Drunk driving. It’s an issue, one that gets a lot of play in the media — some days it seems you can’t turn around without hearing a new story in the news that goes a little like this: “There was an accident on Such-and-such Parkway this morning at three a.m. Two people were killed, three injured. The driver of one of the vehicles will be indicted for DUI.”
Everyone knows the dangers of driving while under the influence; most children are taught that drinking and driving is bad long before driving is even a consideration in their young minds. Legislation is enacted in every state, punitive measures put in place against those who are caught in the act of drunk driving as well as those who cause such accidents. A great social stigma, as well, is enforced, helped along by the media. And yet, this epidemic seems unaffected.
There is one thing, though, that remains mainly untried. The breathalyzer is a small device carried by most police officers in order to test suspected drunk drivers’ blood alcohol levels when they’ve been pulled over. However, police officers can’t catch every drunk driver in the act, and certainly can’t catch all of them before tragedy strikes, and the breathalyzer, though quick and accurate,is hardly ever seen outside of the justice system.
The Alcobuddy exists to change all of that. It is a wall-mounted breathalyzer, about the size of a large backpack that is meant to be installed in places that serve copious amounts of alcohol — i.e. bars, clubs and vineyards. It’s bound to catch the attention and curiosity of many a patron. Once curiosity is piqued, the patron will find that the Alcobuddy has a digital video screen to walk them through the
process of testing their blood-alcohol level. The owner of an establishment will be happy to note the autonomy of the Alcobuddy, as well; it holds six hundred of the straws needed for use, and the alcohol sensor itself lasts for between eight hundred and eleven hundred uses, the longest lasting sensor in the business.
The accuracy of the Alcobuddy is great, too, in that it will give a BAC within .01 units of the patron’s actual levels. This cold hard number is likely to put Average Joe off from driving if he, like most people, has assured himself that he’s “not drunk, just buzzed,” and intended to drive home. If he’s faced with the actual numbers, he’d know exactly how “buzzed” he really is, and maybe, just maybe, he’ll call a friend or a cab.
The fact of the matter is, the Alcobuddy has the ability to save lives. If you’re interested, or unconvinced, please, check out www.alcobuddy.com for more information.
Showing posts with label Safe Driving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Safe Driving. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
The Alcobuddy – A True Drunk-Driving Deterrent
It seems that every time someone turns around, there’s another story in the paper or on televised news broadcasts, or even on the wide, impersonal Internet, about some tragedy involving drunk driving. It’s perfectly safe to say that drunk driving is a huge problem in America, and there’ve been dozens of legal measures and debates and organisations made about preventing it and the deaths it continues to cause. Legal measures, social stigma, it seems like pretty much every trick in the book has been tried.
However, there’s one glaring omission in the crusade against drunk driving. Nobody ever talks about the availability, or, really, lack thereof, of breathalyzer testing. Sure, police officers carry breathalyzers as a matter of course, but not every drunk driver gets pulled over for reckless driving before it’s too late and someone’s been hurt or killed by the recklessness they’ve shown. It seems unfair that you already have to be posing a threat to just find out that your blood alcohol level is dangerously high. It’s an unfortunate truth, and a simple solution has been mainly ignored.
Until now.
The Alcobuddy is a breathalyzer machine meant to be mounted at eye-level in a bar or club. Its catchy design draws the attention of passers-by, and it is large enough (about the size of a large backpack) to be obviously visible. It is made of steel and has a digital video screen to guide a possibly-intoxicated patron through the simple steps to test their blood alcohol levels. It’s accurate to within .01 of your actual BAC, and it takes between 800 and 1100 uses to completely deplete the alcohol sensor. This sensor is the longest-lasting in the business, and, coupled with the six-hundred straw (any kind of which will do) capacity, this means that you don’t have to worry much at all about changing the sensors and straws. The machine can be customized with your own ads, your own currency, and even can replace the bills-and-coins, traditional payment mechanism with a credit card slot. Seven easy to use switches control the accepted currency, language, and amount of payment from inside the Alcobuddy, making the thing even more efficient and adaptable. It’s also profitable due to its relative cheapness to you – the alcohol sensor I mentioned before only costs one hundred dollars to be replaced.
These are only some of the features of the Alcobuddy, but it really isn’t the features that make me think of this as an incredibly worthy investment. What makes this a worthy investment is absurdly simple – it offers a service that nearly no one else does, and this is one of the best services one can offer, because it can save lives.
Interested? Check out the website (www.alcobuddy.com) for more info!
However, there’s one glaring omission in the crusade against drunk driving. Nobody ever talks about the availability, or, really, lack thereof, of breathalyzer testing. Sure, police officers carry breathalyzers as a matter of course, but not every drunk driver gets pulled over for reckless driving before it’s too late and someone’s been hurt or killed by the recklessness they’ve shown. It seems unfair that you already have to be posing a threat to just find out that your blood alcohol level is dangerously high. It’s an unfortunate truth, and a simple solution has been mainly ignored.
Until now.
The Alcobuddy is a breathalyzer machine meant to be mounted at eye-level in a bar or club. Its catchy design draws the attention of passers-by, and it is large enough (about the size of a large backpack) to be obviously visible. It is made of steel and has a digital video screen to guide a possibly-intoxicated patron through the simple steps to test their blood alcohol levels. It’s accurate to within .01 of your actual BAC, and it takes between 800 and 1100 uses to completely deplete the alcohol sensor. This sensor is the longest-lasting in the business, and, coupled with the six-hundred straw (any kind of which will do) capacity, this means that you don’t have to worry much at all about changing the sensors and straws. The machine can be customized with your own ads, your own currency, and even can replace the bills-and-coins, traditional payment mechanism with a credit card slot. Seven easy to use switches control the accepted currency, language, and amount of payment from inside the Alcobuddy, making the thing even more efficient and adaptable. It’s also profitable due to its relative cheapness to you – the alcohol sensor I mentioned before only costs one hundred dollars to be replaced.
These are only some of the features of the Alcobuddy, but it really isn’t the features that make me think of this as an incredibly worthy investment. What makes this a worthy investment is absurdly simple – it offers a service that nearly no one else does, and this is one of the best services one can offer, because it can save lives.
Interested? Check out the website (www.alcobuddy.com) for more info!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
The Alco-Buddy User Experience
No matter how useful a vending machine product may be, it’s not always the product that attracts new customers. The user experience is also extremely important which is why Alco-Buddy, the leading manufacturer of alcohol breathalyzer vending machines has designed a product that not only looks and functions exceptionally, but also plays a major part in helping communities fight drunk driving.
The Alco-Buddy is the most advanced alcohol breathalyzer vending machine on the market and its revolutionizing how communities battle drunk driving in their area. The National Highway and Safety Administration works hard to create community-based systems to help fight drunk driving. But none of their efforts can compare to the sleek design and novelty appeal that the Alco-Buddy possesses.
The boldly colored, powder-coated exterior of the Alco-Buddy is made from 16 gauge, tamper proof, galvanized steel. It’s virtually scratch, dent, burn and water resistant! It’s high-quality design is what sets the Alco-Buddy apart from the rest.
Law enforcement agents hail the machine for being responsible for saving the lives of people in their community each year. There’s no other tool as useful and inexpensive in helping to fight drunk driving. Taking a breathalyzer test after being pulled over by police, or worse, after causing a fatal accident, is much too late. For the test to be effective, it should be taken BEFORE getting behind the wheel. Unfortunately, it’s not often that drinkers have access to a reliable test to determine whether they’re too drunk to drive.
Alco-Buddy solves that problem and provides a safe and reliable way to gauge your BAC (blood alcohol content) before it’s too late. It’s a foolproof way to determine whether you should hire a taxi to drive you home. Anyone who’s used the Alco-Buddy will tell you how incredible it is to use the machine. The high-tech credit card reader and bill accepter allows the patron to pay using almost any method of payment, ensuring a pleasing and trouble-free experience. Customers will not only return to use the machine again, but will recommend it to friends, making the Alco-Buddy one of the highest grossing vending machine products and most useful in preventing accidents and DWI.
Combining this easy-to-use product with an irresistible eye-catching design and lifesaving potential makes for quite a successful business venture. Purchase Alco-Buddy for an amazingly affordable startup fee and start placing alcohol breathalyzer machines in your area. Find out how you can be a part of the Alco-Buddy team while also helping to fight the war against drunk driving in your community. Visit www.AlcoBuddy.com for more information. It’s guaranteed to save lives!
The Alco-Buddy is the most advanced alcohol breathalyzer vending machine on the market and its revolutionizing how communities battle drunk driving in their area. The National Highway and Safety Administration works hard to create community-based systems to help fight drunk driving. But none of their efforts can compare to the sleek design and novelty appeal that the Alco-Buddy possesses.
The boldly colored, powder-coated exterior of the Alco-Buddy is made from 16 gauge, tamper proof, galvanized steel. It’s virtually scratch, dent, burn and water resistant! It’s high-quality design is what sets the Alco-Buddy apart from the rest.
Law enforcement agents hail the machine for being responsible for saving the lives of people in their community each year. There’s no other tool as useful and inexpensive in helping to fight drunk driving. Taking a breathalyzer test after being pulled over by police, or worse, after causing a fatal accident, is much too late. For the test to be effective, it should be taken BEFORE getting behind the wheel. Unfortunately, it’s not often that drinkers have access to a reliable test to determine whether they’re too drunk to drive.
Alco-Buddy solves that problem and provides a safe and reliable way to gauge your BAC (blood alcohol content) before it’s too late. It’s a foolproof way to determine whether you should hire a taxi to drive you home. Anyone who’s used the Alco-Buddy will tell you how incredible it is to use the machine. The high-tech credit card reader and bill accepter allows the patron to pay using almost any method of payment, ensuring a pleasing and trouble-free experience. Customers will not only return to use the machine again, but will recommend it to friends, making the Alco-Buddy one of the highest grossing vending machine products and most useful in preventing accidents and DWI.
Combining this easy-to-use product with an irresistible eye-catching design and lifesaving potential makes for quite a successful business venture. Purchase Alco-Buddy for an amazingly affordable startup fee and start placing alcohol breathalyzer machines in your area. Find out how you can be a part of the Alco-Buddy team while also helping to fight the war against drunk driving in your community. Visit www.AlcoBuddy.com for more information. It’s guaranteed to save lives!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Sudbury to post names of motorists charged with impaired driving
A Northern Ontario police department is launching a highly unusual program to publicize the names of all motorists charged with impaired driving, raising concerns it will stigmatize suspects before any guilt has been determined.
