Divide is growing over roadside sobriety tests: "Divide is growing over roadside sobriety tests - Standards have police, scientists, lawyers at odds.
Heels together. Toes out. Hands at your sides. Raise the leg of your choice in front of you, 6 inches off the ground, leg straight, toe pointed. Keep your eyes on your raised toe and begin counting aloud from 1,001 until I say stop . . . Some night on the side of the road, police lights flashing behind you, your freedom may depend on how well you do this.
Did you sway? Raise your arms for balance? Hop, or put your foot down? If you did any two, an officer will conclude with 65 percent accuracy, as stipulated in the prevailing science, that you may be too drunk to drive. . . . The NHTSA says officers using scores from all three tests will be 91 percent accurate in making an arrest. But in a case that made nationwide last year, an officer in Washington arrested attorney Debra Bolton after determining she failed all three. Bolton, who had had a glass of wine with dinner, challenged the charges. They were dropped."
Tampa Hillsborough: DUI Campaign Focuses on Bars
TAMPA - The Green Iguana Bar & Grill near the Veterans Expressway has three bars and room for a few hundred patrons. Open less than a year, its tropical island decor evokes spring break. Every weeknight from 5 to 7, patrons can buy Captain Morgan, Jim Beam and Smirnoff vodka drinks for $2 each. Wednesday is 'Dollar Drink Night.' Thirty-five times since April, people arrested by Hillsborough sheriff's deputies for DUI driving under the influence have said the Green Iguana is where they last drank before getting behind the wheel."
DUI Tampa Attorney
DUI Tampa Attorney
DUI Tampa - 5,000 Cited over New Year's
More than 5,000 Florida motorists cited over New Year's holiday: "The Florida Highway Patrol issued 5,082 citations and made 157 arrests in Operation Lights for Life, a statewide DUI enforcement campaign over the New Year's weekend. The campaign involved the Florida Highway Patrol, the Florida Sheriff's Association and the Florida Police Chief's Association and the Florida Highway Patrol. The operation's two key objectives were to remember those killed or injured in alcohol-related crashes in the state and to rid Florida's roadways of impaired drivers. During the campaign, law enforcement agencies across the state conducted numerous joint and independent DUI enforcement details, such as saturation patrols and sobriety checkpoints."
DUI Hillsborough Sheriff Gee's Public Service Announcement on DUI
Operation 3D: "Operation 3D is a public awareness plan that is designed to enhance the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office ability to promote problems commonly associated with motorists who drink and drive. It will serve to encourage voluntary compliance of existing traffic laws by motorists. The activities will be accomplished by the dissemination of news releases, the development of public services announcements and awareness materials, all of which will serve to enhance the Sheriff's Office enforcement efforts. These awareness efforts combined with inter-agency enforcement will serve to make our roadways safer for the traveling public."
DUI Most New Year's Eve Revelers Stayed Off Roads, Officials Say
Most New Year's Eve Revelers Stayed Off Roads, Officials Say: "Law enforcement officers think they found a way to keep people from starting off 2006 with a drunken-driving arrest. Officials focused on putting more officers on the streets and making the public more aware of their presence on New Year's Eve. Those two factors can make revelers think twice before getting behind the wheel after a night of drinking, Pinellas County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Jim Bordner said, making New Year's Eve drunken-driving incidences relatively low and resulting in no alcohol-related traffic fatalities in the Bay area."
DUI Defendants Skip Charge By Asking How Test Works
DUI Defendants Skip Charge By Asking How Test Works: "DUI Defendants Skip Charge By Asking How Test Works"
Hundreds of cases involving breath-alcohol tests have been thrown out by Seminole County judges in the past five months because the test's manufacturer will not disclose how the machines work. All four of Seminole County's criminal judges have been using a standard that if a DUI defendant asks for a key piece of information about how the machine works - its software source code, for instance - and the state cannot provide it, the breath test is rejected, the Orlando Sentinel reported Wednesday. Prosecutors have said they do not know how many drunken drivers have been acquitted as a result. But Gino Feliciani, the misdemeanor division chief in the Seminole County State Attorney's Office, said the conviction rate has dropped to 50 percent or less."
Hundreds of cases involving breath-alcohol tests have been thrown out by Seminole County judges in the past five months because the test's manufacturer will not disclose how the machines work. All four of Seminole County's criminal judges have been using a standard that if a DUI defendant asks for a key piece of information about how the machine works - its software source code, for instance - and the state cannot provide it, the breath test is rejected, the Orlando Sentinel reported Wednesday. Prosecutors have said they do not know how many drunken drivers have been acquitted as a result. But Gino Feliciani, the misdemeanor division chief in the Seminole County State Attorney's Office, said the conviction rate has dropped to 50 percent or less."
