Got behind a really bad DUI driver last night. All over the road, from the left side, to the right side, lines be damned. Called the Sheriff's office and began reporting her location... Not even 30 seconds into the call, she rear ends a car stopped at a stoplight doing 35 mph. Of course, the drunk lady was uninjured. The lady who was rear ended was screaming bloody murder and appeared to have been in a lot of pain, with severe whiplash, perhaps worse.

Drunk was arrested and is still in jail 24 hours later. I guess she can't afford the $5000 bond.

I HATE drunk fucks who can't stay home. I hope she gets the max penalty.

quote:

Originally posted by bubbatime:
Of course, the drunk lady was uninjured.

Typical. It's not uncommon for drunks to emerge relatively unscathed. We have a saying around here: "Drunks bounce".

Their reaction time is so delayed, that they don't have time to tense up or try to fight against the forces of the crash. They're like a soft, pliable ragdoll just bouncing around, and it's all over before they even realize what happened.

Plus, cars are designed with more of their safety features in the front, to protect against frontal collisions. The drunk's more likely to be running the front of their car into the other car, while the innocent victim is more likely to be taking the impact on the side/rear.

Guy was caught driving drunk last year on St. Patrick's day, demanded a jury trial. He got me as Foreman. We watched the video of the stop twice to make sure, then all 12 of us voted "Guilty." The Judge told us afterwards that, not only would he have found the guy guilty in a bench trial, but this was his second offense, and he may wear orange for a while.

that 5 grand bond needs to be $25,000.

did they get your info as a witness?

That sucks. Wish we could perform a PIT maneuver in a case like that.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
did they get your info as a witness?

Yes I have a statement to the deputy. If it goes to trial, I dont mind testifying. I'm former LEO and can testify to the impairment clues I saw prior to LEO arrival, and that the arrested lady was in fact operating the vehicle at the time of the crash.

I reported a driver on the 4th of july a couple years ago for being weird (slowly drifting into other lanes and cutting back fast. varying speed from 20 over to 20 under.) I followed him for a long ways before highway patrol caught up to him. They took my info and let me go. called me the next day and asked for my official statement for their DUI arrest. I'm just glad he didn't wreck. I share your indignation for DUIs.

I got to watch a drunk guy kill a woman. Hit her head on...

Was a witness at criminal trial...he got only 5 years. He was ex-cop and former secret service.

Civil trial coming up this fall...

I still have some issues from seeing that.

I wish everyone had a dash camera.

quote:

Originally posted by Patriot:
I got to watch a drunk guy kill a woman. Hit her head on...

Me too. Brand new Dodge pickup vs. mid 70s Chevy pickup. Head on at 70 MPH. Killed two teenaged girls going home after the county fair. The drunk driver? Medical director of our ER. He was essentially uninjured. He got 10 years.

I was the vehicle behind the girls.

Long story. I'll tell the short version.

Guy on motorcycle flies by me in a 45 mph zone, narrowly missing the tailgate of my truck. Weaving in and out of relatively thick traffic. Organ donor.

About 1,000 feet ahead, I see a 15 foot shower of sparks and suddenly, a motorcycle catapult into the air outbound to the right where it CLEARS the telephone wires. Don't see that every day. What happened next was even better. Here comes biker fellow, following the trajectory of his motorcycle where he goes THROUGH/BETWEEN the telephone wires, also missing them. Both disappear into a large field of about 3.5 foot tall grass.

I stop - go find him. Took several minutes, because it was dark, and he wasn't responding to calls. I found him by SMELL. The stench of alcohol was overpowering. He isn't moving. Right leg torn off about 2" below the knee. Amazingly, almost no blood. I took of my T-shirt (I had two on) and tore it into a strip to use as a tourniquet. Applied it, just in case, and began hold, release until EMT's showed up.

Fire department, police, more EMT's. I give a statement and contact information. A few days later, I get a call from the police, saying biker guy would like my contact information to thank me (he remembered somebody was there talking to him until medical arrived). Or potentially sue me. He lost the leg. I told the officer I'd rather no one ever know I was there. They had enough testimony from other witnesses and the guy he rear-ended to convict him. Officer thanked me and said it was a done deal.