The impaired drivers list, which will be released every Tuesday on the force’s web site starting on June 7, is meant to “detect, deter, and prevent the commission of impaired driving,” Frank Elsner, chief of the Greater Sudbury Police Service, said in a press release.
He noted that despite enormous effort to curtail drunk driving, charges continue to rise. In 2009, the city was traumatized when three teens walking along a road were struck and killed by a drunk driver, said Const. Bert Laplame, a police spokesman.
For a time the number of charges seemed to drop but now have begun to rise — so the department felt the need to try something new as a way to stem the problem, he said.
Many Canadian police forces regularly release lists of all charges laid against people facing a range of charges — everything from murder to robbery to assault. But what appears to make Sudbury different is the intention to issue a specific list of just those charged with impaired driving and make that information easily available.
“We recognize that impact drinking and driving can have on communities and that it’s a very difficult task for police to come up with new strategies for combatting this problem,” said Graeme Norton of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. “I think, though, the risk is people are going to assume that [the accused are] guilty of the crime without that person being found guilty in a court.”
There is no real issue when the police take special effort to release the name of an accused in a case that has been followed by the media for months or is of significant public interest, he said. “But for police to selectively publicize names outside of obvious interests of protecting the public seem to me to go too far.”
He said there might be an assumption that every impaired driving case will lead to a conviction, making publicizing the names of the accused less of a civil liberties issue.
“Drunk driving cases can be very complex and there are different ways people can end up not being convicted.”
This is not the first time that police departments in Canada have tried similar tactics. In a number of jurisdictions police have released the names of “johns” as a way to discourage prostitutes and shaming customers.
Two years ago a public list of accused johns was proposed by police in Lethbridge, Alta., and in 2004 Winnipeg police began posting clips of men soliciting sex on the web but with faces and automobile licences blurred.
The most daring attempt to shame potential criminals came in Cornwall, Ont., in 2009 when police began posting lawn signs in front of homes in which drug warrants had been executed and charges laid.
The province’s privacy commissioner ultimately ordered the practice stopped.
SOURCE
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Business owners and entrepreneurs who own any social venue and who are looking to start a cash business can now do there part in the prevention of Drunk Driving. Please visit alcobuddy.com. World's premiere Breathalyzer Vending Machine for more information.
The impaired drivers list, which will be released every Tuesday on the force’s web site starting on June 7, is meant to “detect, deter, and prevent the commission of impaired driving,” Frank Elsner, chief of the Greater Sudbury Police Service, said in a press release.
He noted that despite enormous effort to curtail drunk driving, charges continue to rise. In 2009, the city was traumatized when three teens walking along a road were struck and killed by a drunk driver, said Const. Bert Laplame, a police spokesman.
For a time the number of charges seemed to drop but now have begun to rise — so the department felt the need to try something new as a way to stem the problem, he said.
Many Canadian police forces regularly release lists of all charges laid against people facing a range of charges — everything from murder to robbery to assault. But what appears to make Sudbury different is the intention to issue a specific list of just those charged with impaired driving and make that information easily available.
“We recognize that impact drinking and driving can have on communities and that it’s a very difficult task for police to come up with new strategies for combatting this problem,” said Graeme Norton of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. “I think, though, the risk is people are going to assume that [the accused are] guilty of the crime without that person being found guilty in a court.”
There is no real issue when the police take special effort to release the name of an accused in a case that has been followed by the media for months or is of significant public interest, he said. “But for police to selectively publicize names outside of obvious interests of protecting the public seem to me to go too far.”
He said there might be an assumption that every impaired driving case will lead to a conviction, making publicizing the names of the accused less of a civil liberties issue.
“Drunk driving cases can be very complex and there are different ways people can end up not being convicted.”
This is not the first time that police departments in Canada have tried similar tactics. In a number of jurisdictions police have released the names of “johns” as a way to discourage prostitutes and shaming customers.
Two years ago a public list of accused johns was proposed by police in Lethbridge, Alta., and in 2004 Winnipeg police began posting clips of men soliciting sex on the web but with faces and automobile licences blurred.
The most daring attempt to shame potential criminals came in Cornwall, Ont., in 2009 when police began posting lawn signs in front of homes in which drug warrants had been executed and charges laid.
The province’s privacy commissioner ultimately ordered the practice stopped.
SOURCE
----
Business owners and entrepreneurs who own any social venue and who are looking to start a cash business can now do there part in the prevention of Drunk Driving. Please visit alcobuddy.com. World's premiere Breathalyzer Vending Machine for more information.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Prince William police hold safe driving program following fatal accidents
Prince William County Police will host a safe driving program for Battlefield High School students Wednesday, just weeks after two Battlefield students were killed in a car accident.
The May 25 program will begin at 7 p.m. at the school, located at 15000 Graduation Drive in Haymarket. Prince William police officials said they will discuss common teen driving risks, teen-related licensing laws and the roles parents play when their children get behind the wheel.
Police officials said they wanted to initiate a safe driving program in the community following the April 20 accident along Logmill Road that killed Kendra Kaeleen Tucker and Savanna Kidane Mouratidis, both 15. Police said they were among five people riding in a 2005 Dodge Magnum when their driver hit a deer, lost control of the car and crashed into a tree. Police said speed was a factor in the crash and the teenagers were not wearing seatbelts.
Three other Battlefield students died in two separate accidents along Logmill Road last year.
Although police officials are focusing now on Battlefield students, they said they want to expand the safe driving program to other schools next year.
SOURCE
----
Business owners and entrepreneurs who own any social venue and who are looking to start a cash business can now do there part in the prevention of Drunk Driving. Please visit alcobuddy.com. World's premiere Breathalyzer Vending Machine for more information.
The May 25 program will begin at 7 p.m. at the school, located at 15000 Graduation Drive in Haymarket. Prince William police officials said they will discuss common teen driving risks, teen-related licensing laws and the roles parents play when their children get behind the wheel.
Police officials said they wanted to initiate a safe driving program in the community following the April 20 accident along Logmill Road that killed Kendra Kaeleen Tucker and Savanna Kidane Mouratidis, both 15. Police said they were among five people riding in a 2005 Dodge Magnum when their driver hit a deer, lost control of the car and crashed into a tree. Police said speed was a factor in the crash and the teenagers were not wearing seatbelts.
Three other Battlefield students died in two separate accidents along Logmill Road last year.
Although police officials are focusing now on Battlefield students, they said they want to expand the safe driving program to other schools next year.
SOURCE
----
Business owners and entrepreneurs who own any social venue and who are looking to start a cash business can now do there part in the prevention of Drunk Driving. Please visit alcobuddy.com. World's premiere Breathalyzer Vending Machine for more information.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Steer Clear of Drunk Driving -- Get a Free Ride Home on Cinco de Mayo
Widely thought of as Mexico’s Independence Day, Cinco de Mayo is really the anniversary of when Mexican soldiers forced the French out of Puebla, Mexico, in 1862. Since then, Cinco de Mayo has evolved into a celebration of Mexican heritage, tradition, and cuisine—it’s also become a time for increased drunk driving. To help curb this serious problem and keep everyone on the road safe, McDivitt Law Firm will provide its Safe and Sober Free Cab Ride Home program this Cinco de Mayo.
“We want to prevent drunk driving and encourage everyone to celebrate Cinco de Mayo responsibly," said Colorado Springs personal injury attorney Mike McDivitt, founder McDivitt Law Firm. "If you need a safe way home call Yellow Cab and tell them the ride is on us.”
Don’t Make It Your Final Fiesta—Get a Free Ride Home
Rides will be available in Colorado Springs from 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 5, through 3 a.m., on Friday, May 6.
For a free ride home within Colorado Springs city limits, call Yellow Cab of Colorado Springs at (719) 777-7777 and tell them the ride is on McDivitt Law Firm.
The program is for adults who have been drinking or who don’t have a safe way home, and rides are provided to an individual’s residence—not to other drinking locations. Due to the high number of ride requests on Cinco de Mayo, rides cannot be guaranteed for everyone who calls; however, every attempt will be made to accommodate all requests. Drivers have the right to use their discretion when accepting fares.
Safe and Sober Free Ride Home Program
The professionals at McDivitt Law Firm work with clients who have lost loved ones in alcohol-related crashes. To assist in the fight against drunk driving, the firm encourages individuals to make responsible choices by providing free cab rides on St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, Halloween, and New Year’s Eve.
McDivitt Law Firm launched its first Safe and Sober program on New Year’s Eve 2007. Since then, the firm has covered the cost for more than 5,000 safe rides home. In September 2010, McDivitt Law Firm was honored by the Pikes Peak DUI Task Force for its efforts to prevent drunk driving.
McDivitt Makes A Difference
Whether McDivitt Law Firm pays for safe cab rides home, sponsors local education programs, or supports area charities, the firm genuinely cares about their neighbors. As part of their commitment to helping others, the firm created McDivitt Makes A Difference—a year‐round program that encompasses all their community efforts. To learn more, visit http://www.McDivittMakesADifference.com.
About McDivitt Law Firm
McDivitt Law Firm is a highly visible and respected law firm that provides legal advice and representation to Colorado personal injury claimants. McDivitt Law Firm was founded by Mike and Karen McDivitt. They have an outstanding team of lawyers, paralegals, and support staff members who provide caring and thorough representation for injured people. Visit http://www.McDivittLawFirm.com to learn more.
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Business owners and entrepreneurs who own any social venue and who are looking to start a cash business can now do there part in the prevention of Drunk Driving. Please visit alcobuddy.com. World's premiere Breathalyzer Vending Machine for more information.
“We want to prevent drunk driving and encourage everyone to celebrate Cinco de Mayo responsibly," said Colorado Springs personal injury attorney Mike McDivitt, founder McDivitt Law Firm. "If you need a safe way home call Yellow Cab and tell them the ride is on us.”
Don’t Make It Your Final Fiesta—Get a Free Ride Home
Rides will be available in Colorado Springs from 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 5, through 3 a.m., on Friday, May 6.
For a free ride home within Colorado Springs city limits, call Yellow Cab of Colorado Springs at (719) 777-7777 and tell them the ride is on McDivitt Law Firm.
The program is for adults who have been drinking or who don’t have a safe way home, and rides are provided to an individual’s residence—not to other drinking locations. Due to the high number of ride requests on Cinco de Mayo, rides cannot be guaranteed for everyone who calls; however, every attempt will be made to accommodate all requests. Drivers have the right to use their discretion when accepting fares.
Safe and Sober Free Ride Home Program
The professionals at McDivitt Law Firm work with clients who have lost loved ones in alcohol-related crashes. To assist in the fight against drunk driving, the firm encourages individuals to make responsible choices by providing free cab rides on St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, Halloween, and New Year’s Eve.
