or even talking on your cellphone with a bluetooth headset), kills more people than DUI does, and you have a matter of selective enforcement.

From the book itself:

Imagine you’ve gone to a party at a friend’s house. He lives only a mile away. You have a great time, perhaps because you drank four glasses of wine. Now the party is breaking up. While draining your last glass, you dig out your car keys. Abruptly you conclude this is a bad idea: you are in no condition to drive home. For the past few decades, we’ve been rigorously educated about the risks of driving under the influence of alcohol. A drunk driver is thirteen times more likely to cause an accident than a sober one. And yet a lot of people still drive drunk. In the United States, more than 30 percent of all fatal crashes involve at least one driver who has been drinking. During the late-night hours, when alcohol use is greatest, that proportion rises to nearly 60 percent. Overall, 1 of every 140 miles is driving drunk, or 21 billion miles each year.

Why do so many people get behind the wheel after drinking? Maybe because–and this could be the most sobering statistic yet–drunk drivers are rarely caught. There is just one arrest for every 27,000 miles driven while drunk. That means you could expect to drive all the way across the country, and then back, and then back and forth three more times, chugging beers all the while, before you got pulled over. As with most bad behaviors, drunk driving could probably be wiped out entirely if a strong-enough incentive were instituted–random roadblocks, for instance, where drunk drivers are executed on the spot–but our society probably doesn’t have the appetite for that.

Meanwhile, back at your friend’s party, you have made what seems to be the easiest decision in history: instead of driving home, you’re going to walk. After all, it’s only a mile. You find your friend, thank him for the party, and tell him the plan. He heartily applauds your good judgment.

But should he? We all know that drunk driving is terribly risky, but what about drunk walking? Is the decision so easy?

Let’s look at some numbers, Each year, more than 1,000 drunk pedestrians die in traffic accidents. They step off sidewalks into city streets; they lie down to rest on country roads; they make mad dashes across busy highways. Compared with the total number of people killed in alcohol-related traffic accidents each year–about 13,000–the number of drunk pedestrians is relatively small. But when you’re choosing whether to walk or drive, the overall number isn’t what counts. Here’s the relevant question: on a per-mile basis, is it more dangerous to drive drunk or walk drunk?

The average American walks about a half-mile per day outside the home or workplace. There are some 237 million Americans sixteen and older; all told, that’s 43 billion miles walked each year by people of driving age. If we assume that 1 of every 140 of those miles are walked drunk–the same proportion of miles that are driven drunk–then 307 million miles are walked drunk each year.

Doing the math, you find that on a per-mile basis, a drunk walker is eight times more likely to get killed than a drunk driver.

There’s one important caveat: a drunk walker isn’t likely to hurt or kill anyone other than her- or himself. That can’t be said of a drunk driver. In fatal accidents involving alcohol, 36 percent of the victims are either passengers, pedestrians, or other drivers. Still, even after factoring in the deaths of those innocents, walking drunk leads to five times as many deaths per mile as driving drunk.
So as you leave your friend’s party, the decision should be clear: driving is safer than walking. (It be even safer, obviously , to drink less, or to call a cab.) The next time you put away four glasses of wine at a party, maybe you’ll think through your decision a bit differently. Or, if you’re too far gone, maybe your friend will help sort things out. Because friends don’t let friends walk drunk.

That’s my two cents as a DUI Specialist Orange County, but if you have any comments, please email me at rmiller[at]expertlawfirm[dot]com.

Related articles:

• What Bothers People About SuperFreakonomics? (freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com)
• Boston Not As Think As You Drunk It Is: Least Drunk City in America (bostonist.com)
• Man charged with impaired driving in fatal Red Deer crash (cbc.ca)

The Lake Elsinore Police Department Targets Impaired Drivers with Checkpoint, brought to you by the Rancho Cucamonga Criminal Defense Attorneys at expertlawfirm.com.

The Lake Elsinore Police Department will be conducting a DUI / Driver’s License checkpoint on Saturday, January 30th. In an effort to reduce the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol involved crashes, DUI checkpoints are conducted to identify offenders and get them off the street, as well as educate the public on the dangers of impaired driving.

All too often, members of our community are senselessly injured or killed on local roadways by impaired drivers. This DUI / Driver’s License checkpoint is an effort to reduce those tragedies, as well as ensuring drivers have a valid driver’s license. A major component of these checkpoints is to increase awareness of the dangers of impaired driving and to encourage sober designated drivers.

A DUI checkpoint is not a proven-effective method for achieving this goal, but police get money from the Federal Government (and MADD) to promote checkpoints. By publicizing these enforcement and education efforts, The Lake Elsinore Police Department believes motorists can be deterred from drinking and driving.