DUI Tampa - Alcohol Monitors
South Florida judges use anklets to keep tabs on problem drinkers - : "An anklet that detects alcohol consumption 24 hours a day.
It has only been used a handful of times involving drunken-driving and domestic-violence cases since this summer, but the monitoring system shows promise. It can help provide greater scrutiny than random alcohol testing, advocates say. 'I've been pretty pleased about it,' said Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Charles Burton, who hears misdemeanor criminal cases such as DUI and domestic battery and has used the monitor in about half a dozen cases. Some judges say the monitoring system -- which tests a person's perspiration for signs of alcohol -- provides another tool for controlling defendants with alcohol problems. Judges routinely order drunken-driving defendants not to use alcohol, which can be difficult to enforce."
It has only been used a handful of times involving drunken-driving and domestic-violence cases since this summer, but the monitoring system shows promise. It can help provide greater scrutiny than random alcohol testing, advocates say. 'I've been pretty pleased about it,' said Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Charles Burton, who hears misdemeanor criminal cases such as DUI and domestic battery and has used the monitor in about half a dozen cases. Some judges say the monitoring system -- which tests a person's perspiration for signs of alcohol -- provides another tool for controlling defendants with alcohol problems. Judges routinely order drunken-driving defendants not to use alcohol, which can be difficult to enforce."
DUI Tampa - Sheriff is Active in DUI Patrol
DUI Hillsborough: Sheriff Gee Goes on DUI Patrol: "Gee goes out on DUI busts and says he still likes to patrol the streets like he did as a young deputy. He juggles neighborhood watch meetings and community events with family obligations."
DUI Tampa Attorney - I Only Had Two Beers
'Only 2 beers' a common line for drunk drivers
For revelers behind the wheel, its an unwise line to say to police officers
From The Washington Post
Tonight's the night, the big celebration, ringing in the new. Ten! Nine! Eight! . . . champagne toasts and kisses. And in the wee hours, after the bars empty, most revelers will make it home fine. For others, though, the party will end with the whoop of a siren and a sudden burst of blue light in the rearview mirror.
Good evening, sir. Do you know why I pulled you over tonight?
Of course you know: because you were driving 30 mph on the interstate, trying, with intermittent success, to stay between the lines.
No, officer . . .
You're squinting up from the driver's seat, blinded by the black-metal Maglite shining in your eyes.
All right, sir. Have you been drinking tonight?
At this point, you might as well put the handcuffs on yourself. You're busted. You just don't know it yet. You think maybe you can talk your way out of this. And here's what your panicked brain comes up with, five words guaranteed to do you no good:
I only had two beers.
The "two beers" line has been uttered so often that it's a joke among police officers. In 20 years of patrolling highways, Virginia State Police Trooper L.L. Parker has heard that slurred lie more times than she can remember. "I don't know of any officer out here who, if you tell them you only had two beers, they'll tell you, "Okay, then, have a nice night,' " Parker said, chuckling.
For revelers behind the wheel, its an unwise line to say to police officers
From The Washington Post
Tonight's the night, the big celebration, ringing in the new. Ten! Nine! Eight! . . . champagne toasts and kisses. And in the wee hours, after the bars empty, most revelers will make it home fine. For others, though, the party will end with the whoop of a siren and a sudden burst of blue light in the rearview mirror.
Good evening, sir. Do you know why I pulled you over tonight?
Of course you know: because you were driving 30 mph on the interstate, trying, with intermittent success, to stay between the lines.
No, officer . . .
You're squinting up from the driver's seat, blinded by the black-metal Maglite shining in your eyes.
All right, sir. Have you been drinking tonight?
At this point, you might as well put the handcuffs on yourself. You're busted. You just don't know it yet. You think maybe you can talk your way out of this. And here's what your panicked brain comes up with, five words guaranteed to do you no good:
I only had two beers.
The "two beers" line has been uttered so often that it's a joke among police officers. In 20 years of patrolling highways, Virginia State Police Trooper L.L. Parker has heard that slurred lie more times than she can remember. "I don't know of any officer out here who, if you tell them you only had two beers, they'll tell you, "Okay, then, have a nice night,' " Parker said, chuckling.
DUI Tampa Bay - Deputies ready for holiday weekend
"Statistics show that in 2004 there were 1,610 alcohol-related crashes in Pinellas County. Those crashes resulted in 1,193 injuries and 48 fatalities. Pinellas County deputies will be doing their part to reduce alcohol-related incidents this holiday weekend by conducting a "DUI Wolf-Pack" in conjunction with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration DUI Sustained Enforcement Program known as "You Drink and Drive. You Lose."This national DUI crackdown runs from Dec. 10, 2005 through Jan. 1.