McDivitt Law Firm launched its first Safe and Sober program on New Year’s Eve 2007. Since then, the firm has covered the cost for more than 5,000 safe rides home. In September 2010, McDivitt Law Firm was honored by the Pikes Peak DUI Task Force for its efforts to prevent drunk driving.
McDivitt Makes A Difference
Whether McDivitt Law Firm pays for safe cab rides home, sponsors local education programs, or supports area charities, the firm genuinely cares about their neighbors. As part of their commitment to helping others, the firm created McDivitt Makes A Difference—a year‐round program that encompasses all their community efforts. To learn more, visit http://www.McDivittMakesADifference.com.
About McDivitt Law Firm
McDivitt Law Firm is a highly visible and respected law firm that provides legal advice and representation to Colorado personal injury claimants. McDivitt Law Firm was founded by Mike and Karen McDivitt. They have an outstanding team of lawyers, paralegals, and support staff members who provide caring and thorough representation for injured people. Visit http://www.McDivittLawFirm.com to learn more.
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Business owners and entrepreneurs who own any social venue and who are looking to start a cash business can now do there part in the prevention of Drunk Driving. Please visit alcobuddy.com. World's premiere Breathalyzer Vending Machine for more information.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Prom drunk driving a serious problem
THIS TIME OF YEAR can be full of anticipation as students prepare for their school's prom and although they may have planned a fun evening with their friends, deadly danger can be waiting just around the corner.
According to the California Highway Patrol, there were 92,839 DUIs in 2009 statewide. Also there were 45,923 alcohol-related traffic collisions, with 26,058 people injured and 1,263 fatalities.
Tracy resident Lori Martin knows firsthand the results of drinking and driving.
On April 10, 1992, while driving home from work, a drunken driver struck her car head on. Lori was just 16 at the time and a Tracy High School junior. At the scene of the accident, Lori was found unconscious and unresponsive. Extrication took 40 minutes using the Jaws of Life, then she was taken by helicopter to St. Joseph's Hospital in Stockton.
"Before the accident I was doing great in school, involved in sports and had lots of friends," Lori said. "The drunk driver changed all of that and my joys of the teenage years vanished. No prom, no fancy dress, no date -- just a wheelchair with braces."
Although Lori survived the collision, her nightmare was just beginning. She had suffered numerous injuries, including a swollen brain, several broken and dislocated bones, a collapsed lung, cracked ribs, torn tendons, multiple fractures, a lacerated liver and paralysis on her left side. While still in the hospital, Lori slipped
into a coma for 100 days.
The drunken driver whose car collided with Lori's car, was not wearing a seat belt at the time and was ejected through his windshield. He survived and was arrested with a .28 blood alcohol level, more than three times the state limit of .08.
"Please think before you drink and always designate a sober driver," Lori said. "Would you want this to happen to you? The drunk driver took more then just my prom away from me ... he took my life (as I knew it) and a big part of my future. I think the first step is to get the drunks off the roads and not become one yourself."
"The worst fatality I've ever been to involved a DUI where four people were killed," said CHP Officer Robert Rickman. "It was a head-on collision where the drunken driver's car went over the other car and peeled the top of it off. All occupants, except one, died. The drunken driver also died at the scene. Alcohol was the primary factor in that collision."
In 2005, I was asked to be the master of ceremonies at the annual candlelight vigil, held in Stockton, for Mothers Against Drunk Driving. I read off the names of those that had lost their lives to a drunk driver. Family members wept as the names of their loved ones were read. One of the women among the group of mourners was a friend of mine and her daughter, Kristine Ormonde, was also killed by a drunken driver.
I couldn't escape the wave of emotion from these grieving families and tears welled up in my eyes as I read out loud the long list of names before me. The fact is that drunk drivers kill and leave families to mourn and ask the question why? Please don't drink and drive.
Today's column is dedicated to all those who have lost a loved one to a drunken driver.
SOURCE
----
Business owners and entrepreneurs who own any social venue and who are looking to start a cash business can now do there part in the prevention of Drunk Driving. Please visit alcobuddy.com. World's premiere Breathalyzer Vending Machine for more information.
According to the California Highway Patrol, there were 92,839 DUIs in 2009 statewide. Also there were 45,923 alcohol-related traffic collisions, with 26,058 people injured and 1,263 fatalities.
Tracy resident Lori Martin knows firsthand the results of drinking and driving.
On April 10, 1992, while driving home from work, a drunken driver struck her car head on. Lori was just 16 at the time and a Tracy High School junior. At the scene of the accident, Lori was found unconscious and unresponsive. Extrication took 40 minutes using the Jaws of Life, then she was taken by helicopter to St. Joseph's Hospital in Stockton.
"Before the accident I was doing great in school, involved in sports and had lots of friends," Lori said. "The drunk driver changed all of that and my joys of the teenage years vanished. No prom, no fancy dress, no date -- just a wheelchair with braces."
Although Lori survived the collision, her nightmare was just beginning. She had suffered numerous injuries, including a swollen brain, several broken and dislocated bones, a collapsed lung, cracked ribs, torn tendons, multiple fractures, a lacerated liver and paralysis on her left side. While still in the hospital, Lori slipped
into a coma for 100 days.
The drunken driver whose car collided with Lori's car, was not wearing a seat belt at the time and was ejected through his windshield. He survived and was arrested with a .28 blood alcohol level, more than three times the state limit of .08.
"Please think before you drink and always designate a sober driver," Lori said. "Would you want this to happen to you? The drunk driver took more then just my prom away from me ... he took my life (as I knew it) and a big part of my future. I think the first step is to get the drunks off the roads and not become one yourself."
"The worst fatality I've ever been to involved a DUI where four people were killed," said CHP Officer Robert Rickman. "It was a head-on collision where the drunken driver's car went over the other car and peeled the top of it off. All occupants, except one, died. The drunken driver also died at the scene. Alcohol was the primary factor in that collision."
In 2005, I was asked to be the master of ceremonies at the annual candlelight vigil, held in Stockton, for Mothers Against Drunk Driving. I read off the names of those that had lost their lives to a drunk driver. Family members wept as the names of their loved ones were read. One of the women among the group of mourners was a friend of mine and her daughter, Kristine Ormonde, was also killed by a drunken driver.
I couldn't escape the wave of emotion from these grieving families and tears welled up in my eyes as I read out loud the long list of names before me. The fact is that drunk drivers kill and leave families to mourn and ask the question why? Please don't drink and drive.
Today's column is dedicated to all those who have lost a loved one to a drunken driver.
SOURCE
----
Business owners and entrepreneurs who own any social venue and who are looking to start a cash business can now do there part in the prevention of Drunk Driving. Please visit alcobuddy.com. World's premiere Breathalyzer Vending Machine for more information.
Helping Drunken Drivers Avoid Tickets, but Not Wrecks
FRIENDS don’t let friends drive drunk. If they can’t take their friend’s keys away, they take their smartphone. Why? The phone may have an app that can help them avoid sobriety checkpoints.
Last month, Senators Harry Reid, Charles E. Schumer, Frank R. Lautenberg and Tom Udall asked Apple, Google and Research In Motion, the maker of BlackBerrys, to remove apps from their online stores that help drunken drivers evade sobriety checkpoints.
On March 23, the day after the letter went out, the group said BlackBerry agreed to pull the apps and thanked the group for bringing them to its attention.
Apple and Google? Nothing.
An Apple spokeswoman said the company would not comment. A Google spokesman said the apps did not violate the company’s content policies.
In supplying the precise locations of sobriety checkpoints, these apps do nothing illegal. They do not supply sexually explicit material, nor do they bully anyone, nor do they embody hate speech. Those are three of the nine categories that Google forbids for Android apps. But it might be time for Google to proscribe a 10th category: enablers of drunken driving.
Sobriety checkpoints — locations where officers stop some drivers and perform breath tests on those suspected of being drunk — are not used primarily to catch impaired drivers and issue tickets: the number of intersections that can be covered is too few for the actual arrests to make much of a dent. The checkpoints are intended to deter drunken driving by simply being out there, vaguely.
J. T. Griffin, vice president for policy at Mothers Against Drunk Driving, says, “There’s a difference between a broad announcement that there will be sobriety checkpoints in a general location versus a specific location that can be downloaded to your smartphone with the intent of allowing a drunk driver to evade a checkpoint.”
In 2009, 10,839 people were killed by alcohol-impaired drivers, which was about a third of total traffic fatalities for the year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
“There’s a face on every one of those 10,839,” said James McMahon, chief of staff of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. “There’s a mourning family behind every one.”
The total would be significantly greater were it not for the deterring effect of sobriety checkpoints that are permitted to exist as a widely publicized, but geographically indeterminate, presence.
When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention convened scientists to review 23 studies that looked at the effectiveness of sobriety checkpoints, the panel concluded that the checkpoints typically reduced alcohol-related crashes by about 20 percent. That was way back in 2002, well before the arrival of smartphone apps like PhantomAlert and Trapster, which warn of the locations of speed traps, red light cameras and other kinds of alerts, in addition to sobriety checkpoints. They can feed GPS navigation devices, too.
PhantomAlert’s iPhone app boasts that the company’s database has 400,000 “enforcement” locations. “See Them Before They See You!” it cheerily advises.
Buzzed, a smartphone app that shows nothing but sobriety checkpoints, is matched with a Web site with a self-explanatory address, EveryCheckpoint.com.
PhantomAlert was one of the apps that Research In Motion pulled from its online store at the request of the senators. R.I.M. did not respond to requests for comment. But Joseph Scott, chief executive of PhantomAlert, defended real-time alerts of sobriety checkpoints as a convenience to law-abiding citizens who do not want to be delayed by a checkpoint. “Assuming someone who gets a D.U.I.-checkpoint alert is going to drink and drive is like assuming anyone who owns a gun is a murderer,” he said.
Corinne Geller, a spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police, said that two years ago, PhantomAlert broadcast the existence of sobriety checkpoints in a general area, but without real-time location information. “The original concept was it could deter someone from driving drunk because there might have been a D.U.I. checkpoint on the way home and one didn’t know for sure,” she said. “Today, the way the program is used, it defeats the purpose of deterring illegal behavior.”
Mr. Scott says that he is talking with Research In Motion about positioning his company as a “responsible corporate citizen.” He is offering to suspend real-time reports of sobriety checkpoint locations. In an e-mail he sent me last week, he also said that he wanted to send out a joint news release with Research In Motion, “praising the senators for fighting the epidemic of drinking and driving and for giving us the chance to help them tackle this huge problem.”
