Impaired Driving / DUI Advice

[GreatWhiteEbola]

Originally Posted by gargamel

The immediate question is whether he would have made an illegal u-turn right in front of the cop. None of us can answer that question because we weren't there, and the OP can't answer that question because he was drunk. The fact that he still can't comprehend that the booze may have affected his decision making ability tells me that he still doesn't realize how dangerous it is to drive while 50% over the legal limit, despite his claims to the contrary.

I see that point, thank you for making it more apparent to me.

What I don't see is the comments of those looking to this thread for their crusade. There are better places for it.

My advice to the OP; get a lawyer, go to AADAC and take a couple sessions. Take drivers training. Don't drink and drive ever again. Don't let those you know drink and drive.

[jayswin]

I for one would like to see automatic dui's given out to all motorists who get caught pulling illegal u-turns. Illegal u-turns are the result of alcohol induced, agrressive decision making.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by flameswin

No, you don't get it. It was suggested that maybe he wouldn't have pulled the u-turn if he had been sober because "people are more aggressive when they've been drinking". He refuted that claim, stating that he would have pulled the u-turn regardless. I mean, ffs, how many people do illegal u-turns out of convenience while sober? The answer is craploads.

Your post is garbage, as you're speaking for him and saying that he wouldn't have pulled a u-turn, and only did so because he was "sloshed", which is BS, as you don't know that.

He's been very mature about the whole thing, obviously learned a lesson, and will pay for his choice, and is now just looking for advice on how to best handle the fallout. Your post is just immature, speculative crap that doesn't add anything to the thread.

I was simply pointing out the fact the OP was acting as if he did nothing out of the ordinary and his driving was not impacted even though blowing .12+.
He made an illegal u-turn in front of a cop. I make illegal u-turns on a daily basis to get to my house, but guess what? I'm smart enough to look for cops before pulling it, the OP clearly wasn't doing this. Getting a ticket for an illegal turn is one thing, but for the cop to notice this guy and make him blow obviously leads to doubt in his story that he was simply making a regular move after having a "couple" drinks.

I get he came here for advice on what to do, but making it sound like he is a victim by saving he only had 3 drinks and didn't really do anything out of the ordinary is complete and utter garbage. As someone who was nearly killed by someone who blew 0.15+, I hope the OP never sees the road again. However I was simply refuting the garbage spewed by the OP that his moves were not impacted by blowing so high, when they obviously were. He can sit here and say he would have made the same move with 0.00, but the fact is he was driving drunk and thank god the cops caught him before he killed someone.

[schteve_d]

You did something stupid and there are really only two sane options at this point. The first is to pay way too much for a lawyer who may or may not be able to get you off of the charges. If you can get off of them, the $10-150000 may be worth it. Without knowing all of the details it sounds to me like you don't have much of a case for the charges to be dropped but DUI lawyers have many tricks and loopholes that may save your ass.

The other option is to accept the charges and move on. It is expensive as well! When you are caught impaired driving you are automatically charged with two charges: Driving over .008 and Impaired Driving. My advice is to go to your first court appearance without hiring a lawyer and before court talk to the Crown Prosecutor. Tell him that you are willing to plead guilty to "Driving over .008" if he will drop the "Impaired Driving" charge. If you weren't loaded, he or she will. You will lose your licence for a year and you will have to go to a one-day ( I think...might be two) course on the impact of drinking and driving. After a year you can apply right away for a pardon which will take about a year and as long as you don't do anything else legally stupid in that time it will be granted. In the meantime you will be paying ridiculous amounts for insurance.

All said and done, the second option is cheaper. Suck it up, you effed up and there's no easy way out. Take option two, take your licks and move on. Hopefully you have or will have learned your lesson.

[gildo]

My little brother got into a situation like this about 12 years ago and I know things have changes but top of my head here is what he went through:

1) Had to take a few courses during the process (mandatory)
2) Paid a fine (I believe his was about $750)
3) Hired a lawyer the whole process of the lawyer cost about $2000
4) Eventually lost his license for a year
5) After 3 months was able to get license back as he got one of those machines in his car to blow into (you know what I am talking about don't recall name, sorry) but he paid monthly for that thing and it wasn't cheap. He also had to take a learners teast and a new road test (driving) in order to get that machine installed and his license back.
6) He eventually after a year got his license back and his insurance the first go around I think was about $2600 for the year and it stayed up for quite sometime
7) After 5 year went through the pardon process and got his criminal record pardoned he did the process himself and it cost him about $350 or so.

