Thread: DUI question

Originally Posted by tarasdream

my daughter ashley is an emt
and also taking paramedic classes. she has to ride with fire rescue as part
of her clinicals. they got a call the other day where a drunk had taken out 3 or 4 cars
in various places and one passenger in those cars died, but he continued on to
hit another car at 70 miles an hour splitting the car in half and killing a 20
year old girl. my daughter was devestated! the girl looked at her as she
approached the scene, and it took 20 minutes to extract her from the car. she
had bones sticking out everywhere and was bleeding out as the engine ended up in
her lap. she died en route to the hospital. my daughter said what really made
her mad was the guy climbed out of his car with only a few scratches on him.its not the first
person thats died on her but the girl was so close to her age and had just dropped her cousins
off at the pool.she tried so hard to save the girls life but the poor girl never had a chance. they were supposed to send counselors to the station to talk to all of them but they never showed up.
they need stronger laws to keep drunks off the road.

this actually pretty common....the drunk gets away with little injury because their body is so relaxed from the alcohol(or drugs).

Originally Posted by Urban Cowgirl

this actually pretty common....the drunk gets away with little injury because their body is so relaxed from the alcohol(or drugs).

Ironic, huh?

Originally Posted by jasmine

ok, don't everyone scream at me at once........... but, are you ALL saying that you, or your spouse/BF/loved one have never drove home even after just 1 beer? Or a glass of wine with dinner after eating out? Even in your youth? I mean, believe me, I am not making any excuses for getting behind the wheel at all, but....... anyway, can't explain it.

Ok, let me brace myself.... scream away (ducking for cover LOL)

I can honestly say that no ...I have never driven after one drink, period. The couple of occasions when I have had I drink, I have stayed home. My DH only drinks once or twice a year and evenif he only has one beer I drive...PERIOD. Geesh, I won't even take an over the counter pill that I know will make me drowsy if DH isn't home to tend to the kids because I am a major lightweight!! I don't take ANY chances....and no I don't text either!

Originally Posted by Diana777

I do not think I asked for lectures about drinking and driving from a bunch of holier than thou people.
I know I should not have been driving and I have always made arrangements for a ride or to stay somewhere until I left there so fast.
When I left my house I fully intended to stay the night at their house.
I was not complaining about it and am willing to take my punishment for it. I just wanted to know what was the normal sentence for such a thing.

You posted on a public board, not every one is going to agree with you. Thats the way it works sometimes. That being said...

Look on this as a learning experience. You drove drunk you are facing the consequences. You got lucky that a DUI is the worst of the consequences. Anything can happen at any time. Please use this as a reminder next time you want to have a drink. Yes the fines will be stiff and you will probably have to jump through hoops to get your license back. But it is better than the alternative. You didn't hurt yourself or anyone else, that is a good thing. It is tough for a reason, if it was just a slap on the wrist then we would have even more problems with drunk driving than we already do.

Originally Posted by Diana777

I have been around 2 other people who were getting knocked around by their men. I called 911 and BOTH times they denied it was them and since I saw it they wewre arrested anyway but when it got to court the men didn't get into any trouble anyway. All that happened is I lost 2 friends and missed work because of court subpoenas.

I have been fortunate in my life to never witness domestic violence. If I ever was I would absolutely call 911. If I lost a friend because she was stupid enough to stand by her man then so be it. At least I wouldn't have lost her because I walked away and he killed her.

We moved down here in 2004. Our neighbors were a nice couple with 3 kids ages 2, 3, and 9. They argued a lot and it was often pretty vulgar. I just shut the window if it was opened. I didn't want my kids hearing that sort of language. We were friendly with them and I suspect given some more time we would have gotten to know them better as their 3yo was only a year younger than our 4yo and their 9yo was coming to stay for the summer (He lived with his mom during the school year. Our neighbor was his step mom.) and he was about the same age as our oldest.

One night some neighbors across the street had a party. Our neighbors went. We didn't. Our neighbor got jealous thinking his wife was flirting with the other neighbor. She wasn't. They started fighting and eventually went home. Once home it turned physical. He hit her, kicked her, and when she was down he stomped on her head. She was bleeding, incoherent, and in and out of consciousness. He loaded the 3 kids and her into the car and drove to CA. At some point he stopped for gas. The oldest was inside the store and told the clerk his mom was hurt. The clerk looked out, saw the situation and immediately called 911. The police came, arrested the dad and airlifted the mom to the hospital. She died 2 weeks later.

You are upset because you lost some friends and lost 2 days of work. At least your friends didn't lose their lives. If I had heard any of that fight I would have called 911. But I was asleep and heard none of it. I would gladly lose a day of work (if I was a WOHM) and I would gladly risk losing even my closest friends if it meant that I lost them because they chose their man over me and not because their man ended their life. The very last thing I would even consider doing is to get in a car after drinking so I could leave her in that situation alone.

Originally Posted by jasmine

ok, don't everyone scream at me at once........... but, are you ALL saying that you, or your spouse/BF/loved one have never drove home even after just 1 beer? Or a glass of wine with dinner after eating out? Even in your youth? I mean, believe me, I am not making any excuses for getting behind the wheel at all, but....... anyway, can't explain it.

Ok, let me brace myself.... scream away (ducking for cover LOL)

Originally Posted by Bahet

As my mom would say "If all your friends jumped off a bridge would you follow?" It really doesn't matter if any of us or none of us have ever driven home after having a few drinks. The fact remains that you did and you got busted for it. Now own up, take responsibility, grow up and don't do it again. But don't try to pull the old "But she did it too!" bit that a I would expect of a whiny teenager who was caught sneaking in after curfew.