Before he was flooded with civic-mindedness, however, he had taken a different tack, complaining to me that it wasn’t fair for the senators to single out him and the online app stores. “People have formed Facebook and Twitter groups to alert people of D.U.I. checkpoints, but no one is going after Facebook or Twitter,” he told me two weeks ago.
Those Facebook and Twitter feeds are not going to be particularly useful to the inebriated driver, however. It’s not the transmission of checkpoint information, in any form, that poses the public health problem. It’s when checkpoint information is transmitted instantly and precisely and is automatically incorporated into navigational software.
SOBRIETY checkpoints are the rare case in which the public interest would best be served with information that is less precise than technology is capable of providing. General alerts are good: they help spread the word and deter drunken driving. But they should blanket the town rather than show up as pushpins on a smartphone’s street map.
SOURCE
----
Business owners and entrepreneurs who own any social venue and who are looking to start a cash business can now do there part in the prevention of Drunk Driving. Please visit alcobuddy.com. World's premiere Breathalyzer Vending Machine for more information.
Last month, Senators Harry Reid, Charles E. Schumer, Frank R. Lautenberg and Tom Udall asked Apple, Google and Research In Motion, the maker of BlackBerrys, to remove apps from their online stores that help drunken drivers evade sobriety checkpoints.
On March 23, the day after the letter went out, the group said BlackBerry agreed to pull the apps and thanked the group for bringing them to its attention.
Apple and Google? Nothing.
An Apple spokeswoman said the company would not comment. A Google spokesman said the apps did not violate the company’s content policies.
In supplying the precise locations of sobriety checkpoints, these apps do nothing illegal. They do not supply sexually explicit material, nor do they bully anyone, nor do they embody hate speech. Those are three of the nine categories that Google forbids for Android apps. But it might be time for Google to proscribe a 10th category: enablers of drunken driving.
Sobriety checkpoints — locations where officers stop some drivers and perform breath tests on those suspected of being drunk — are not used primarily to catch impaired drivers and issue tickets: the number of intersections that can be covered is too few for the actual arrests to make much of a dent. The checkpoints are intended to deter drunken driving by simply being out there, vaguely.
J. T. Griffin, vice president for policy at Mothers Against Drunk Driving, says, “There’s a difference between a broad announcement that there will be sobriety checkpoints in a general location versus a specific location that can be downloaded to your smartphone with the intent of allowing a drunk driver to evade a checkpoint.”
In 2009, 10,839 people were killed by alcohol-impaired drivers, which was about a third of total traffic fatalities for the year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
“There’s a face on every one of those 10,839,” said James McMahon, chief of staff of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. “There’s a mourning family behind every one.”
The total would be significantly greater were it not for the deterring effect of sobriety checkpoints that are permitted to exist as a widely publicized, but geographically indeterminate, presence.
When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention convened scientists to review 23 studies that looked at the effectiveness of sobriety checkpoints, the panel concluded that the checkpoints typically reduced alcohol-related crashes by about 20 percent. That was way back in 2002, well before the arrival of smartphone apps like PhantomAlert and Trapster, which warn of the locations of speed traps, red light cameras and other kinds of alerts, in addition to sobriety checkpoints. They can feed GPS navigation devices, too.
PhantomAlert’s iPhone app boasts that the company’s database has 400,000 “enforcement” locations. “See Them Before They See You!” it cheerily advises.
Buzzed, a smartphone app that shows nothing but sobriety checkpoints, is matched with a Web site with a self-explanatory address, EveryCheckpoint.com.
PhantomAlert was one of the apps that Research In Motion pulled from its online store at the request of the senators. R.I.M. did not respond to requests for comment. But Joseph Scott, chief executive of PhantomAlert, defended real-time alerts of sobriety checkpoints as a convenience to law-abiding citizens who do not want to be delayed by a checkpoint. “Assuming someone who gets a D.U.I.-checkpoint alert is going to drink and drive is like assuming anyone who owns a gun is a murderer,” he said.
Corinne Geller, a spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police, said that two years ago, PhantomAlert broadcast the existence of sobriety checkpoints in a general area, but without real-time location information. “The original concept was it could deter someone from driving drunk because there might have been a D.U.I. checkpoint on the way home and one didn’t know for sure,” she said. “Today, the way the program is used, it defeats the purpose of deterring illegal behavior.”
Mr. Scott says that he is talking with Research In Motion about positioning his company as a “responsible corporate citizen.” He is offering to suspend real-time reports of sobriety checkpoint locations. In an e-mail he sent me last week, he also said that he wanted to send out a joint news release with Research In Motion, “praising the senators for fighting the epidemic of drinking and driving and for giving us the chance to help them tackle this huge problem.”
Before he was flooded with civic-mindedness, however, he had taken a different tack, complaining to me that it wasn’t fair for the senators to single out him and the online app stores. “People have formed Facebook and Twitter groups to alert people of D.U.I. checkpoints, but no one is going after Facebook or Twitter,” he told me two weeks ago.
Those Facebook and Twitter feeds are not going to be particularly useful to the inebriated driver, however. It’s not the transmission of checkpoint information, in any form, that poses the public health problem. It’s when checkpoint information is transmitted instantly and precisely and is automatically incorporated into navigational software.
SOBRIETY checkpoints are the rare case in which the public interest would best be served with information that is less precise than technology is capable of providing. General alerts are good: they help spread the word and deter drunken driving. But they should blanket the town rather than show up as pushpins on a smartphone’s street map.
SOURCE
----
Business owners and entrepreneurs who own any social venue and who are looking to start a cash business can now do there part in the prevention of Drunk Driving. Please visit alcobuddy.com. World's premiere Breathalyzer Vending Machine for more information.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Four Loko Returns to Shelves, Minus One Ingredient
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Four Loko is back in Pennsylvania, minus the caffeine. But without the caffeine, the malt beverage may have lost some of its allure, according to one retail employee.
As reported in The Patriot News, stores are willing to make room on the shelf for the drink, which is made by Phusion Projects, but customer demand may be waning. "I personally haven't sold any," Charlie Swank, a cashier at Silver Spring Beverage in Silver Spring Township, told the newspaper. "It’s not taboo anymore, you know?"
Phusion Projects reformulated Four Loko, removing not only the caffeine but taurine and guarana as well, after the Food and Drug Administration warned last fall that adding caffeine to malt beverage is unsafe. That warning came after the fruit-flavored, high-alcohol and caffeine drink -- referred to by some as blackout in a can -- was linked to a series of incidents last year in which people were either hospitalized or died. The events even led to some stated banning Four Loko, according to The Patriot News.
But the change in Four Loko is not enough to win over every detractor. The malt beverage contains 12 percent alcohol, the equivalent of five beers. This has caused some colleges, like Lebanon Valley College, to continue its ban on the drink, according to the newspaper.
Over at Glenn Miller Beer & Soda Warehouse in Lemoyne, Pa., the new Four Loko sits among other high-alcohol drinks like Joose and Sparks in a small section of the store devoted to flavored beverages. However, Rodney Miller, president of the business, noted it has not been a big seller, possibly because the average beer drink doesn't have a taste for Four Loko's fruity flavors, the news outlet added.
SOURCE
----
Business owners and entrepreneurs who own any social venue and who are looking to start a cash business can now do there part in the prevention of Drunk Driving. Please visit alcobuddy.com. World's premiere Breathalyzer Vending Machine for more information.
As reported in The Patriot News, stores are willing to make room on the shelf for the drink, which is made by Phusion Projects, but customer demand may be waning. "I personally haven't sold any," Charlie Swank, a cashier at Silver Spring Beverage in Silver Spring Township, told the newspaper. "It’s not taboo anymore, you know?"
Phusion Projects reformulated Four Loko, removing not only the caffeine but taurine and guarana as well, after the Food and Drug Administration warned last fall that adding caffeine to malt beverage is unsafe. That warning came after the fruit-flavored, high-alcohol and caffeine drink -- referred to by some as blackout in a can -- was linked to a series of incidents last year in which people were either hospitalized or died. The events even led to some stated banning Four Loko, according to The Patriot News.
But the change in Four Loko is not enough to win over every detractor. The malt beverage contains 12 percent alcohol, the equivalent of five beers. This has caused some colleges, like Lebanon Valley College, to continue its ban on the drink, according to the newspaper.
Over at Glenn Miller Beer & Soda Warehouse in Lemoyne, Pa., the new Four Loko sits among other high-alcohol drinks like Joose and Sparks in a small section of the store devoted to flavored beverages. However, Rodney Miller, president of the business, noted it has not been a big seller, possibly because the average beer drink doesn't have a taste for Four Loko's fruity flavors, the news outlet added.
SOURCE
----
Business owners and entrepreneurs who own any social venue and who are looking to start a cash business can now do there part in the prevention of Drunk Driving. Please visit alcobuddy.com. World's premiere Breathalyzer Vending Machine for more information.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Texas House votes to ban texting while driving
AUSTIN — Texas lawmakers tentatively approved a statewide ban against texting while driving, saying the practice is a hazard more dangerous than drunken driving.
The legislation would ban text, electronic and instant messaging by a motorist while driving. It would not apply when a driver is stopped at a traffic light or stop sign. Violations could lead to a Class C misdemeanor charge and a fine of up to $200.
"The key to this is, a lot of people are being killed because of texting," said Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, author of HB 243. "It's a function of safety and saving people's lives. That's what it's all about."
His bill won preliminary approval, 124-16. Lawmakers who opposed the measure cited privacy and civil liberty concerns.
The House must take one more vote on Friday, and the Senate also must approve the legislation before the statewide ban on texting while driving takes effect on Sept. 1, 2011.
Craddick, a former House speaker, acknowledged that some critics fear that a ban against texting and driving could erode their rights.
But Craddick countered, "Driving is not a right. Driving is a responsibility and a privilege."
Citing research, Craddick said texting while driving is 20 times more dangerous than drunken driving.
Some Texas communities, including San Antonio, already have local ordinances banning the practice. A total of 30 states also have such bans.
The proposed statewide ban against texting is similar to San Antonio's ordinance. However, the statewide measure would allow motorists to read text messages and to send messages while stopped at traffic lights or stop signs - something the San Antonio ordinance prohibits.
Rep. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, has pushed a statewide ban on texting while driving for several legislative sessions.
"It's important that the state have a (uniform) standard - just like standard seatbelt laws," Menendez said. "It also makes the state, as a whole, safer."
A texting-while-driving ban also will play an important role in driver education and training for teenage drivers, he said.
"That's the key, because they're the ones who are texting more than anybody," Menendez said.
He and Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, co-sponsored the bill.
Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, cast the only dissenting vote among Bexar County members.
