Happy New Year - new "laws" that make you go huh

[djbridgeland]

It looks like my former state of residence has mandated first time DUI offenders have to get their car out fitted with ignition interlock device.  What insane laws have your former state come up with for the new year?  This a year after one of the worst state smoking bans.

http://www.50statesforum.com/

[Hubbard]

I really cannot stand drunk drivers... ASSHOLES.

[ByronB]

It looks like my former state of residence has mandated first time DUI offenders have to get their car out fitted with ignition interlock device.  What insane laws have your former state come up with for the new year?  This a year after one of the worst state smoking bans.

http://www.50statesforum.com/

Ahhh, these laws sound familiar, your a fellow Illinoisian right now huh?

From what I understand about the the new DUI law is that you get this device installed on your car if you get arrested for drinking and driving and have to keep said device even if you are found innocent in court... I know a guy who has been arrested for DUI simply because he was sleeping in his car in a Wal-Mart parking lot.

[ByronB]

I really cannot stand drunk drivers... ASSHOLES.

Are you "drunk driving" when you go to a party get a bit of a buzz going on and then a cop shows up and says you have to move your car off the street? 2MPH probably isn't endangering anyone.

If you collect aluminum can and you pick up a beer can should you be arrested for having open alcohol?

If you have nowhere to go and you know you are intoxicated should you be arrested for DUI if you go to sleep in the drivers seat of your car?

I'm not defending irresponsibility but I think drinking and driving should be legal, you can always charge them with reckless endangerment or something if they are doing anything dangerous... being buzzed and at the wheel isn't of itself IMO a real crime.

[coffeeseven]

I say lets NOT drink and drive JUST to dry up their revenue stream and/or do what the private clubs do and give rides to the chronically loaded.

Illinois has been installing the blow and drive devices through all of 2008. It just became law. I personally know an installer. He gets $300 or $400 from the state for every installation. I can't remember which one it was as it's been over a year since he told me.

I hope to live long enough to see an end to ALL of the communist bullshit.

[Sam A. Robrin]

I knew someone who was arrested for marijuana and was required to install one of those.

[Hubbard]

I really cannot stand drunk drivers... ASSHOLES.

Are you "drunk driving" when you go to a party get a bit of a buzz going on and then a cop shows up and says you have to move your car off the street? 2MPH probably isn't endangering anyone.

If you collect aluminum can and you pick up a beer can should you be arrested for having open alcohol?

If you have nowhere to go and you know you are intoxicated should you be arrested for DUI if you go to sleep in the drivers seat of your car?

I'm not defending irresponsibility but I think drinking and driving should be legal, you can always charge them with reckless endangerment or something if they are doing anything dangerous... being buzzed and at the wheel isn't of itself IMO a real crime.

Don't be ridiculous. If you are driving more than moving your vehicle a few feet then you are drunk driving. When some asshole T-bones someone you love you'll get it a little more.

[coffeeseven]

I really cannot stand drunk drivers... ASSHOLES.

Are you "drunk driving" when you go to a party get a bit of a buzz going on and then a cop shows up and says you have to move your car off the street? 2MPH probably isn't endangering anyone.

If you collect aluminum can and you pick up a beer can should you be arrested for having open alcohol?

If you have nowhere to go and you know you are intoxicated should you be arrested for DUI if you go to sleep in the drivers seat of your car?

I'm not defending irresponsibility but I think drinking and driving should be legal, you can always charge them with reckless endangerment or something if they are doing anything dangerous... being buzzed and at the wheel isn't of itself IMO a real crime.

Don't be ridiculous. If you are driving more than moving your vehicle a few feet then you are drunk driving. When some asshole T-bones someone you love you'll get it a little more.

According to the Winnebago County Sheriffs Department insertion of the key in the ignition constitutes drunk driving. Did you lose someone to a drunk driver Hubbard?

[Hubbard]

I have not. Buit every time I hear about some drunk asshole hitting and killing someone it makes me nuts. ESPECIALLY since they consider a petty little thing and don't hit them hard. I think if you drive while drunk and kill someone, you deserve the same punishment. Because I promise, if a drunk hits someone I love and kills them - they'll pay.

[KBCraig]

I really cannot stand drunk drivers... ASSHOLES.