Traffic volume and weather permitting, all vehicles may be checked and drivers who are under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs will be arrested.

Related articles:

• DUI Checkpoint Tonight in North Hollywood (laist.com)
• Impaired drivers blowing higher figures: police (cbc.ca)
• DUI Checkpoint Tonight at Fairfax and Melrose (laist.com)

I received an email which led me to the following site:

www.udadd.com

As you’ll see, it’s a website dedicated to the proposition that the government should not mandate what adults (that is, persons over the age of 18) do regarding alcohol.  It’s interesting that a person can be old enough to vote, to die for one’s country, but not have an “adult” beverage.  I’m not necessarily promoting this site, but I think the webmaster is onto something – and it is another example of how politics infects the discussion about drinking and driving.

Related articles

• Singapore Will Give Free Drinks To People With Boobs (manolith.com)
• Problem Drinkers Finding More Help Online (time.com)
• Is a minimum alcohol price now more likely? (leftfootforward.org)

From our friends at Make Use Of comes word of an app for avoiding DUIs – R-U-Buzzed.

If you had some alcoholic drink and not sure if you are OK to drive, check out R-U-Buzzed. It is free blood alcohol level calculator for iPhone that can calculate and tell you if the amount of alcohol you took can affect your driving.

It displays your blood alcohol content based on various information that you input and warns you to designate a sober driver if you are already wasted.

To know if you are already drunk, just enter your weight, gender, hours drinking, and the amount of alcohol taken.  If the app finds out that you are already wasted, it will call a cab for you (works in Colorado, USA only). If you are elsewhere, the app will provide links to cab numbers in your area.

Although this app may not be very accurate in computing your alcohol blood content as it ignores other important factors such as drink variations or individual metabolisms, it certainly reminds people to drive responsibly and hopefully it helps in preventing many driving accidents.

Features:

• Calculates your blood alcohol content to know if you are safe to drive.
• Calls a cab for you in Colorado, USA.
• Provide links to cab numbers in other areas.
• Free to download.

Check out R-U-Buzzed @ iTunes App Store

Related articles

• NHS Drinks Tracker (nhsexposedblog.blogspot.com)
• College Students Get More Drunk When Drinks Are Cheap (health.usnews.com)
• 1 in 10 Binge Drinkers Get Behind the Wheel (abcnews.go.com)

From the popular website Cracked.com:

“Blood alcohol content, or BAC, is a measurement by volume of alcohol in your body. It can be taken with a blood test or with a breathalyzer. Here is a helpful chart for understanding what the numbers mean:…”

http://www.cracked.com/funny-1095-blood-alcohol-content/

Related articles

• Cops Aren’t the Only Ones With Breathalyzers (kitsapsun.com)
• Shayne Lamas: DUI Bust! (justjared.buzznet.com)
• Brooke Mueller, Charlie Sheen’s Wife, Drunk When She Called 911 (huffingtonpost.com)

Our Orange County DUI Lawyers found a press release by the Irvine Police Department regarding their a DUI/sobriety checkpoint during the evening hours on Saturday December 19, 2009. The checkpoint was located at Irvine Center Drive and Hubble in the City of Irvine. As part of the California Holiday DUI Crackdown Campaign, the purpose of the checkpoint was to deter impaired driving and hold accountable those driving under the influence.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) helped sponsor and provide support to these checkpoints. According to MADD, in one survey, 79% of the public approved of sobriety checkpoints.

Funding for the special enforcement campaign, December 16, 2009 through January 3, 2010 came from a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

This checkpoint was staffed by sworn officers and professional staff from the Irvine Police Department, and by MADD volunteers.

Look at these numbers:

Vehicles Stopped      Sobriety Tests      DUI Arrests      Citations Issued      Vehicles Towed

347                                          4                     ZERO (0)                     14                                               5

347 vehicles and drivers (not to mention other passengers) inconvenienced, traffic delayed, for zero arrests?  For 14 traffic tickets to be issued?  As I’ve said so many times, DUI checkpoints are a waste of time, and aren’t even as effective as the more useful saturation patrols.  But still, based upon MADD pressure and federal money, they persist.

I often get the argument, “but Robert, if even one drunk driver is taken off the road…”, an argument that has its own logical fallacy, but in this case, as with many others, what if not even one drunk driver is taken off the road?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Police: Twitter used to avoid DUI checkpoints (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Seal Beach: New Year’s DUI Checkpoints (cehwiedel.com)
• Cops Post Mug Shots of DUI Suspects (abcnews.go.com)