"Basically, I like to see government stay out of people's lives," Larson said. "It's also an issue of enforcement. I don't see how they can adequately enforce that."
Larson also noted that drivers engage in many other types of distractions, such as eating food or applying makeup.
"I don't think we should allow the government to get into our lives to that degree," he said.
SOURCE
----
Business owners and entrepreneurs who own any social venue and who are looking to start a cash business can now do there part in the prevention of Drunk Driving. Please visit alcobuddy.com. World's premiere Breathalyzer Vending Machine for more information.
The legislation would ban text, electronic and instant messaging by a motorist while driving. It would not apply when a driver is stopped at a traffic light or stop sign. Violations could lead to a Class C misdemeanor charge and a fine of up to $200.
"The key to this is, a lot of people are being killed because of texting," said Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, author of HB 243. "It's a function of safety and saving people's lives. That's what it's all about."
His bill won preliminary approval, 124-16. Lawmakers who opposed the measure cited privacy and civil liberty concerns.
The House must take one more vote on Friday, and the Senate also must approve the legislation before the statewide ban on texting while driving takes effect on Sept. 1, 2011.
Craddick, a former House speaker, acknowledged that some critics fear that a ban against texting and driving could erode their rights.
But Craddick countered, "Driving is not a right. Driving is a responsibility and a privilege."
Citing research, Craddick said texting while driving is 20 times more dangerous than drunken driving.
Some Texas communities, including San Antonio, already have local ordinances banning the practice. A total of 30 states also have such bans.
The proposed statewide ban against texting is similar to San Antonio's ordinance. However, the statewide measure would allow motorists to read text messages and to send messages while stopped at traffic lights or stop signs - something the San Antonio ordinance prohibits.
Rep. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, has pushed a statewide ban on texting while driving for several legislative sessions.
"It's important that the state have a (uniform) standard - just like standard seatbelt laws," Menendez said. "It also makes the state, as a whole, safer."
A texting-while-driving ban also will play an important role in driver education and training for teenage drivers, he said.
"That's the key, because they're the ones who are texting more than anybody," Menendez said.
He and Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, co-sponsored the bill.
Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, cast the only dissenting vote among Bexar County members.
"Basically, I like to see government stay out of people's lives," Larson said. "It's also an issue of enforcement. I don't see how they can adequately enforce that."
Larson also noted that drivers engage in many other types of distractions, such as eating food or applying makeup.
"I don't think we should allow the government to get into our lives to that degree," he said.
SOURCE
----
Business owners and entrepreneurs who own any social venue and who are looking to start a cash business can now do there part in the prevention of Drunk Driving. Please visit alcobuddy.com. World's premiere Breathalyzer Vending Machine for more information.
Students get a lesson on the dangers of drunk driving
Andrew Tipton says he had to learn the hard way.
"When you're there it's the worst feeling in the world," he said.
In high school Tipton lost two of his best friends to a drunk driving accident.
"I couldn't control myself, I lost everything and no one was really supportive of me at the time so it really hurt and was really hard," he recalled.
Now he's using his past to prevent others from going through the same pain.
"Almost everywhere we go, almost every day, there's one student, soldier or one teacher, somebody that will come up to me and say thank you for doing this," he said.
Tipton travels the world with the Save A Life Tour, educating high school students, soldiers and communities about the dangers of drunk driving. Thursday the tour visited Mill River Union High School.
Students tested a drunk driving simulator which acts in many ways like a real car except that an instructor can change the DUI level.
This is the first year the tour visited Rutland, made possible by several community donations, and a large donation from Vermont State troopers who came to help educate. Aside from the simulator, students tried a series of sobriety tests using drunk goggles, and while it may look funny organizers say the hands-on experience helps.
"You can talk about what it's like to be impaired but something like this really shows the kids and they get a real feel for how different it is," Principal Andy Pomeroy said.
"Underage drinking is an issue unfortunately, it's something we work on every day," said Tina Coltey of the Rutland Area Prevention Coalition.
This event comes three weeks after a fatal accident killed two Rutland area high schoolers, one attended Mill River Union his freshman year.
"It's devastating when you're young to lose someone who's a friend of yours," Pomeroy said.
The accident happened on Cold River Road March 18. Police have not confirmed if alcohol was a factor, though it was found on scene.
"It's really bad that tragedy has to open people's eyes, but people learn through consequences," Tipton said.
Tipton knows tragedy all too well. He's hoping Thursday's- tour can steer at least one student in the right direction.
If you'd like to participate in the Save A Life Tour the simulation will be set up Friday at the Diamond Run Mall in Rutland. The tour is aimed at college students but anyone in the community is welcome to attend.
SOURCE
----
Business owners and entrepreneurs who own any social venue and who are looking to start a cash business can now do there part in the prevention of Drunk Driving. Please visit alcobuddy.com. World's premiere Breathalyzer Vending Machine for more information.
"When you're there it's the worst feeling in the world," he said.
In high school Tipton lost two of his best friends to a drunk driving accident.
"I couldn't control myself, I lost everything and no one was really supportive of me at the time so it really hurt and was really hard," he recalled.
Now he's using his past to prevent others from going through the same pain.
"Almost everywhere we go, almost every day, there's one student, soldier or one teacher, somebody that will come up to me and say thank you for doing this," he said.
Tipton travels the world with the Save A Life Tour, educating high school students, soldiers and communities about the dangers of drunk driving. Thursday the tour visited Mill River Union High School.
Students tested a drunk driving simulator which acts in many ways like a real car except that an instructor can change the DUI level.
This is the first year the tour visited Rutland, made possible by several community donations, and a large donation from Vermont State troopers who came to help educate. Aside from the simulator, students tried a series of sobriety tests using drunk goggles, and while it may look funny organizers say the hands-on experience helps.
"You can talk about what it's like to be impaired but something like this really shows the kids and they get a real feel for how different it is," Principal Andy Pomeroy said.
"Underage drinking is an issue unfortunately, it's something we work on every day," said Tina Coltey of the Rutland Area Prevention Coalition.
This event comes three weeks after a fatal accident killed two Rutland area high schoolers, one attended Mill River Union his freshman year.
"It's devastating when you're young to lose someone who's a friend of yours," Pomeroy said.
The accident happened on Cold River Road March 18. Police have not confirmed if alcohol was a factor, though it was found on scene.
"It's really bad that tragedy has to open people's eyes, but people learn through consequences," Tipton said.
Tipton knows tragedy all too well. He's hoping Thursday's- tour can steer at least one student in the right direction.
If you'd like to participate in the Save A Life Tour the simulation will be set up Friday at the Diamond Run Mall in Rutland. The tour is aimed at college students but anyone in the community is welcome to attend.
SOURCE
----
Business owners and entrepreneurs who own any social venue and who are looking to start a cash business can now do there part in the prevention of Drunk Driving. Please visit alcobuddy.com. World's premiere Breathalyzer Vending Machine for more information.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
At Archie's high school, a talk about drinking
There's a MADD Cowboy on the loose at Riverdale High, but that's no reason to panic.
The cowboy in question is Jason Witten, tight end for the NFL's Dallas Cowboys. And he's talking about the dangers of underage drinking as part of a Mothers Against Drunk Driving program that appeals not to just Archie, Jughead and the others, but to teenagers and parents in the real world, too.
"The whole idea here is prevention. To prevent kids from drinking," Victor Gorelick, president and editor-in-chief of Archie Comics, told The Associated Press. "But a lot of parents know that this can be a big problem with teenagers, yet they have problems talking to their kids."
So, in a bid to help bridge that gap, MADD contacted Archie Comics about PowerTalk 21, an April 21 national event that seeks to have parents talking to their children about underage drinking.
"One of the things that was discussed was the possibility of doing a story, involving Jason Witten," Gorelick said. "Riverdale is his first stop and that he's going to other schools, too."
And that's what transpires in "Archie Double Digest" No. 217, out this week in comic shops, which opens with prom around the corner and plans for a party with parents out of town.
"We've always tried to keep Archie up with the times," Gorelick said. "The story is not that long - only about eight pages, and it's entertaining, but it gets the message across at the same time."
That message is a frank and open talk about the perils of peer pressure and underage drinking, an issue that MADD CEO Kimberly Earle told AP was crucial in getting to teens and young adults.
"It's been a fantastic partnership and a fantastic way to get the word out," she said of PowerTalk 21, adding they were able to "reach a whole new audience."
SOURCE
The cowboy in question is Jason Witten, tight end for the NFL's Dallas Cowboys. And he's talking about the dangers of underage drinking as part of a Mothers Against Drunk Driving program that appeals not to just Archie, Jughead and the others, but to teenagers and parents in the real world, too.
"The whole idea here is prevention. To prevent kids from drinking," Victor Gorelick, president and editor-in-chief of Archie Comics, told The Associated Press. "But a lot of parents know that this can be a big problem with teenagers, yet they have problems talking to their kids."
So, in a bid to help bridge that gap, MADD contacted Archie Comics about PowerTalk 21, an April 21 national event that seeks to have parents talking to their children about underage drinking.
"One of the things that was discussed was the possibility of doing a story, involving Jason Witten," Gorelick said. "Riverdale is his first stop and that he's going to other schools, too."
And that's what transpires in "Archie Double Digest" No. 217, out this week in comic shops, which opens with prom around the corner and plans for a party with parents out of town.
"We've always tried to keep Archie up with the times," Gorelick said. "The story is not that long - only about eight pages, and it's entertaining, but it gets the message across at the same time."
That message is a frank and open talk about the perils of peer pressure and underage drinking, an issue that MADD CEO Kimberly Earle told AP was crucial in getting to teens and young adults.
"It's been a fantastic partnership and a fantastic way to get the word out," she said of PowerTalk 21, adding they were able to "reach a whole new audience."
SOURCE
Beverly man held without bail after alleged drunk driving accidents
A Lynn District Court judge ordered a Beverly man held without bail yesterday after he was arraigned on charges of hitting three cars while under the influence of alcohol, injuring three people.
Mateusz Chruscicki, 34, pleaded not guilty to several charges stemming from his Wednesday night arrest, according to a statement from Steve O'Connell, a spokesman for Essex County District Attorney's office.
According to Essex County Assistant District Attorney Geoffrey Wood, police received several 9-1-1 calls beginning at about 5:40 Wednesday evening that a red Ford 350 pickup truck hit several vehicles while driving southbound on Route 1, the statement said.
When police arrived on scene in Lynnfield, they found two victims in a gray Toyota Camry who suffered injuries from the crash, according to the statement.
After both victims were transferred to Lynn Union Hospital on backboards, the female passenger was released after treatment. The male, who suffered serious chest injuries, was transferred to Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, the statement said.