As advised above might have to take your licks and move on unless your lawyer has some tricks up his sleeve these can be an open and shut case.

[justkidding]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Unless otherwise marked, it is not legal to make a u-turn at a controlled intersection.

So, controlled by lights specifically or does a yield or stop sign count as controlled?

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by justkidding

So, controlled by lights specifically or does a yield or stop sign count as controlled?

Stop does for sure. Not sure about the yield but I would tend towards yes. The thing is, it's obviously worse the 'more' controlled it is. Totally understandable to be pulled over at a lighted intersection, even at 2 in the morning. May not get a ticket (unless your drunk, then it's a new story) but you'll probably get stopped and warned. A yield with no one around, most cops will flash their lights and move on.

That said, I've U-ed at lighted intersections before, and I would assume 90%+ here have.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Ducay

I was simply pointing out the fact the OP was acting as if he did nothing out of the ordinary and his driving was not impacted even though blowing .12+.
He made an illegal u-turn in front of a cop. I make illegal u-turns on a daily basis to get to my house, but guess what? I'm smart enough to look for cops before pulling it, the OP clearly wasn't doing this. Getting a ticket for an illegal turn is one thing, but for the cop to notice this guy and make him blow obviously leads to doubt in his story that he was simply making a regular move after having a "couple" drinks.

I get he came here for advice on what to do, but making it sound like he is a victim by saving he only had 3 drinks and didn't really do anything out of the ordinary is complete and utter garbage. As someone who was nearly killed by someone who blew 0.15+, I hope the OP never sees the road again. However I was simply refuting the garbage spewed by the OP that his moves were not impacted by blowing so high, when they obviously were. He can sit here and say he would have made the same move with 0.00, but the fact is he was driving drunk and thank god the cops caught him before he killed someone.

When did he make himself seem like a victim? He said he had three drinks, two of which were free pours that he really wasn't positive on the strength of. He's been nothing but forthcoming in this thread and people like you are trying to turn every statement into something that it isn't.

[Ne7en]

Originally Posted by V

I'm willing to bet that you wouldn't have taken the u-turn at that moment if you were sober because you would've seen the cop watching you.

To claim that you made the same decisions while driving over the limit that you would've made sober is a little silly.

Originally Posted by gargamel

The immediate question is whether he would have made an illegal u-turn right in front of the cop. None of us can answer that question because we weren't there, and the OP can't answer that question because he was drunk. The fact that he still can't comprehend that the booze may have affected his decision making ability tells me that he still doesn't realize how dangerous it is to drive while 50% over the legal limit, despite his claims to the contrary.

Originally Posted by Ducay

I was simply pointing out the fact the OP was acting as if he did nothing out of the ordinary and his driving was not impacted even though blowing .12+.
He made an illegal u-turn in front of a cop. I make illegal u-turns on a daily basis to get to my house, but guess what? I'm smart enough to look for cops before pulling it, the OP clearly wasn't doing this. Getting a ticket for an illegal turn is one thing, but for the cop to notice this guy and make him blow obviously leads to doubt in his story that he was simply making a regular move after having a "couple" drinks.

The cop car was a ghost car, dark navy blue and it was 11:30 at night. If I was entirely sober I still wouldn't have seen him.

[Ne7en]

Originally Posted by gargamel

Despite saying that he's sorry and that he knows that what he did was stupid, by saying that he's sure that he'd have driven the exact same way if he didn't have a 0.13 BAC, he's proving that he still doesn't get it. He still doesn't realize that that much alcohol affects a person's ability to make decisions, and it also affects a person's ability to recognize that their ability to make decisions is impaired. Of course he thinks that he'd have driven just as foolishly if he was sober, just like he thought that he was sober. Until he realizes that the booze clouded the reality, he's trivializing what he did. He risked countless lives, but thankfully did something stupid enough to get arrested before he could do any damage. Calling him out on that isn't trolling even if it's not the reason that he started the thread.