As some of you know I am a recovering alcoholic and going on 3 years sober.

I thank fucking God every day that I never killed or hurt anyone or myself while drinking and driving and I did it a lot.

I am absolutely not proud of it but can also say I had a front row seat to a lot of selfish assholes just like me that would drink in excess then go drive home only to joke about it the next day.

Drink drivers are the most selfish assholes on the road and it doesn't seem to be getting much better even with stricter laws

quote:

Originally posted by Kevmo:
...it doesn't seem to be getting much better even with stricter laws

Doesn't matter how strict the laws are if they are not enforced. All the jurors respected the Judge in the case, but when I asked afterwards if there would be any meaningful punishment, he said jail time would depend on how recent his previous conviction was.

Sweden used to have a horrendous DUI problem, but solved it nearly totally by requiring prison time for the first offense, and with only one drink. I think it was seven days for the first offense, then six months for a second offense. No exceptions. This was back in the early 1970's, if I remember correctly.

For years I drank beer while driving. Can or quart of beer in a brown paper bag. Nice people working 7/11 store would bag it for me. Some times I drove home drunk. Sometimes I got escorted home by the Police. Sometimes Police took my car/motorcycle keys from me and made me walk home.

I wrecked a few cars, but no one got hurt as I didn't hit another person or property.

One day the Authorities got tough with drunk driving and began to put drunk drivers in jail.

That was the day when I ceased driving while drunk or driving after I "had a few".

To this day, I will not take a drink if I have to drive a motor vehicle.

Got that right. Let's just say that I learned my lesson. The only thing that got hurt was my bank account. The thing here in PA is that DUIs are a big moneymaker for the state. They can troll out whatever bullshit argument/statistic or whatever. They like the money that it makes for them. And it is a lot. So they preach and all, and inevitably, some lawmaker/doctor/school principal or whoever gets caught. And then they hold that dope up as an example. "See, no one is above the law!" My a$$.

Australia has or had a great thing about this. First offense, 10 days in jail. And your picture appeared in the paper saying, "He's drunk, and in jail!"

this household has ZERO patience or understanding for drunk drivers! One of them practically killed our daughter. She spent 3 1/2 weeks in intensive care where she actually died twice. They managed to get her back but they had a LOT of spiritual help. That is another story.

The asshole who crossed the center line and hit her had several previous drunk driving accidents with major injuries to his victims, none to him.

On top of that, he drove a big rig. The damned "judge" refused to take his license, saying he needed it to earn a living.

Few months later they caught that judge DUI when he ran his car up on the curb and went to his office and poured himself a quick drink to mask his BAC and breath. And the asshole got away with it.

Guy who hit our daughter never got punished. His "sentence" was to go to drunk driver school. I guess to teach him how to drive better while drunk.

Our daughter told us that she had crossed over, and it was so wonderful she didn't want to come back. But her OPI (deceased German grandfather) appeared and told her she had to come back. Without that, she would have died.

one of my parents neighbors was hit by a drunk driver and killed a block from his house. The guy that hit him was "politically connected" and didn't do any jail time. My dad offered his law firm to sue the guy and completely cleaned him out. The son of the guy that was killed fell out of a window a few months later and also died. I can't imagine what the mom/wife is going through.

People who drive drunk should be shot. Makes my blood boil.

Last year I was riding shotgun and the car in front of us was all over the road. I started filming with my phone and then switched over and called 911.

To my amazement, the 911 operator says: "Has there been an accident?" Me: "Not yet, but there's been a couple of near misses and I suspect there will be soon." 911: "Why are you calling then?"

WTF! Seriously!?

As one can see from this thread, the devastation drunk drivers cause is incredible. My wife lost two cousins to a drunk driver.

A couple of years ago, I sat at a light and had a front-row seat to a collision that took the life of a 10-year-old boy. Incredibly, it turned out both drivers were impaired. The dad of the little boy was on drugs and his stupidity took the life of his son.