Police then attended to a third victim across the Saugus line, who drove a Toyota Corolla that Chruscicki allegedly struck with enough force to slam him in the left lane's guard rail, spinning his car twice, the statement said. The male victim told police he would seek medical treatment on his own, according to the statement.
Chruscicki also allegedly hit a Chevy sedan, the statement said. The woman driving that car was not hurt, according to the statement.
Immediately after hitting the three cars, Chruscicki crashed his truck into a telephone pole, totaling the vehicle, the statement said. He was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston where police arrested him at about 7 p.m., the statement said.
Police charged Chruscicki with operating under the influence of alcohol, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, two counts of leaving the scene of a property damage accident, and a marked lane violation, the statement said.
Chruscicki is scheduled to return to court next Thursday for a dangerousness hearing, according to the statement.
SOURCE
Mateusz Chruscicki, 34, pleaded not guilty to several charges stemming from his Wednesday night arrest, according to a statement from Steve O'Connell, a spokesman for Essex County District Attorney's office.
According to Essex County Assistant District Attorney Geoffrey Wood, police received several 9-1-1 calls beginning at about 5:40 Wednesday evening that a red Ford 350 pickup truck hit several vehicles while driving southbound on Route 1, the statement said.
When police arrived on scene in Lynnfield, they found two victims in a gray Toyota Camry who suffered injuries from the crash, according to the statement.
After both victims were transferred to Lynn Union Hospital on backboards, the female passenger was released after treatment. The male, who suffered serious chest injuries, was transferred to Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, the statement said.
Police then attended to a third victim across the Saugus line, who drove a Toyota Corolla that Chruscicki allegedly struck with enough force to slam him in the left lane's guard rail, spinning his car twice, the statement said. The male victim told police he would seek medical treatment on his own, according to the statement.
Chruscicki also allegedly hit a Chevy sedan, the statement said. The woman driving that car was not hurt, according to the statement.
Immediately after hitting the three cars, Chruscicki crashed his truck into a telephone pole, totaling the vehicle, the statement said. He was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston where police arrested him at about 7 p.m., the statement said.
Police charged Chruscicki with operating under the influence of alcohol, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, two counts of leaving the scene of a property damage accident, and a marked lane violation, the statement said.
Chruscicki is scheduled to return to court next Thursday for a dangerousness hearing, according to the statement.
SOURCE
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Alco-Buddy vending machines benefit everyone!
Have you ever gotten behind the wheel after a night of drinking and, upon arriving home, realized you have no recollection of driving there? Alcohol has the ability to impair our judgment so severely that it’s common to assume we are completely capable of driving, even when our BAC (blood alcohol content) is only slightly above the legal limit. In most situations, there’s no way of knowing what your true BAC is until it’s too late.
People who consume alcohol on a regular basis are at the highest risk because they’ve built up a tolerance for alcohol over time. Their chances of being arrested are not only greatly increased, but they are also putting other drivers, who are entirely sober, at risk.
Many factors contribute to a person’s BAC, including weight, age, medications and recently consumed food amongst other things. It’s nearly impossible to know exactly what our BAC is after consuming alcohol. The difference between .07 and .08 can make or break your night. Being arrested for DUI can incur thousands of dollars in fines and legal fees, increase insurance rates, put careers at risk and possibly require mandatory substance abuse assessment and treatment. It may even require the installation of an ignition interlock device that prevents the operation of a motor vehicle by anyone with a BAC above a specified safe level. It’s a humiliating experience in all ways, yet one that can be easily avoided in establishments equipped with the Alco-Buddy breathalyzer vending machine, the latest in cutting edge breathalyzer technology.
For a reasonable fee, users of the Alco-Buddy breathalyzer vending machine can determine whether it’s safe to get behind the wheel. Alco-Buddy can help you avoid the consequences of being arrested for DUI and having your driving privileges revoked. Although Alco-Buddy is labeled “For Entertainment Purposes” it’s still a valuable and accurate tool that can be utilized by someone who is questioning their ability to drive. Even if you have arranged for a designated driver to take you home, using the Alco-Buddy breathalyzer vending machine can also serve to give you a better understanding of how alcohol affects your body. The results are often surprising, particularly when you are under the assumption that you are fully capable of driving.
It is important to remember that even if the Alco-Buddy shows that you are under the legal limit, there is never and acceptable level of alcohol consumption that makes it entirely safe to drive. In any quantity, alcohol has the ability to impair reflexes, motor skills and cognitive abilities. Alcohol acts as a central nervous system depressant that can lead to alcohol poisoning and death. In all 50 States, a police officer can charge you with DUI if you are impaired to the slightest degree, regardless of your BAC level. If you find yourself questioning your ability to drive and are lucky enough to be in an establishment equipped with the Alco-Buddy breathalyzer vending machine, always remember to “check yourself before you wreck yourself!”
For information you can visit www.alcobuddy.com
People who consume alcohol on a regular basis are at the highest risk because they’ve built up a tolerance for alcohol over time. Their chances of being arrested are not only greatly increased, but they are also putting other drivers, who are entirely sober, at risk.
Many factors contribute to a person’s BAC, including weight, age, medications and recently consumed food amongst other things. It’s nearly impossible to know exactly what our BAC is after consuming alcohol. The difference between .07 and .08 can make or break your night. Being arrested for DUI can incur thousands of dollars in fines and legal fees, increase insurance rates, put careers at risk and possibly require mandatory substance abuse assessment and treatment. It may even require the installation of an ignition interlock device that prevents the operation of a motor vehicle by anyone with a BAC above a specified safe level. It’s a humiliating experience in all ways, yet one that can be easily avoided in establishments equipped with the Alco-Buddy breathalyzer vending machine, the latest in cutting edge breathalyzer technology.
For a reasonable fee, users of the Alco-Buddy breathalyzer vending machine can determine whether it’s safe to get behind the wheel. Alco-Buddy can help you avoid the consequences of being arrested for DUI and having your driving privileges revoked. Although Alco-Buddy is labeled “For Entertainment Purposes” it’s still a valuable and accurate tool that can be utilized by someone who is questioning their ability to drive. Even if you have arranged for a designated driver to take you home, using the Alco-Buddy breathalyzer vending machine can also serve to give you a better understanding of how alcohol affects your body. The results are often surprising, particularly when you are under the assumption that you are fully capable of driving.
It is important to remember that even if the Alco-Buddy shows that you are under the legal limit, there is never and acceptable level of alcohol consumption that makes it entirely safe to drive. In any quantity, alcohol has the ability to impair reflexes, motor skills and cognitive abilities. Alcohol acts as a central nervous system depressant that can lead to alcohol poisoning and death. In all 50 States, a police officer can charge you with DUI if you are impaired to the slightest degree, regardless of your BAC level. If you find yourself questioning your ability to drive and are lucky enough to be in an establishment equipped with the Alco-Buddy breathalyzer vending machine, always remember to “check yourself before you wreck yourself!”
For information you can visit www.alcobuddy.com
Fairfax man killed in alleged drunk driving crash
A Fairfax County man, driving on Route 1 near Fort Belvoir Monday night, was killed when another car suddenly stuck his and drove him into oncoming traffic, Fairfax police said Tuesday.
The victim was identified as Paul J. Krause, 54, of Glenbarr Court in Fairfax Station.
Police said the other driver was drunk, and after the crash, he allegedly climbed out of the car with a three-year-old boy and ran away. Police arrested the man a short distance away. He was identified as Carlos Sanchez-Ramos, 31, of Grandview Court in the Springfield area.
Sanchez-Ramos was charged with having a blood-alcohol content of between 0.15 and 0.20, which is roughly twice the legal definition of intoxication in Virginia. In addition to his second driving while intoxicated charge within five years, Sanchez-Ramos also was charged with aggravated involuntary manslaughter, driving on an alcohol-related revoked license, child endangerment and two counts of felony hit and run.
Sanchez-Ramos apparently is not in the U.S. legally. A spokesman for the Fairfax County sheriff’s office said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed a detainer on Sanchez-Ramos after he was checked through the federal agency’s Secure Communities program. A spokesman for the immigration agency could not immediately be reached.
Fairfax court records show that Sanchez-Ramos is a native of Honduras. Two sources familiar with the case said he had previously been deported, but ICE officials did not immediately confirm that.
Court records show that in his previous drunk-driving arrest, Sanchez-Ramos also was charged with a blood-alcohol content between 0.15 and 0.20. The breathalyzer sheet shows that Sanchez-Ramos recorded a 0.16 on Nov. 22, 2007.
The charge carries a mandatory minimum five-day jail sentence. But prosecutors agreed to reduce the blood-alcohol content to 0.14, eliminating the jail time.
The three-year-old boy with Sanchez-Ramos was not harmed. It was unclear whether the boy was his son.
Krause was driving a 2010 Ford Fusion north on Richmond Highway near Telegraph Road about 5:22 p.m., Wright said. Police said the driver of a 1994 Honda Civic traveling in the same direction apparently lost control of the Civic and struck the Fusion.
The Fusion then veered into the southbound lanes and was struck head-on by a 2010 Mercedes Benz, police said. Krause was flown to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:44 p.m.
The driver and passenger in the Mercedes, a 77-year-old man and a 73-year-old woman, were taken to a hospital for injuries that are not considered life threatening, police said.
A 31-year-old man who was a passenger in Sanchez-Ramos’s car also received minor injuries and was taken to a hospital. He did not flee the scene, police said.
Court records show that in November 2007, Sanchez-Ramos was charged with drunk driving and driving without a license. Sanchez-Ramos pleaded guilty to both charges in January 2008. He was given a 60-day jail sentence, with all time suspended, a fine of $300 and court costs of $182, a fairly standard sentence in Fairfax for first-time drunk drivers. He was also fined $250, and $11 in court costs, for failing to have a license. He paid the $743 combined total in fines and fees in April 2009.
SOURCE
The victim was identified as Paul J. Krause, 54, of Glenbarr Court in Fairfax Station.
Police said the other driver was drunk, and after the crash, he allegedly climbed out of the car with a three-year-old boy and ran away. Police arrested the man a short distance away. He was identified as Carlos Sanchez-Ramos, 31, of Grandview Court in the Springfield area.
Sanchez-Ramos was charged with having a blood-alcohol content of between 0.15 and 0.20, which is roughly twice the legal definition of intoxication in Virginia. In addition to his second driving while intoxicated charge within five years, Sanchez-Ramos also was charged with aggravated involuntary manslaughter, driving on an alcohol-related revoked license, child endangerment and two counts of felony hit and run.
Sanchez-Ramos apparently is not in the U.S. legally. A spokesman for the Fairfax County sheriff’s office said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed a detainer on Sanchez-Ramos after he was checked through the federal agency’s Secure Communities program. A spokesman for the immigration agency could not immediately be reached.
Fairfax court records show that Sanchez-Ramos is a native of Honduras. Two sources familiar with the case said he had previously been deported, but ICE officials did not immediately confirm that.
Court records show that in his previous drunk-driving arrest, Sanchez-Ramos also was charged with a blood-alcohol content between 0.15 and 0.20. The breathalyzer sheet shows that Sanchez-Ramos recorded a 0.16 on Nov. 22, 2007.
The charge carries a mandatory minimum five-day jail sentence. But prosecutors agreed to reduce the blood-alcohol content to 0.14, eliminating the jail time.
The three-year-old boy with Sanchez-Ramos was not harmed. It was unclear whether the boy was his son.
Krause was driving a 2010 Ford Fusion north on Richmond Highway near Telegraph Road about 5:22 p.m., Wright said. Police said the driver of a 1994 Honda Civic traveling in the same direction apparently lost control of the Civic and struck the Fusion.
The Fusion then veered into the southbound lanes and was struck head-on by a 2010 Mercedes Benz, police said. Krause was flown to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:44 p.m.
The driver and passenger in the Mercedes, a 77-year-old man and a 73-year-old woman, were taken to a hospital for injuries that are not considered life threatening, police said.
A 31-year-old man who was a passenger in Sanchez-Ramos’s car also received minor injuries and was taken to a hospital. He did not flee the scene, police said.
Court records show that in November 2007, Sanchez-Ramos was charged with drunk driving and driving without a license. Sanchez-Ramos pleaded guilty to both charges in January 2008. He was given a 60-day jail sentence, with all time suspended, a fine of $300 and court costs of $182, a fairly standard sentence in Fairfax for first-time drunk drivers. He was also fined $250, and $11 in court costs, for failing to have a license. He paid the $743 combined total in fines and fees in April 2009.
SOURCE
Saturday, March 12, 2011
UC police urge safe holiday celebrations
UC police urge safe holiday celebrations
Posted: Saturday, March 12, 2011 12:28 am
For many Americans, St. Patrick’s Day has become a popular night out to celebrate with friends and family.
Unfortunately, due to the large volume of impaired drivers, the night out has also become very dangerous.
The Union City Police Department will kick off a “Buzzed Driving Is Drunk Driving” campaign Sunday and it will continue through March 19 — encompassing St. Patrick’s Day on Thursday.
Union City police will conduct sobriety check points from 10 p.m. Thursday until 4 a.m. March 18 in the vicinity of the National Guard armory on East Reelfoot Avenue and County Marketplace on West Reelfoot Avenue.
“Whether you are meeting a few friends at the local pub after work or attending a local party, if you plan on using alcohol, never drive while impaired — and never let your friends drive if you think they are impaired,” Union City Police Chief Joe Garner said. “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk.”
Following these steps, a driver can enjoy a safe St. Patrick’s Day without jeopardizing their life or the lives of others who may be on the road. Tips include:
• Plan a safe way home before the festivities begin.
• Before drinking, designate a sober driver and give that person your keys.
• If you’re impaired, call a sober friend or family member or use public transportation to ensure getting home safely.
• If you happen to see a drunk driver on the road, don’t hesitate to contact local law enforcement.
• If you know someone who is about to drive or ride while impaired, take their keys and help them make other arrangements to get to where they are going safely.
On St. Patrick’s Day 2009, 37 percent of the drivers and motorcyclists involved in fatal crashes had a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .08 or above, according to statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
SOURCE
Posted: Saturday, March 12, 2011 12:28 am
For many Americans, St. Patrick’s Day has become a popular night out to celebrate with friends and family.
Unfortunately, due to the large volume of impaired drivers, the night out has also become very dangerous.
The Union City Police Department will kick off a “Buzzed Driving Is Drunk Driving” campaign Sunday and it will continue through March 19 — encompassing St. Patrick’s Day on Thursday.
Union City police will conduct sobriety check points from 10 p.m. Thursday until 4 a.m. March 18 in the vicinity of the National Guard armory on East Reelfoot Avenue and County Marketplace on West Reelfoot Avenue.
“Whether you are meeting a few friends at the local pub after work or attending a local party, if you plan on using alcohol, never drive while impaired — and never let your friends drive if you think they are impaired,” Union City Police Chief Joe Garner said. “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk.”
Following these steps, a driver can enjoy a safe St. Patrick’s Day without jeopardizing their life or the lives of others who may be on the road. Tips include:
• Plan a safe way home before the festivities begin.
• Before drinking, designate a sober driver and give that person your keys.
• If you’re impaired, call a sober friend or family member or use public transportation to ensure getting home safely.
• If you happen to see a drunk driver on the road, don’t hesitate to contact local law enforcement.
• If you know someone who is about to drive or ride while impaired, take their keys and help them make other arrangements to get to where they are going safely.
On St. Patrick’s Day 2009, 37 percent of the drivers and motorcyclists involved in fatal crashes had a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .08 or above, according to statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
SOURCE
Monday, March 7, 2011
Authorities crack down on underage drinking and driving
State police are reminding teenagers that if they drink and drive this prom season, they could pay some severe consequences.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) -- State police are reminding teenagers that if they drink and drive this prom season, they could pay some severe consequences.
The Arkansas State Police Highway Safety Office announced Monday that state, county and city law enforcement agencies will join forces March 11-20 and April 15-24 looking for drunk drivers with an emphasis on those under 21 years of age.
Officers will conduct additional sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols as part of the continuing effort to apprehend drunk drivers.
According to state police, motor vehicle crashes remain the number one killer of teenagers in America, and nearly one-third of the fatality crashes are alcohol related.
Spring, the season of proms, school breaks and graduation parties, can be a dangerous time for young drivers. Alcohol-related traffic fatalities typically rise during these months, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The consequences of a DWI or DUI are far more serious than an impaired driver may realize. Arkansas teenagers driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) between .02 and .07 can be arrested for Driving Under the Influence (DUI). If the BAC is .08 or greater, an arrest of Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) will occur.
Arkansas' penalties for underage DUI are substantial and include the loss of driving privileges, court imposed fines and community service. The fine for an underage DUI ranges from $100 to $2000. In addition, there are attorney's fees and significantly higher insurance premiums.
If an underage driver registers a BAC of .08 or above, law enforcement officers are required to charge the violator with Driving While Intoxicated (DWI), which is the same as an adult offense and has identical consequences of jail sentences, fines, court costs, community service, license suspension, higher insurance premiums and possibly other related costs.
"There's even a greater cost to pay in personal anguish that lives forever when death or serious injury has been the result of a drunk driver," said Colonel Winford E. Phillips, Director of the Arkansas State Police and Governor's Highway Safety Representative. "We are asking teenagers to stop and consider all the consequences before being caught and arrested for drunk driving."
The current education campaign is designed to increase awareness of the dangers associated with teenage drinking and driving through heightened enforcement operations, paid media and school-based educational activities.
"We want to be sure that young people get the message that underage drinking and driving is a crime that will not be tolerated," Colonel Phillips said.
SOURCE
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) -- State police are reminding teenagers that if they drink and drive this prom season, they could pay some severe consequences.
The Arkansas State Police Highway Safety Office announced Monday that state, county and city law enforcement agencies will join forces March 11-20 and April 15-24 looking for drunk drivers with an emphasis on those under 21 years of age.
Officers will conduct additional sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols as part of the continuing effort to apprehend drunk drivers.
According to state police, motor vehicle crashes remain the number one killer of teenagers in America, and nearly one-third of the fatality crashes are alcohol related.
Spring, the season of proms, school breaks and graduation parties, can be a dangerous time for young drivers. Alcohol-related traffic fatalities typically rise during these months, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The consequences of a DWI or DUI are far more serious than an impaired driver may realize. Arkansas teenagers driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) between .02 and .07 can be arrested for Driving Under the Influence (DUI). If the BAC is .08 or greater, an arrest of Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) will occur.
Arkansas' penalties for underage DUI are substantial and include the loss of driving privileges, court imposed fines and community service. The fine for an underage DUI ranges from $100 to $2000. In addition, there are attorney's fees and significantly higher insurance premiums.
If an underage driver registers a BAC of .08 or above, law enforcement officers are required to charge the violator with Driving While Intoxicated (DWI), which is the same as an adult offense and has identical consequences of jail sentences, fines, court costs, community service, license suspension, higher insurance premiums and possibly other related costs.
"There's even a greater cost to pay in personal anguish that lives forever when death or serious injury has been the result of a drunk driver," said Colonel Winford E. Phillips, Director of the Arkansas State Police and Governor's Highway Safety Representative. "We are asking teenagers to stop and consider all the consequences before being caught and arrested for drunk driving."
The current education campaign is designed to increase awareness of the dangers associated with teenage drinking and driving through heightened enforcement operations, paid media and school-based educational activities.
"We want to be sure that young people get the message that underage drinking and driving is a crime that will not be tolerated," Colonel Phillips said.
SOURCE
MADD not impressed by Vallario drunk-driving bill
A bill introduced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph Vallario to deal with the issue of installing ignition interlock devices on the vehicles owned by convicted drunk drivers is being dismissed by MADD Maryland as accomplishing nothing that doesn't exist under current law.
"Twelve pages of nothing," MADD Maryland executive director Caroline Cash calls it.
The bill, which had 30 co-sponsors from both parties, is one of several that have been introduced during the current General Assembly session on the topic of ignition interlock technology, which prevents a motorist from starting a car after consuming alcohol.
MADD supports legislation that would make installation of such devices mandatory for all those convicted on driving under the influence. Such a bill passed thhe Senate last year only to die in the Judiciary Committee when Vallario declined to bring it up for a vote.
This year the Prince George's County Democrat has weighed in with his own bill, but MADD isn't impressed. "It does nothing to increase the use if interlock -- let alone save lives and prevent injuries," said Caroline Cash, executive director of MADD Maryland.
Cash said she had at first been encouraged when she heard Vallario was proposing his own bill. But once interlock proponents read the full bill, they realized there was nothing mandatory about it, she said.
MADD supports a bill called the Drunk Driving Elimination Act, sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Jamie Raskin and in the House by Del. Benjamin F. Kramer, both Montgomery County Democrats.
Cash said MADD would raise the issue with House Speaker Michael E. Busch, who decided to retain Vallario as chairman despite protests last year from women delegates over the treatment of witnesses before the committee. She said the chairman's proposed bill isn't even as strong as the compromise legislation MADD rejected as too weak last year.