DUI Tampabay: Increased Patrols fo DUI
Tampabay: Patrols to scour roads for drunks: "Patrols to scour roads for drunks - Law enforcement officials want partygoers to remember that impaired driving starts at one beer.
TAMPA - Whether New Year's Eve imbibing has you seeing double or just a little blurry, getting behind the wheel of a car is not a good plan. 'A lot of people have the misconception, 'I've only had a couple beers, I'm okay to drive,' said Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Larry Coggins. 'Two beers is too many.' Coggins said patrol cars will be on the road in full force tonight. The Florida Sheriff's Association, the Florida Police Chief's Association and the FHP are banding together for 'Operation Lights for Life,' a statewide effort to keep drunken drivers off the road and remember those killed in alcohol-related accidents."
TAMPA - Whether New Year's Eve imbibing has you seeing double or just a little blurry, getting behind the wheel of a car is not a good plan. 'A lot of people have the misconception, 'I've only had a couple beers, I'm okay to drive,' said Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Larry Coggins. 'Two beers is too many.' Coggins said patrol cars will be on the road in full force tonight. The Florida Sheriff's Association, the Florida Police Chief's Association and the FHP are banding together for 'Operation Lights for Life,' a statewide effort to keep drunken drivers off the road and remember those killed in alcohol-related accidents."
DUI Confession on Blog
"A Lake County teenager, who admitted in his [blog] online journal that he caused an accident which killed his best friend, pleaded guilty this morning to DUI-manslaughter."
DUI Attorney Florida
DUI Attorney Florida
DUI Tampa Attorney - Driver in fatal DUI case shares story
"Every morning, Jessica L. thinks about the man she killed. She spends the rest of the day trying to forgive herself. It's been eight months since she left prison, but for the rest of her life she'll be branded: Felon. Youthful offender. Danger to society. Killer. For the rest of her life, she'll be haunted by the sight of that arm around the left front tire of her Toyota Celica. Four years ago, Leslie was celebrating her plans to join the U.S. Air Force.
Now she stands in front of 250 strangers the first Monday of the month and explains how she went from being vice president of Students Against Drunk Driving in high school to pleading guilty to DUI manslaughter. Sitting in the living room of her Delray Beach apartment, Leslie, 24, unflinchingly talks about the night she ended Patrick McDonough's life. "I had two beers and two shots," she said."
DUI Tampa Attorney
Now she stands in front of 250 strangers the first Monday of the month and explains how she went from being vice president of Students Against Drunk Driving in high school to pleading guilty to DUI manslaughter. Sitting in the living room of her Delray Beach apartment, Leslie, 24, unflinchingly talks about the night she ended Patrick McDonough's life. "I had two beers and two shots," she said."
DUI Tampa Attorney
DUI Lawyers doubt breath test's accuracy
"Pinellas Attorneys began challenging breath test results Friday by using a tactic that has gotten drunken driving cases tossed out in three other Florida counties. During a hearing Friday, defense attorneys argued the machine that tests the breath of drivers suspected of driving under the influence may be inaccurate. Worse, they say, the company that makes the machine won't hand over computer codes that would help defense attorneys evaluate the machine's accuracy."
Drunk and Drugged Driving
"The Florida Department of Transportation and the Florida Office of Drug Control are sponsoring high visibility DUI enforcement operations during the last three weeks of December as part of the Drunk and Drugged Driving (3D) Prevention Month Enforcement Wave. State and local law enforcement agencies in all 67 Florida counties have been asked to participate in the DUI wave between December 10, 2005 and January 1, 2006."
Desoto Sun Herald
DUI Tampa Attorney
Desoto Sun Herald
DUI Tampa Attorney
Tampa DUI Take a Cab or a Tow Truck
"In 2004, the Florida Highway Patrol reported that 33.5 percent of all fatalities caused by car crashes were alcohol related. So far this year, one in four car crashes resulting in death in Leon County were alcohol related, according to the Tallahassee Police Department.
Two programs designed to prevent folks who've had a little too much holiday cheer from getting behind the wheel are helping the statistics drop. The American Automobile Association and Budweiser's Tow to Go dispatches tow trucks to take tipsy car owners and their vehicles home, free of charge. Safe Ride, a service of Yellow Cab and Tri-Eagle Sales, allows bar and restaurant managers to use cabbies as designated drivers from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m.
In the past three years, both programs combined have kept more than 2,500 drunken drivers off the road.The Florida Highway Patrol Preliminary Fatality Report revealed that there were 37 deaths in some 29 crashes over the Thanksgiving weekend, three of which were alcohol related.
"Along with the combination of enforcement and education, the programs certainly do have an impact," said Lt. David Folsom, who supervises TPD's traffic unit. Both initiatives run through New Year's Day."