I was about ready to come on here and say that the bright side is that you will likely never be in this position again. Then I saw your post and instead of accepting the consequences of your actions and being responsible for your own behaviour you started defending your position by trying to point fingers. Now I just don't know. Please, stop making excuses. You got lucky. You really did. Consider this a wake up call.

Whoopsies. I just realized this wasn't posted by the OP. Sorry for that Jasmine. It was late and my brain went to bed early.

In answer to your question I'll be honest yes I have driven after having a drink or 2. BUT I never had a drink within an hour of driving and if I even remotely suspected that I wasn't sober I would never get behind the wheel of a car. I had a police officer friend give me a breathalyzer once just for fun. I told him I was feeling my drink a little bit and I was at the point where I would not drive. I blew a .04 I would never jeopardize my life, the lives of my family, and the lives of innocent people on the road. It's called being a responsible adult.

Originally Posted by bell_peaches

I know I should not type this but YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN BEHIND THE WHEEL OF THE CAR TO BEGIN WITH. YOU WHERE LEGALY DRUNK AND THANK GOD YOU DID NOT HURT ANYONE. SOMEONES MOTHER FATHER SISTER BROTHER OR CHILD WAS IN DANGER BECAUSE YOU GOT BEHIND THE WHEEL OF THE CAR. PEOPLE WHO DRINK AND DRIVE RISK NOT ONLY THEIR LIFES BUT THE LIFES OF OTHER PEOPLE ON THE ROAD. I DON'T CARE WHO GETS MAD AT THIS BUT YOU WERE WRONG WRONG WRONG. NO MATTER WHAT YOUR EXCUSES ARE. PLUS IF YOU WHERE SO WORRIED ABOUT YOUR FRIEND YOU COULD HAVE DIALED 911 AND YOU WOULD NOT HAVE HAD TO WORRY ABOUT YOUR FRIEND AT ALL THAT NIGHT.

I am with you. I am a big believer if you want to drink fine. But dont go on the road and potetionally harm someone else!!!!! My cousin (who claims) he only had a "few" beers got in a bad car accident and now he is paraplegic.
He got mad at the world. My mom always says how she feels sorry for him. I said he did it to himself!!! At least he didn't do it to someone else!!!
My dh works with a guy whose son drank and drove and got pulled over and he had to pay hefty fines, do the MADD program and pay them like $1000. Plus serve 3 days in jail i think. It made him swear off drinking and driving.
Please at least learn from this is......

Just so you know Diana...yes I have driven after drinking. It was many years ago and it was really a stupid thing to do but I did it, and more than once. Does that make you feel any better about your situation? If it did I'm glad I told you, if it didn't than I proved a point anyway.

It really doesn't matter what anyone else here ever did, Its you who have to own up to your mistake. I know you were just asking what would happen but google can truly be your friend and you should have looked up the information instead of posting here about it.

A lot of bad things have happened to a lot of good people because of alcohol.

Originally Posted by Diana777

I have been around 2 other people who were getting knocked around by their men. I called 911 and BOTH times they denied it was them and since I saw it they wewre arrested anyway but when it got to court the men didn't get into any trouble anyway. All that happened is I lost 2 friends and missed work because of court subpoenas.

I would rather loose the pay loose the friends. Then live with the guilt of not doing anything to make sure they are safe. You Helped people in the past and they did not want the help. So what at least you tried to help someone out in a bad situation. But the guy was strangling your friend you broke it up. If you were so worried about your friend you would not have left her alone in that situation. If you would have called 911 the guy would have been gone for the night at least. Your friend would have been giving info to help her if she wanted out of the situation. But No you got in the car and drove legally drunk. You may not have been planning on leaving but you did you could have called a friend to come get you and your car. We all have done things in our past we are not proud of. But you are the one that posted on the public forum not us. You have mothers fathers brother and sisters aunts and uncles on here. of course we are going to have very strong opinions on a subject like this. Just by the post on here I can see a lot of lives have been touched by a drunk driver in some way. Let this be a learning experience for you. I hope you have at least read these post and learned something. Yes you face the consequences for what you did you have no choice in the matter. I only hope you learned a couple lessons. You did something wrong you admit it Now it is time to straighten out the mess learn from your mistakes and never do it again.

I have no tolerance for drunk drivers...PERIOD!!!! This past Thanksgiving, I had two friends that were killed by a drunk driver, they didn't have a chance.... I don't think that anyone here thinks they are holier than you are, you asked for opinion's and you have gotten them.. As far as punishments I don't think fines and community service is enough... I don't put down drinkers that's ones choice, but as for me I have seen to many fights and what devastation that can come with drinking....

I have never driven after drinking. And this started in high school when I started attending parties with alcohol, a dozen or so of us were leaving the party, lucky for me my boyfriend was the responsible one, one of two that were there offering to take people home. There were twin brothers 19yrs old. They decided it was time to go off roading in their truck we were following them when Jason turned the truck over. It rolled 2.5times. We saw it all. Jeremy was dead. He killed his own brother in his truck because they thought it was all fun and games. Yes they were kids this situation is different but that is why I have NEVER gotten behind the wheel after drinking. Actually didnt drink for quite a few years after witnessing that accident. It could have been prevented if anyone there was strong enough to take his keys. They were not my family, they were my friends, both made a stupid decision one to drive the other to ride with a drunk driver, to this day Jason has never forgiven himself and last time I heard had become an alcoholic trying to cope. Odd huh? After witnessing an accident and being told to stay in the car because it was bad, only to find out an hour later that he died infront of me, that was more than enough reason for me not to ever drive after even sniffing a bottle of alcohol. I lost more than those 2 friends over the years, luckily no family but it hurts just the same to visit their grave.