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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 18, 2009 - 01:00pm PT
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and had to "walk the line".
Peggy and I were leaving a birthday party last night when I got pulled over.
I had a headlight out and the cop had no chance to see me drive. I pulled into a nearby parking lot and gave him my information. He told me about the light but never got closer than three feet to my window. Peggy had opened the window on her side and a cold wind was blowing through the car.
The officer went back to check my information. He came back and told me everything looked good and asked if I had been drinking. I told him that I had had two beers. He stated that when he had approached the car that he had smelled alcohol. Of course, at the party we had drank a bit although not a whole hell of a lot. I was in no way feeling tipsy. He asked me to get out of the car and take a drunk test. I agreed and got out.
We did the eye thing and then I had to walk the line for nine steps, counting them, heel to toe, turn around and do it again. No problem. Don't forget it was cold and windy and about 10PM. I then stood on one foot to my own count of 18 before he told me to stop. Then I blew into a gizmo and got a .40 reading.
Anyway, he said I was not drunk and I could drive on.
My question is:
Is it better to always deny drinking? especially when he says he stopped me for a dead headlight? He had no time to watch me drive.
When he said that he smelled alcohol, is it better to tell him that he must be wrong since we haven't been drinking?
Does that get me in trouble when I then blow .40?
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Jan 18, 2009 - 01:03pm PT
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I can't answer your question, Mark, but blowing a .4
is scary.
I'm glad you got off (aside from the headlight thingy).
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Jan 18, 2009 - 01:06pm PT
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You had 40% blood alcohol?
I think you mean, .o4 ---
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 18, 2009 - 01:09pm PT
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He flashed the gizmo to me, I thought it said .40. It was dark and I was nervous. It may have shown .04
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 18, 2009 - 01:13pm PT
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It must have been .04 then.
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Dr. Rock
Ice climber
http://tinyurl.com/4oa5br
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Jan 18, 2009 - 01:15pm PT
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It's a 50-50 crap shoot.
Some cops absolutely hate it when you lie to them, these are the guys you admit to having a few, even though it is terrible evidence for a jury to hear back in court on a Monday morning.
Other cops are a little different, they are afraid if they do not have enough evidence that they will look bad in court.
After all, pulling a guy in on a deuce is a biggy to these guys, major props back at the station, as there odds are 1 in 2000 that they hook up with you.
These are the cops where you deny everything.
If you do a good test, then you will drive off.
If you get him curious about further testing with the "had a few" bait, he might want to take you down, especially since your wife could drive the car and he would feel like he was giving you a deal by not making you pay 300 to get your car out.
Figuring out which cop you have, while you are wasted, is a tough one to pull off.
The trick is to be so wasted that any breath or curb side test is meaningless.
I got a friend who just gets in the back of the patrol car every time and says, "I'm totally wasted, lets roll."
Sometimes they let him walk he is so pathetic and smells bad.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jan 18, 2009 - 01:18pm PT
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An accurate blood alcohol reading of 0.40 would for most of us mean coma or death, as it would result from drinking enormous quantities of alcohol. So it was probably 0.04, which is consistent with having drunk two or three (U.S.) beer over several hours for an otherwise normal male of average size.
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Dr. Rock
Ice climber
http://tinyurl.com/4oa5br
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Jan 18, 2009 - 01:24pm PT
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You can buy your own "First Alert" breath tester.
Many types, one even plugs into your I-Phone.
keep a pack of Marboro's in your car if you are a driving stink bomb.
You don't have to smoke it, just light it.
To some cops, it's like Mosquito Repelent.
To others, a sign that you have been drinking.
Another50-50 shootout.
And check you lights before you drive off if you have been drinking.
Replace all bulbs after ten years.
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Chaz
Trad climber
Boss Angeles
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Jan 18, 2009 - 01:30pm PT
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The first bar I worked (1984) had introduced a coin-operated breathalizer, between the juke-box and the cigarette machine, intended to be used to determine if someone was OK to drive.
Instead, most of the use it got was in competitions to see who could get the drunkest.
".16? Damn! Dave, make my next one a double!"