Are you "drunk driving" when you go to a party get a bit of a buzz going on and then a cop shows up and says you have to move your car off the street? 2MPH probably isn't endangering anyone.

If you collect aluminum can and you pick up a beer can should you be arrested for having open alcohol?

If you have nowhere to go and you know you are intoxicated should you be arrested for DUI if you go to sleep in the drivers seat of your car?

I'm not defending irresponsibility but I think drinking and driving should be legal, you can always charge them with reckless endangerment or something if they are doing anything dangerous... being buzzed and at the wheel isn't of itself IMO a real crime.

Don't be ridiculous. If you are driving more than moving your vehicle a few feet then you are drunk driving. When some asshole T-bones someone you love you'll get it a little more.

The examples given were not ridiculous. People have been charged and convicted of DWI because they knew they shouldn't drive, so they slept in their cars. Because they ran the car to keep warm, they were convicted of DWI for sleeping in the back seat.

[ByronB]

I have not. Buit every time I hear about some drunk asshole hitting and killing someone it makes me nuts. ESPECIALLY since they consider a petty little thing and don't hit them hard. I think if you drive while drunk and kill someone, you deserve the same punishment. Because I promise, if a drunk hits someone I love and kills them - they'll pay.

Driving while really tired can definitely be a lot worse then going around at .08%, when I was going to school full-time and working a full-time job 80 miles from my home I had several VERY close calls, I was more dangerous then any drunk I've seen on the road... I suppose I should be taken out back and shot for what (i)could have(/i) happened... why don't we lock up people who talk on phones and drive too, they are pretty dangerous, in fact I about got rear-ended the other day by someone blabbing and not paying attention... the possibilities are endless once you start down the slippery slope.

[coffeeseven]

I have not. Buit every time I hear about some drunk asshole hitting and killing someone it makes me nuts. ESPECIALLY since they consider a petty little thing and don't hit them hard. I think if you drive while drunk and kill someone, you deserve the same punishment. Because I promise, if a drunk hits someone I love and kills them - they'll pay.

Driving while really tired can definitely be a lot worse then going around at .08%, when I was going to school full-time and working a full-time job 80 miles from my home I had several VERY close calls, I was more dangerous then any drunk I've seen on the road... I suppose I should be taken out back and shot for what (i)could have(/i) happened... why don't we lock up people who talk on phones and drive too, they are pretty dangerous, in fact I about got rear-ended the other day by someone blabbing and not paying attention... the possibilities are endless once you start down the slippery slope.

Shhhhh........Illinois might be listening 

[coffeeseven]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/11/AR2009011101882.html?hpid=sec-health

A national safety group is advocating a total ban on the use of cellphones while driving, saying the practice is clearly dangerous and leads to fatalities.

States should ban drivers from using both handheld and hands-free cellphones, and businesses should prohibit employees from using cellphones while driving on the job, the congressionally chartered National Safety Council says, taking those positions for the first time.

The group's president and chief executive, Janet Froetscher, likened talking on cellphones to drunken driving, saying cellphone use increases the risk of a crash fourfold.

"When our friends have been drinking, we take the car keys away. It's time to take the cellphone away," Froetscher said.

No state currently bans all cellphone use while driving. The District of Columbia and six states -- California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Utah and Washington -- ban the use of handheld cell phones behind the wheel, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Also, 17 states and the District restrict or ban cellphone use by novice drivers.
ad_icon

"Public awareness and the laws haven't caught up with what the scientists are telling us," Froetscher said. "There is no dispute that driving while talking on your cellphone, or texting while driving, is dangerous."

Hands-free cellphones are just as risky as handheld phones, she added.

"It's not just what you're doing with your hands -- it's that your head is in the conversation and so your eyes are not on the road," Froetscher said.

John Walls, vice president of CTIA-The Wireless Association, a cellphone trade group, objected to a complete ban. He said there are many instances where the ability to make a phone call while driving helps protect safety.

"We think that you can sensibly and safely use a cellphone to make a brief call," Walls said.

[Velma]

Hmm...next long road trip I'm on, I better pack loads of music to keep myself from snoozing because I probably won't be able to use my cell - hands free even.  I will agree that there are a LOT of people out there that should hang up and drive but to tell me I CAN'T use my phone?

[error]

No, they'll ban the car stereo next.