DUI Tampa Attorney
Two programs designed to prevent folks who've had a little too much holiday cheer from getting behind the wheel are helping the statistics drop. The American Automobile Association and Budweiser's Tow to Go dispatches tow trucks to take tipsy car owners and their vehicles home, free of charge. Safe Ride, a service of Yellow Cab and Tri-Eagle Sales, allows bar and restaurant managers to use cabbies as designated drivers from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m.
In the past three years, both programs combined have kept more than 2,500 drunken drivers off the road.The Florida Highway Patrol Preliminary Fatality Report revealed that there were 37 deaths in some 29 crashes over the Thanksgiving weekend, three of which were alcohol related.
"Along with the combination of enforcement and education, the programs certainly do have an impact," said Lt. David Folsom, who supervises TPD's traffic unit. Both initiatives run through New Year's Day."
DUI Tampa Attorney
DUI Tampa Law Enforcement Plans DUI Campaign
"State law enforcement agencies are mobilizing to save lives during the holiday season, using special DUI enforcement operations, from Saturday, Dec. 10, through Sunday, Jan. 1, to identify and arrest impaired drivers as part of Florida's You Drink; You Drive. You Lose.
Florida law enforcement agencies will be intensifying their efforts to apprehend impaired drivers during the mobilization period by conducting DUI checkpoints and saturation patrols. Law enforcement agencies will join forces during the mobilization to conduct special operations throughout their counties."
DUI Tampa Bay News
Florida law enforcement agencies will be intensifying their efforts to apprehend impaired drivers during the mobilization period by conducting DUI checkpoints and saturation patrols. Law enforcement agencies will join forces during the mobilization to conduct special operations throughout their counties."
DUI Tampa Bay News
Five Field Sobriety Tests
baynews9.com - News:
"A horizontal gaze nystagmus test. The driver is asked to follow the lighted red tip of a pen with his eyes, without moving his head. Law Enforcement says if a driver has been drinking his eyes will jerk, instead of following the light smoothly.
The nine steps test. The driver must walk a straight line heel-to-toe for nine steps, make a tight turn, and walk back nine steps.
Balancing on one leg. The driver stands on one foot for about 30 seconds.
Touching the nose. With hands at his side, the driver is asked to close his eyes, lean his head back, and touch his nose with the tip of each finger.
Reciting the alphabet. "
DUI Tampa Attorney
"A horizontal gaze nystagmus test. The driver is asked to follow the lighted red tip of a pen with his eyes, without moving his head. Law Enforcement says if a driver has been drinking his eyes will jerk, instead of following the light smoothly.
The nine steps test. The driver must walk a straight line heel-to-toe for nine steps, make a tight turn, and walk back nine steps.
Balancing on one leg. The driver stands on one foot for about 30 seconds.
Touching the nose. With hands at his side, the driver is asked to close his eyes, lean his head back, and touch his nose with the tip of each finger.
Reciting the alphabet. "
DUI Tampa Attorney
DUI Tampa - DUI By the Numbers
baynews9.com - News : Declaring war on DUI
"1 Number of drinks needed for judgment to be impaired.
38 Percent of traffic deaths in Florida in 2004 that were alcohol-related.
150 Approximate number of Florida police officers with at least 100 DUI arrests in 2004.
$250 to $500 Fine imposed by the state for a first DUI conviction. A first-time DUI offender also faces probation, mandatory attendance at DUI school, and loss of his driver's license for six months.
1,222 Number of people who died in drinking and driving accidents in Florida in 2004.
1,579 Number of people nationwide who died in drinking and driving accidents between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day in 2003.
17,000 Approximate number of people who die nationwide in drinking and driving accidents each year."
DUI Tampa Lawyer
"1 Number of drinks needed for judgment to be impaired.
38 Percent of traffic deaths in Florida in 2004 that were alcohol-related.
150 Approximate number of Florida police officers with at least 100 DUI arrests in 2004.
$250 to $500 Fine imposed by the state for a first DUI conviction. A first-time DUI offender also faces probation, mandatory attendance at DUI school, and loss of his driver's license for six months.
1,222 Number of people who died in drinking and driving accidents in Florida in 2004.
1,579 Number of people nationwide who died in drinking and driving accidents between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day in 2003.
17,000 Approximate number of people who die nationwide in drinking and driving accidents each year."
DUI Tampa Lawyer
DUI Tampa Attorney - DUI Crackdown Underway
"Anyone on the road between now and January 1, especially at night and early in the morning, is likely to see more police cruisers on the road. A statewide DUI crackdown is underway."
DUI Tampa Attorney
DUI Tampa Attorney
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