Let me clarify for you the reason for the u-turn. The u-turn occurred because my friend forgot his wallet, not because of the alcohol. If I was sober I would have done the exact same thing because he would have still forgotten his wallet.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Ne7en

Let me clarify for you the reason for the u-turn. The u-turn occurred because my friend forgot his wallet, not because of the alcohol. If I was sober I would have done the exact same thing because he would have still forgotten his wallet.

No you wouldn't have. The CP experts have spoken.

[Beerfest]

Originally Posted by V

I'm willing to bet that you wouldn't have taken the u-turn at that moment if you were sober because you would've seen the cop watching you.

To claim that you made the same decisions while driving over the limit that you would've made sober is a little silly.

I'm not trying to claim any moral high ground here, though. About 10 years ago I went out for a drink after work and we ended up staying too long and consumed too much. I drove all the way across the city to get home and I was terrified I was going to get caught. I was fortunate that I was able to learn my lesson without any real retribution. Since then I've had a friend lose her mother to a drunk driver and I really can't imagine being in the position of that guy.

lol what a silly post.

Were you there?

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Beerfest

lol what a silly post.

Were you there?

The whole "you took a u-turn because you were drunk and aggressive" and the continued reinforcing the claim even after the OP clarified and defended his claim is one of the funniest things I've read on here in a while.

Now whenever I see someone do a u-turn I'm going to picture posters from this thread claiming the guy's drunk and aggressive and I'll start giggling like an idiot.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by Ne7en

Let me clarify for you the reason for the u-turn. The u-turn occurred because my friend forgot his wallet, not because of the alcohol. If I was sober I would have done the exact same thing because he would have still forgotten his wallet.

This may have been mentioned already, but was it near the bar?

[Ne7en]

Originally Posted by Daradon

This may have been mentioned already, but was it near the bar?

Nope. I google mapped my distance... 0.35kms away from the house we were leaving. The bar was 7 kms away. (this did not take place in calgary).

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by Ne7en

Nope. I google mapped my distance... 0.35kms away from the house we were leaving. The bar was 7 kms away. (this did not take place in calgary).

Just curious. I don't think it's morally better or worse either way obviously. Just that if you pulled a U-eh in front of the bar, that's an obvious red light.

This was probably discussed already.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by Ne7en

Nope. I google mapped my distance... 0.35kms away from the house we were leaving. The bar was 7 kms away. (this did not take place in calgary).

Keep rationalizing it, you were close to the house, the car was a ghost car, you only had 3 drinks, you would have done the u-turn anyways, just keep coming up with reasons that make you feel better about your crime.

Don't worry, Pointts will take your thousands no matter what you say.

[Thrillingbroom]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Unless otherwise marked, it is not legal to make a u-turn at a controlled intersection.

So I've been making illegal u-turns all this time? In Ontario, its like justkidding said, you're allowed to make a u-turn at an intersection as long as there's not a 'No U-Turn' sign.

[Kjesse]

Originally Posted by valo403

When did he make himself seem like a victim? He said he had three drinks, two of which were free pours that he really wasn't positive on the strength of. He's been nothing but forthcoming in this thread and people like you are trying to turn every statement into something that it isn't.

True, but even with free pours he is under-reporting, which is expected. I've had the benefit of playing around with a real machine, and 0.13 does not come easily, and you will know you are completely hammered at that stage unless you have a hardcore tolerance.

In the group I was with, there were 1/2 girls and 1/2 guys. The girls who normally didn't drink a lot were obviously impaired by .05. Even the hardest core drinker in the group was obviously sloshed at 0.15, and it took a long time for him to get there.

[Drury18]

Originally Posted by Thrillingbroom

So I've been making illegal u-turns all this time? In Ontario, its like justkidding said, you're allowed to make a u-turn at an intersection as long as there's not a 'No U-Turn' sign.

Yes, the laws in Ontario and Alberta regarding U-Turns are completely different.

In Alberta, U-Turns are prohibited in certain circumstances, for example (ref. Alberta Regulation 304/2002, Division 7):

• At the crest of a hill or on a curve unless the driver can see at least 150 m ahead,
• Anywhere a sign prohibits a U-Turn,
• In urban areas between intersections,
• At alleys and driveways,
• At an intersection controlled by a traffic signal (unless signage or signals specifically allow this maneuver),
• By a school bus on an undivided highway or on a divided highway where the length of the bus is longer than the width of the median between the two carriageways.