A Sip Of Beer In N.Y. Now Worthy Of Intoxication

[ECH1969]

Drinking a shot of beer in New York could get you arrested for drunken driving. At least that's the way the state law reads.

Lawmakers this year approved a bill that sets the standard for driving while intoxicated at 0.18 grams of alcohol in a person's blood.

A person's body might produce that much alcohol naturally, said Ed Fiandach, a DWI lawyer in Rochester.

Gov. George Pataki signed the bill into law in September. Fiandach said he was told by Pataki's office the governor was aware of the error but figured the Legislature would correct it with an amendment.

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_310155149.html

[Old and In the Way]

1. .18 grams? That's ridiculous...should be .18% I'd think.

Sounds like a typo error in the law.

[susanna]

15. I think Michigan went to the .08 standard...

I wonder if that's what they were going for?

[greccogirl]

16. Its not only ridiculous, it's insane.

[alcibiades_mystery]

2. I don't disagree with this

If you're driving, don't drink. Not even one drop. That's the safest way, for you, and everybody else. No calculations of hours, to drinks, to body mass, or all the other rationalizing stupidity people get into: Driving? No drink, period. End of story. I'm down with that. Good.

And I am a drinker. Love it, even. Love beer.
And I smoke.

And I do not, under any circumstances, drink and drive.

[angstlessk]

3. Well, if you drink on Saturday night and drive on Monday

YOU could have .18 grams of alcohol in your blood stream. THINK ABOUT THAT!

[unc70]

5. Or if you drank some orange juice

Most fruit juice and lots of other things have up to about 0.5% alcohol content.

[NOLADEM]

6. You should disagree with this

It results in people who have not been drinking going to jail, hiring a lawyer, losing their license, paying restitution and court costs, and paying higher insurance ALL because the threshold set by some moron is BELOW WHAT YOUR BODY PRODUCES NATURALLY.

HOW could you agree with this? You want people getting arrested for DWI because they are producing alcohol naturally?

Just because an alcohol impairment threshold is a good idea doesn't automatically mean that a lower threshold is a better, safer idea. In fact, it creates more victims than it prevents.

Let's arrest anyone with a child in their lap because it COULD mean his intent is to molest.
Let's arrest anyone with a durable good in their possession because it COULD be stolen.

Jeez. Lighten up. Draconian laws are ALWAYS more trouble than they prevent. People who drink and drive will do so regardless of the law. Creating a stronger law doesn't prevent that, it only ensnares people who, like all people, produce alcohol in their bloodstream naturally.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. I disagree with it.

Every adult should be consuming a glass of alcohol per day.

0.18 grams? That's less than mouthwash.

[Lurking Dem]

4. Hell a diabetic

could register that at any given moment, depending on their blood glucose. So could people on the Atkins diet who are producing ketones.

[Jersey Devil]

7. It was a typo in the law according to the story

They meant to say 0.18% blood alcohol, a limit at which prosecutors could not reduce a dwi to a lesser charge of driving while impaired. BTW, 0.18% is a pretty hefty reading, more than double the .08% limit in most states, and anyone reaching that number would be obviously intoxicated.

[William Bloode]

8. Yeah to be honest if it's .18% thats a pretty good buzz.

Closest i ever came to a dwi i blew .10, then .09. I was pretty buzzin' at that level. I lucked out because you have to blow twice, and they take the lowest. Our limit at the time was .10, since lowered to .08. the cop was soooo mad it was unreal. he actually grabbed my collar and tried to make me blow again lol!

People i have seen who blow .20 or so were very drunk, and i thought like .25 or so was near critical? Has to be lower than .18 , thats pretty fried.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

10. Your experiences regarding breath analysis are formidable.

:evilgrin:

[William Bloode]

13. Come a little closer when you say that.

:rofl:

:hide:

[Jersey Devil]

14. Highest I ever saw was a .41

The guy was found unconscious with the front end of his car up a tree in someone's back yard. By all rights he should have been dead.

[recoveringrepublican]

18. I have a friend who was still conscious at that level!

she was in the hospital. The entire staff was just shocked that she was talking. Her mom did say that they staff kept telling her to breathe. She was 16-years-old and 115lbs at the time!!

[HockeyMom]

11. Don't eat at a French Restaurant

They use a lot of wine in their cooking. Coq au Vin? Forget it.

:toast:

[MrPrax]

12. Eat a Rumball...go to jail? n/t

[Art_from_Ark]

17. So even knowing the figures are wrong, Pataki signs the bill anyway

If the figures are wrong, send the bill back to the legislature for revision before signing it. What's so hard about that?

[Cronus Protagonist]

19. That would require gonads, of which Pataki is distinctly lacking

Apparently.

:evilgrin:

[hughee99]

20. Election year ploy...

Normally I would suspect this would be the sort of think a repuke would do, but I've become so accustomed to looking at normal mistakes as political gamesmanship over the last few months, that the first thought that came to mind was that this was done intentionally. Send Pataki a bill that is intentionally wrong and ridiculous, make him veto it or at least return it, and then run an ad about how the repukes are soft on drunk driving. Reading the article, I don't think that's the case, but I have to admit that's the first thing I thought of.

[Mizmoon]

21. In my NY county they seize DWI's cars

they hold the car until the trial and if found guilty they keep it and sell it. They county keeps the money. BTW, the county has a $26 million deficit.

I know it was a typo but this could be a very profitable windfall for my county. I don't like DWIs, but I like theiving county officials even less.

[NorthernSpy]

22. just using an asthma inhaler could put you in jail...

... under this standard.

The new ozone-friendly pMDIs use a new class of propellants called hydrofuoroalkanes (HFA). HFA albuterol (aka salbutamol) inhalers are typically formulated with a certain amount of ethanol. Even the old-fashioned CFC-propelled epinephrine inhalers that you can buy over the counter contain alcohol; in fact, at almost 35% ethanol by weight, good old Primatene Mist is 70 proof!