In San Francisco here where I live now, we don’t have checkpoints but patrol cars will pull you over on individual-basis. We have it very lucky indeed that at least we are not forced to blow into police breathalyzers at random times when we could have had one drink too much over the limit.
I think DUI laws are sound yet they can be rather harsh to those who’ve had just one drink too many.
Believe me, there’s a big difference between a guy who’s barely standing and the guy who’s a bit buzzed.
Since our DUI laws in California state that anything over BAC 0.08% is illegal, you simply need to keep it below that level before driving.
But how do we know exactly? That’s the problem because DMV has been giving you a stupid CHART that shows you how many drinks you can drink in given number of hours.
Not only is that not scientific, if that CHART is wrong, you could end up jail, pay fines, and end up with a DUI that will haunt you for the rest of your life.
I blame this partly on DMV because they don’t tell you that there’s cheap breathalyzers you can buy.
For example, all my friends who drink a lot over in Korea carry a portable breathalyzer with them at all times due to the random and too-frequent alcohol checkpoints.
Now, I am telling you, if you ever drink even 1 glass of beer and drive, you should always check your BAC before driving.
This isn’t an advice to avoid a DUI, it’s COMMON SENSE.
I wish DMV re-wrote their 50-year driving educational books to tell people that they can buy a breathalyzer for under 10 dollars.Why not?
DMV and the government makes a lot of money giving DUIs to people on holidays such as New Years, Independence Day, and your celebration could abruptly end as the worst day in your life in jail because of DMV’s failure to educate people right.
We gotta change the driving educational books, classes, because a $10 breathalyzer is certainly cheaper than thousands of dollars in DUI fees.
One more thing, if you do carry portable breathalyzer with you, at least you know the breathalyzer that cops are carrying are working correctly. Sometimes you never know, machines are prone to break or error.
You can find various different breathalyzers on Amazon and this one for $8.95.
Some more tips on basic rights of every driver in the U.S.:
- You must be first pulled over for a reason such as a traffic violation, meaning you have ran a red light, didn’t stop fully at a stop sign, etc…etc… Simply pulling you over because cops want to randomly do a breathalyzer test on you is ILLEGAL. I have seen this happen recently on New Year’s where my friend was pulled over without a reason.First thing you need to ask the cop, “Is there a problem Officer?”. That is what I say everytime I get pulled over, even on speeding tickets.
- Second, don’t ever self-incriminate yourself when you get pulled over. For example, if they ask you, “Do you know how fast you were going?”, you don’t want to say, “I was going 85MPH, going 20 miles over the speed limit.”
Cops are trained to make you self-incriminate yourself, a practice that’s not going to help the drivers. Remember your rights, “you have the right to be silent”, you can always tell the cop that you don’t want to answer any of his questions because you have to right to be silent.
- Third, cops cannot legally search your car without your permission. Don’t ever let them search your car because you feel like a nice guy. Screw that, remember your rights, they cannot search your car without a good reason. Just tell the officer that you would be happy if he/she respected your privacy and private items. However, know that cops can bring a dog to smell your car for drugs even if you refuse. If the dog smells drugs in your car, they can search your car. But if you have no drugs, you have nothing to worry about. For people with guns in their car, this could be a good knowledge to have just in case you left a gun in your car by accident or whatever. Whatever the case, you never know what you left in your car by accident and even your friends could have dropped something while you gave them a ride couple months ago. Just say no because it’s your right.
One more thing, cops also cannot enter your house without your permission, they need a warrant, get a “Come Back With A Warrant” doormat, that should help a lot.
Product Description
The AlcoHAWK Slim, a newly-released digital breath alcohol screener, is a compact unit with a sleek design. Operating on a single button, simply blow into the folding mouthpiece for an accurate BAC reading in seconds.The AlcoHAWK Slim includes removable mouthpiece covers that allow you to test multiple individuals in a sanitary fashion. The sleek design also makes the AlcoHAWK Slim very compact and easy to carry for personal use. It is the ideal solution for someone looking for a portable tester with professional quality with a consumer design and feel. Meets DOT/NHTSA Model Specifications for Breath Alcohol Screeners and passed FDA 510k Pre-marketing clearance.
41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Works as Described, March 21, 2008
By C. Sanders - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
Easy to use. Works as described. I bought it as a lark - just to see exactly how "drunk" I was. It's been fun at parties & drinking w/friends. However, having a measuring stick for alcohol has really slowed down my consumption - which no doubt is a good thing. I'd compare this benefit to counting calories. When counting calories, one tends to eat less & eat healthier. This breathylizer has the same effect. I'd love to find a breath tester for calories! By the way, one of this products greatest advantages is that it is SLIM & you can easily slip it into a pocket, or purse, and carry it with you anywhere. You don't have to leave it in your car! (keeping in mind that most of us with a blood alcohol level over .08 would find it difficult to go back into the party & call for a cab, after we've already ventured out & warmed-up the car. THIS IS A TOOL THAT YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO CARRY WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES).
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