The Vallario bill would require drivers who are found to have a blood-alcohol content of 0.15 percent or more -- or those who refuse an alcohol test -- to enter an ignition interlock program in order to avert a driver's license suspension. But Cash said that is no more than drivers are permitted to do now, adding that many drivers simply accept the suspension but continue driving anyway.
Vallario's role is crucial because as chairman he can prevent any bill he opposes from getting a vote in committee. In practical terms only the speaker, who appoints committee chairs, has the authority to tell him to bring a bill to a vote.
SOURCE
"Twelve pages of nothing," MADD Maryland executive director Caroline Cash calls it.
The bill, which had 30 co-sponsors from both parties, is one of several that have been introduced during the current General Assembly session on the topic of ignition interlock technology, which prevents a motorist from starting a car after consuming alcohol.
MADD supports legislation that would make installation of such devices mandatory for all those convicted on driving under the influence. Such a bill passed thhe Senate last year only to die in the Judiciary Committee when Vallario declined to bring it up for a vote.
This year the Prince George's County Democrat has weighed in with his own bill, but MADD isn't impressed. "It does nothing to increase the use if interlock -- let alone save lives and prevent injuries," said Caroline Cash, executive director of MADD Maryland.
Cash said she had at first been encouraged when she heard Vallario was proposing his own bill. But once interlock proponents read the full bill, they realized there was nothing mandatory about it, she said.
MADD supports a bill called the Drunk Driving Elimination Act, sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Jamie Raskin and in the House by Del. Benjamin F. Kramer, both Montgomery County Democrats.
Cash said MADD would raise the issue with House Speaker Michael E. Busch, who decided to retain Vallario as chairman despite protests last year from women delegates over the treatment of witnesses before the committee. She said the chairman's proposed bill isn't even as strong as the compromise legislation MADD rejected as too weak last year.
The Vallario bill would require drivers who are found to have a blood-alcohol content of 0.15 percent or more -- or those who refuse an alcohol test -- to enter an ignition interlock program in order to avert a driver's license suspension. But Cash said that is no more than drivers are permitted to do now, adding that many drivers simply accept the suspension but continue driving anyway.
Vallario's role is crucial because as chairman he can prevent any bill he opposes from getting a vote in committee. In practical terms only the speaker, who appoints committee chairs, has the authority to tell him to bring a bill to a vote.
SOURCE
Friday, February 25, 2011
Some Call Tags for Drunk Drivers Wrong Turn
Washington has become the latest state to see a push for a so-called whiskey-plate law to combat drunk driving, a move defense lawyers and civil libertarians say can unfairly stigmatize offenders, and sometimes their families as well.
The law would require first-time drunk drivers to replace their license plates with easy-to-spot tags that end with the uppercase letter "Z," a signal to police to pay close attention to the car. Minnesota, an early adopter of such a law, uses the letter "W"—hence the term "whiskey plate"—on a plain white background.
Offenders in Washington would be required to display the special plates for three years after their driving privileges are restored. Republican Rep. Norma Smith of Clinton, Wash., who introduced the bill earlier this month, said it would give police another tool to crack down on a dangerous practice.
"The recidivist rate on drunk-driving is extremely high," she said. "Too many people continue to die these needless deaths."
The bill won't come to a vote for several months, but opponents are already making their voices heard.
"There's just no point to this other than to give someone a Scarlet Letter," said Matthew Leyba, a criminal-defense lawyer in Seattle. "It's only going to subject people to more harassment from the police."
Vanita Gupta, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said whiskey plates were part of a "trend of overcriminalization" in the U.S. "These sorts of laws just create obstacles to offenders getting fresh starts and moving forward with their lives," she said.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving Chief Executive Kimberly Earle said the organization supports whiskey-plate laws as a "useful tool" for police, but that MADD is more focused on measures it believes have a better track record for preventing drunk driving, such as requiring offenders to pass a car-mounted breathalizer to enable their engine to start.
A handful of other states have adopted similar laws. In Minnesota, certain drunk-driving offenders are required to attach special plates to their car for a year after their driving privileges are restored. An earlier version of the Minnesota law was enacted in 1988. Drunk-driving-related fatalities have fallen steadily since. Jean Ryan, Minnesota's impaired-driving program coordinator, said that a host of factors were likely involved in that drop, including strengthened enforcement efforts.
Matt Langer, a captain with the Minnesota State Patrol, said that while he had arrested drivers whose cars had whiskey plates on new drunken-driving charges, it was also routine to drive past them, with "nothing to be concerned about."
David Risk, a criminal lawyer in Minneapolis, said the law could have unwelcome ramifications. He said he had a client whose wife ran a day-care center that owned several vans, all of which were co-registered in his client's name. After his client's blood-alcohol test came back with a reading over the legal limit, Mr. Risk said, the Department of Public Safety told the day-care center it had to get whiskey plates for all its vans.
SOURCE
The law would require first-time drunk drivers to replace their license plates with easy-to-spot tags that end with the uppercase letter "Z," a signal to police to pay close attention to the car. Minnesota, an early adopter of such a law, uses the letter "W"—hence the term "whiskey plate"—on a plain white background.
Offenders in Washington would be required to display the special plates for three years after their driving privileges are restored. Republican Rep. Norma Smith of Clinton, Wash., who introduced the bill earlier this month, said it would give police another tool to crack down on a dangerous practice.
"The recidivist rate on drunk-driving is extremely high," she said. "Too many people continue to die these needless deaths."
The bill won't come to a vote for several months, but opponents are already making their voices heard.
"There's just no point to this other than to give someone a Scarlet Letter," said Matthew Leyba, a criminal-defense lawyer in Seattle. "It's only going to subject people to more harassment from the police."
Vanita Gupta, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said whiskey plates were part of a "trend of overcriminalization" in the U.S. "These sorts of laws just create obstacles to offenders getting fresh starts and moving forward with their lives," she said.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving Chief Executive Kimberly Earle said the organization supports whiskey-plate laws as a "useful tool" for police, but that MADD is more focused on measures it believes have a better track record for preventing drunk driving, such as requiring offenders to pass a car-mounted breathalizer to enable their engine to start.
A handful of other states have adopted similar laws. In Minnesota, certain drunk-driving offenders are required to attach special plates to their car for a year after their driving privileges are restored. An earlier version of the Minnesota law was enacted in 1988. Drunk-driving-related fatalities have fallen steadily since. Jean Ryan, Minnesota's impaired-driving program coordinator, said that a host of factors were likely involved in that drop, including strengthened enforcement efforts.
Matt Langer, a captain with the Minnesota State Patrol, said that while he had arrested drivers whose cars had whiskey plates on new drunken-driving charges, it was also routine to drive past them, with "nothing to be concerned about."
David Risk, a criminal lawyer in Minneapolis, said the law could have unwelcome ramifications. He said he had a client whose wife ran a day-care center that owned several vans, all of which were co-registered in his client's name. After his client's blood-alcohol test came back with a reading over the legal limit, Mr. Risk said, the Department of Public Safety told the day-care center it had to get whiskey plates for all its vans.
SOURCE
Mom Turned in By Girl for Drunk Driving Checks into Rehab
DETROIT (WJBK) - The woman whose nine-year-old daughter turned her in for drunk driving has checked into rehab.
49-year-old Latanya Evans glared at our camera and appeared near tears as she waited to face a judge on her latest drunk driving charge.
Just a few days ago, Evans was in traffic on 12 Mile Road in Southfield driving with a revoked license. Police say she had a blood alcohol level of 0.25, which is more than three times the legal limit, when her nine-year-old daughter bravely passed a note to a teller at a Bank of America in a desperate plea for help.
"The little girl wrote … my mother is drunk and I don't want to go with her," said Southfield Police Chief Joseph Thomas.
"She's a smart girl, and that alone is an attribute to what type of parenting she's getting at home. My mom is a good mom. She made a mistake," said Jessica Lenyard.
Evans older daughter told reporters she's standing by her mother, who's been battling alcoholism for years. This is Evans' third drunk driving arrest. Her record shows her license was suspended in 2003 and revoked in 2008, but clearly she'd been driving anyway.
"My client has a disease, and as we all know, substance abuse is a very, very difficult thing to combat. She is admittedly an alcoholic, and she is seeking treatment," said attorney Amy Bowen-Krane.
Her attorney told the judge that Evans has checked herself in to a one year residential program where mandatory alcohol testing takes place every day and she cannot leave without being supervised.
"She knows that she has a problem, and she had always told her minor daughter if she ever felt unsafe to let somebody know," Bowen-Krane said.
"My little sister's doing fine. She wants to be back with her mom, so me and my older sister, we have to support my mom so that my sister can get her wish," Lenyard said.
Police say considering Evans' long criminal history, which includes a child endangerment charge from last June, she'll likely face jail time.
She's been ordered to remain in treatment while this case moves forward and her nine-year-old daughter, who's being praised for doing the right thing, will stay with her father.
SOURCE
49-year-old Latanya Evans glared at our camera and appeared near tears as she waited to face a judge on her latest drunk driving charge.
Just a few days ago, Evans was in traffic on 12 Mile Road in Southfield driving with a revoked license. Police say she had a blood alcohol level of 0.25, which is more than three times the legal limit, when her nine-year-old daughter bravely passed a note to a teller at a Bank of America in a desperate plea for help.
"The little girl wrote … my mother is drunk and I don't want to go with her," said Southfield Police Chief Joseph Thomas.
"She's a smart girl, and that alone is an attribute to what type of parenting she's getting at home. My mom is a good mom. She made a mistake," said Jessica Lenyard.
Evans older daughter told reporters she's standing by her mother, who's been battling alcoholism for years. This is Evans' third drunk driving arrest. Her record shows her license was suspended in 2003 and revoked in 2008, but clearly she'd been driving anyway.
"My client has a disease, and as we all know, substance abuse is a very, very difficult thing to combat. She is admittedly an alcoholic, and she is seeking treatment," said attorney Amy Bowen-Krane.
Her attorney told the judge that Evans has checked herself in to a one year residential program where mandatory alcohol testing takes place every day and she cannot leave without being supervised.
"She knows that she has a problem, and she had always told her minor daughter if she ever felt unsafe to let somebody know," Bowen-Krane said.
"My little sister's doing fine. She wants to be back with her mom, so me and my older sister, we have to support my mom so that my sister can get her wish," Lenyard said.
Police say considering Evans' long criminal history, which includes a child endangerment charge from last June, she'll likely face jail time.
She's been ordered to remain in treatment while this case moves forward and her nine-year-old daughter, who's being praised for doing the right thing, will stay with her father.
SOURCE
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