🚀 go-pugleaf

DataRat wrote:

> Most DUI arrests he makes are off of
> mundane traffic violations like running a
> stop sign or failure to signal a lane change.

That more than likely has something to do with the type of
community you patrol DR? The inappropriate speeds and the
weaving are definitely some of the standard indicators we
see out here in the rural areas of NE. I can agree that the
majority of DUI/OUI/DWI type arrests made by my officers or
myself do result from the mundane traffic violations you
speak of, but I think that's most likely because we tend to
patrol certain areas more heavily than others? You can drive
for miles on some "back  road" and never see another car in
either direction, but chances are when you do find one it'll
be speeding, crawling, or weaving. Around town it's harder
for the drunks to navigate without drawing attention to
themselves with those "mundane violations". We end up
stopping them before they become hypnotized by their own
driving and doing the weave number..

> Most DUI drivers DON'T have slurred speech or
> smell like a brewery.

Again, I agree, but I would add that most have what can be
described as "thick" speech and frequently either smell like
they've been drinking or smell like they bathed in
aftershave/perfume for a "cover scent". Lighting up a
cigarette as the officer walks to the window is a dead
giveaway that they don't think their breath will pass
muster.

> Even when an impaired driver is weaving, it's
> rarely weaving between lanes like people
> suppose.   If they weave, it's usually weaving
> within a lane -rather than between lanes.

Absolutely. Impaired drivers can usually do at least one
thing right at a time - it's the need or requirement for
multitasking their efforts that often causes them to be
exposed.

> At 0.1 to almost 0.2, they'll NOT weave or go
> much above or below the posted speed limit.
> You won't be able to tell they're DUI until you've
> given them a FST.   At 0.2 thru 0.25, they might
> weave within a lane, go too fast or two slow,
> but mainly they'll make unsafe lane changes and
> other errors in judgment.   Not until above 0.25
> do they do the classic stuff like weave between
> lanes, drive noticeably too fast or two slow, have
> markedly slurred speech, etc.

I think the above paragraph is entirely too subjective and
it doesn't bear out the experiences that I've had over the
years. While your categories might generally hold true I'd
have to disagree with the BAC levels you use to draw the
boundaries AND I'd also note that you can occasionally find
0.11 BAC's who seem "falling down drunk" as well as an
occasional 0.30 BAC's who's only mistake was to have a
headlight out and get stopped by an officer who knows how to
do DWI's. Maine's limit is 0.08 and most of the DWI's I get
(we call 'em OUI's) are between 0.11 and 0.19 BAC.
Personally, I think the 0.14-0.16 bunch are some of the more
dangerous ones we encounter because that's the area where
they go from over-cautious (aware of their own state) to
over-confident (actually thinking they're better off than
they are).

> Most people The DataRat pops for DUI are
> right around 0.2 (usually just under).   The second
> largest group of such offenders he arrests are
> just over 0.1 BAC. 

The former being known (locally, at least) as "gimmes" and
the latter as working cop's DWI's.... ;-)

> The guys above 0.25 you usually don't stop, but encounter instead at the
> scenes of accidents.

My personal all time high BAC on an conscious and ambulatory
OUI was a 0.36. One officer in my department has had a 0.38.
I've heard or a .043 (passed out at an accident scene) and a
0.47 (autopsy result)...

Steve