At first I thought it would kill business, giving folks an excuse not to have another drink, but it did just the opposite.
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Jan 18, 2009 - 01:31pm PT
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I know a couple guys (now top executives, but this was BITD)
They used to drink to much, and when one would get pulled over, the other one would say "Take em to jail officer, he's drunk!!!"
Somehow that reverse psychology got them off, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Peace
karl
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Rankin
climber
Bishop, CA
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Jan 18, 2009 - 01:33pm PT
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I did the road side Olympics once about ten years ago. I knew I was fine, I'd had one light beer over a couple hours. The officer seemed to think I was nervous, because I was. I got sick of the games, so I said 'Let's take the breathalyzer, officer', and he backed off. This experience taught me two things: one, don't drive if you think you can't pass the breathalyzer test, and two, if the officer asks you if you have been drinking, tell the truth and tell him you will 'blow' (and I'm not talking about sexually). I bet they will back off 9 times out of ten.
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scooter
climber
fist clamp
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Jan 18, 2009 - 01:50pm PT
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D#@&%e! is probably how you clean 'yourself'.
Touche! is probably what you were looking for.
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Dr. Rock
Ice climber
http://tinyurl.com/4oa5br
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Jan 18, 2009 - 01:51pm PT
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For me, they have to call the Canine Unit and those dogs are expensive, you better have a good bust on your hands otherwise the Chief is gonna be pissed.
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Hardman Knott
Gym climber
Muir Woods National Monument, Mill Valley, Ca
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Jan 18, 2009 - 01:59pm PT
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I bought this breathalyzer for $189.00 (it's since been reduced to $179.00), and it is
by far the best personal breathalyzer I've come across:
http://www.amazon.com/AlcoHawk-PT500-AlcoHAWK-Breathalyzer/dp/B001EHFBV6
What's great about this unit is it's the first consumer breathalyzer that uses fuel-cell
technology, which was previously available in professional units costing $500.00 or more.
When I use this thing, the results are always within a few thousands of 1 percent, for example,
let's say 3 tests @ 0.56, 0.58, 0.53, ect. The highest percentage I have tested so far was 0.11,
and I felt absolutely obliterated, and would never have considered driving. Even when I've
been at 0.8, I felt pretty buzzed, and in no way felt I was fit to drive. However, as the body
generally eliminates approximately 0.2 per hour, I could be at 0.6, which while still risky,
it's under the limit, and for the short back-road drive home, seemed OK (I'm knott gonna
get on the highway at 0.6; too close for comfort).
Here are some things for fellow boozers to keep in mind:
1. First and foremost, you MUST wait 15 minutes after your last sip of alcohol to use the breathalyzer,
for it takes that long for the mouth-alcohol to dissipate.
2. It can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours for a drink to reach peak alcohol levels
in the body, due to a variety of factors.
3. Never drink and drive!!!!!!!!!!!1111
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jan 18, 2009 - 02:11pm PT
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"When I use this thing, the results are always within a few thousands of 1 percent, for example, let's say 3 tests @ 0.56, 0.58, 0.53, ect. The highest percentage I have tested so far was 0.11, and I felt absolutely obliterated, and would never have considered driving. Even when I've been at 0.8, I felt pretty buzzed, and in no way felt I was fit to drive. However, as the body generally eliminates approximately 0.2 per hour, I could be at 0.6, which while still risky, it's under the limit, and for the short back-road drive home, seemed OK (I'm knott gonna get on the highway at 0.6; too close for comfort)."
Did you mean 0.056, 0.058, 0.053, 0.11, 0.08, 0.02, and 0.06?
Your self-test gadget sounds quite accurate, if it measures thousandths, e.g. 0.056. Quite helpful - the police units also do so, although they tend not to rely on them at that level.
The wording in Canada's criminal code is "having consumed alcohol in such a quantity that the concentration in the person’s blood exceeds eighty milligrams of alcohol in one hundred millilitres of blood" = 0.08 on a breathalyzer.
