Posts tagged "drunk driving"

Police officers across North Carolina understand how traffic laws work. In many situations, officers will stack charges against a driver in the hope that he or she will plead guilty to at least one of the charges. What starts as a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt can quickly turn into several traffic violations that can seriously affect a person's driving record.

Stacking charges is common in traffic stops that involve an impaired driver, because police want to make sure the driver has consequences. Dealing with all the different charges and trying to figure out all the different implications of the tickets can be very difficult for drivers, though. Often, plea deals are offered in these circumstances. