So I just got a DUI

[The_Dude]

I just find it hard to believe that my friend got the same thing that Jay Bouwmeester got, when Jay B almost nailed a hidden cop car head on when he swerved out of his lane. Did Bouwmeester get a record too?

[BuzzardsWife]

I heard on the news about some guy that was driving drunk and called 911 on himself and told them he was too drunk to drive. Apparently he was so drunk he doesn't remember calling them!

[Rhettzky]

I was thinking about the breathalyzer in the bars and how I heard somewhere that your body can process approximately one ounce of alcohol in approximately an hour. So if you have six drinks in three hours it will take you approximately three hours to sober up, but on looking for this information I came across this chart...

Blood Alcohol Limits by Country

It's very surprising to note that Canada has the highest allowable legal limit (tied with about six other countries like the States and Ireland). Plus on that page it states that two drinks or 20mg of alcohol can put you at 0.05%. Now most of the other countries has a legal limit of 0.05% basically indicating that two drinks is the absolute maximum when driving. Whereas in Canada, and the other countries, we're saying that you'll be fine after two and maybe three and possibly even four depending on a bunch of factors that if you are at or around 0.08% I can bet you won't consider.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by Rhettzky

Whereas in Canada, and the other countries, we're saying that you'll be fine after two and maybe three and possibly even four depending on a bunch of factors that if you are at or around 0.08% I can bet you won't consider.

Are you talking stuff like having eaten and how fast the persons metabolism is? Does body size affect it? I have always been curious about that but can never figure out how many drinks / hr would put me over.

[Rhettzky]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

Are you talking stuff like having eaten and how fast the persons metabolism is? Does body size affect it? I have always been curious about that but can never figure out how many drinks / hr would put me over.

Yep, how big you are, your tolerance to alcohol, how much you have eaten, how long you were drinking for, how many drinks you had, any drugs you are currently on (aspirin reduces the rate alcohol is released into your blood stream), even your sex effects the rate of alcohol absorption.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by Rhettzky

Yep, how big you are, your tolerance to alcohol, how much you have eaten, how long you were drinking for, how many drinks you had, any drugs you are currently on (aspirin reduces the rate alcohol is released into your blood stream), even your sex effects the rate of alcohol absorption.

I wonder if I can get a cop to breathalyse me if I am not the one driving cause I am not a little dude and I would really like to know if I am allowed to have more than one beer and hours I am driving.

[Rhettzky]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

I wonder if I can get a cop to breathalyse me if I am not the one driving cause I am not a little dude and I would really like to know if I am allowed to have more than one beer and hours I am driving.

Simple solution for that, just find a checkstop and bring a case of beer. Shot gun one and then drive thru, repeat until you fail!

[TheCommodoreAfro]

As much as I don't use my car to get anywhere (other than when I'm carting the family around on the weekend) in Japan there is a zero tolerance policy for drinking - not a damn drop. At least it makes it easy to judge when you've had enough - when you go out for beers, add the cost of a cab to your night if you miss last train.
That said, the only time I've ever seen the police outside of Tokyo charge someone with drunk driving is after an accident, and have never even seen a honest to goodness checkstop.
I have an old friend who always who drive home drunk and we came to blows about it constantly. Thinking in relative terms if it's a first offense and you didn't cause an accident consider yourself lucky and deal with it the best you can. I don't see the point in getting all righteous about "what ifs" - most people with their first DUIs wind up not repeating their mistakes.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

I wonder if I can get a cop to breathalyse me if I am not the one driving cause I am not a little dude and I would really like to know if I am allowed to have more than one beer and hours I am driving.

You can buy disposable breathalyzers at some liquor stores.

I know some friends and I bought some one night in an effort to settle a drinking competition.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by Locke

You can buy disposable breathalyzers at some liquor stores.

I know some friends and I bought some one night in an effort to settle a drinking competition.

I trust that about as much as the one in the Maid for a dollar...

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

I trust that about as much as the one in the Maid for a dollar...

Yeah well, the ones the Cops use arent exactly top quality either. I had to blow into one when I was good and plastered and I blew a dead zero.

They let me go and wished me a pleasant evening and everything.

The old lady on the train I puked on wishes I spent the night in the tank, but she was a bitch anyways, with all the yelling and whatnot.

[onetwo_threefour]

Originally Posted by Locke

Yeah well, the ones the Cops use arent exactly top quality either. I had to blow into one when I was good and plastered and I blew a dead zero.

They let me go and wished me a pleasant evening and everything.

The old lady on the train I puked on wishes I spent the night in the tank, but she was a bitch anyways, with all the yelling and whatnot.

Poor boy... did all that yelling give you a headache...

[Locke]

Originally Posted by onetwo_threefour

Poor boy... did all that yelling give you a headache...

She was harshing my buzz.

[zukes]

Drunk driving is stupid for sure, however, the public is so misinformed with the one drink an hour thing.

I am 6'3", 250 lbs and a fairly regular drinker. I was at a hospital once and it had a graph showing what was legal for heavy/regular and non drinkers for each weight class. My chart shows that you can have two to three drinks in an hour and still be under. However, if you continue drinking it gradually goes over the limit. I know if I sit at a party and have a drink an hour for 6 hours, I am NOT driving home.

It's always better to just not drive if drinking.

[Rhettzky]

Originally Posted by zukes

Drunk driving is stupid for sure, however, the public is so misinformed with the one drink an hour thing.

I am 6'3", 250 lbs and a fairly regular drinker. I was at a hospital once and it had a graph showing what was legal for heavy/regular and non drinkers for each weight class. My chart shows that you can have two to three drinks in an hour and still be under. However, if you continue drinking it gradually goes over the limit. I know if I sit at a party and have a drink an hour for 6 hours, I am NOT driving home.

It's always better to just not drive if drinking.

The one drink an hour is what your body can process, it certainly wouldn't put you over the limit. And yes, if you went to a party and had six drinks over the course of six hours you would be under the legal limit. If you pounded back six drinks in an hour then you would be over. This is all based on all the different factors we discussed but your body can process approximately 10mg of alcohol in an hour.

[Rhettzky]

Found the source...

Blood Alcohol Metabolism & Excretion

Typical doses of alcohol actually saturate the enzymes' capacity, so that alcohol is removed from the bloodstream at an approximately constant rate. This rate varies considerably between individuals; experienced male drinkers with a high body mass may process up to 30 grams (38 mL) per hour, but a more typical figure is 10 grams (12.7 mL) per hour. Persons below the age of 25, women, persons of certain ethnicities, and persons with liver disease may process alcohol more slowly.

[Berger_4_]

Originally Posted by Locke

Yeah well, the ones the Cops use arent exactly top quality either. I had to blow into one when I was good and plastered and I blew a dead zero.

They let me go and wished me a pleasant evening and everything.

The old lady on the train I puked on wishes I spent the night in the tank, but she was a bitch anyways, with all the yelling and whatnot.

I've got a story about that too haha...one day after school, me and some buddies go and play an intense game of shinny down at the rink...so after we're done, we decide that it'd be nice to cool down with a couple cold ones. So we go and grab a couple cases of beer (there were like 20 of us) and man do those first two taste great. People start to leave the shack, and it ends up with just three of us sitting there drinking. Well one thing leads to another, and the other two I'm with decide it'd be a fun thing to go to town and throw eggs at cars. Now, I wouldn't do this no matter how drunk I was (I really wasn't impaired) so I say nah, I've gotta go home and do homework and stuff. So off they go to town...long story short, they got eggs and food but on their way to throw said eggs, they rear-end a truck on the ring road in Camrose. Of course, the cops are called and they both end up in the back of cruisers. Now, I know for a fact both of them were impaired, but the driver blew green FIVE times straight on two different machines. I guess both machines were malfunctioning...how that's possible, I don't know

[Buff]

Originally Posted by The_Dude

<snip>
My overall feeling is that this shouldn't have screwed over his life like it has. The circumstance and how much you blow over should be taken into consideration. Take his license away for 1 year, but giving him a record?

He's lucky his family has some money. He's starting a business now. he's not getting any sort of job with a record. He just dropped out and might continue after he gets a pardon (which takes 3 years PLUS 1/2 to process).

I think he just got bent over.

As I've been reading this thread I found out that a friend of mine got a DUI several years ago when she was 19. She got the criminal record and the 1 year suspended licence. The criminal record hasn't dramatically affected her chances of getting any jobs.

When they do a criminal record check it takes longer because she does have a criminal record. All the prospective employer is told that the person has a criminal record and they have to wait for the check to be completed. My friend found out about this process and told the prospective employer straight up that she has a criminal record and what it was for. They were fine with that. For the most part when they do a criminal record check it is to find out if they're hiring a thief or mass murderer. That isn't to say that all employers will dismiss a DUI and hire a person anyway, but far more people will over look the DUI.

[ResAlien]

Thought I'd bump this with an update. I've finished all of my requirements as far as the classes, MADD panel, and community service go. Feel free to rant about how my punishment should have been worse.

-Knocked down to a DWAI
-About 700 bucks in court costs
-Level II alcohol classes (24 hours) about 300 bucks total
-MADD Panel (2 hours) 25 bucks
-Community Service (24 hours)
-Random BA's twice a week (dropped to one a week next month as long as I keep passing them)

And that's about it. First time offender with no prior criminal record. Costs me 50 bucks a month for "probation" costs, the BA's are 25 bucks a month. I will be off of Probation in February (6 months early) as long as I don't get arrested or fail a BA, which shouldn't be too tough. Not a cheap experience, and not one that I plan on ever repeating. I won't even chance having 1 beer and driving now, let alone driving drunk.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

My advice would have been to show up at court drunk. Yell at the ceiling and claim to be Mother Teresa's evil spirit.