I read somewhere that they've done surveys of drivers on the road late on Friday and Saturday nights. Most have been drinking, and a significant proportion are legally impaired. So even if you're ok to drive, a lot of the people you see aren't.
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Dick_Lugar
Trad climber
Indiana (the other Mideast)
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Jan 18, 2009 - 02:14pm PT
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Looks like we need to conduct a "significant digits" review for our fellow Supertopians!
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Hardman Knott
Gym climber
Muir Woods National Monument, Mill Valley, Ca
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Jan 18, 2009 - 02:26pm PT
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MIghty Hiker - you're right. It IS thousands of one percent, but I forgot the second zero.
In fact, I just tested myself, and blew a 0.000 (four digit readout).
Fun trivia: On New Years day, I woke up at 9:15 am, after having crashed around 2:30 am.
I blew a 0.05, so if I eliminated 0.02 per hour, means I must have been around 0.17 (!!!!!!!!!!!!1111)
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graniteclimber
Trad climber
Nowhere
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Jan 18, 2009 - 02:37pm PT
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Don't walk the line, stand on one foot or do any of those other roadside drunk tests. Those just give the officer a chance to arrest you for being intoxicated even if you are within the legal limit. He can say you were wobbly and its his word against yours. Instead, politely tell the officer that you are not drunk but that you if he likes you are glad to take a blood test.
In California you have a choice between taking a breathalyzer and a blood test. The officer can't administer the blood test on the spot, you'll have to go to the station or a clinic, or someone able to administer it will have to come out. This gives more time for your the alcohol to get washed out of your system.
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Hardluck
Social climber
N of Mexico, S of Sanity
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Jan 18, 2009 - 02:43pm PT
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I was pulled over for the first time 15 years ago in Seattle on my way home from the Big Time Brewery and Alehouse. I was buzzed, but not "big time." Anyway, I was truthful with the ociffer about the number of beers I had consumed and he immediately produced the breathalyzer. I proceded to blow a .08 (the legal limit was .09 in Washington at the time; .1 got you a nap in the local jail). He said nothing, showed me the digital display and I muttered "See, I didn't think I was drunk."
At that point he gave me "the stare" and I knew I wasn't out of the woods yet. He was considering whether to have me do the "field sobriety test" dance. You can be charged with and convicted of DUI even if your blood alchohol content is below the legal limit. The DUI and BAC charges are separate in most states, though a BAC violation usually creates a rebuttable presumtion that you were "under the influence" at the time.
I'm not sure why he didn't make me dance that night. It probably helped that I had my bride-to-be in the car with me, that we were only a few miles from her parents' home, and that I was driving my father-in-law-to-be's Jeep---all of which I blurted out while I was getting the stare down. Maybe the key lay in the fact that I had pulled over on a bridge with a very narrow shoulder. Whatever the reason, he sent me on my way that night. Washington changed its BAC level to the now standard .08 a few years later.
I was pulled over earlier this year after a few hours at the Old Baldy Brewery in Upland, CA. Now old and balding, "I can't believe this," I thought to myself as I reached for the glovebox. I was slightly buzzed, and I should know better than to drive with a even a very slight buzz on (not for the sake of my driving record, but for the sake of my family and those with whom I'm sharing the road). After running my license, the ociffer approached and asked me where I had been that evening. Ommitting the last couple of of hours, I told him I was coming home from the climbing gym. I lifted the harness in my front seat and shook it to make my case. The Gri Gri on the belay loop rattled merrily. Once again, I got "the stare." Luckily, we were both thinking the same thing---"this guy is to old for this kind of sh!t."
In fifteen years of DUI-free driving I have not come to a concusion as to this question: whether to lie or tell the truth when pulled over. However, I have come to many conclusions about what is important to me and my wife, a light drinker, drives us home after most festivities now.
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Chaz
Trad climber
Boss Angeles
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Jan 18, 2009 - 02:46pm PT
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As far as balance and coordination tests, we have a better chance than most public drunks have of passing them, even if we have had a few.
And if you can't pass a balance test, having climbing / slacklining experience, it's a good thing you're taken off the road - for your own safety if nothing else.
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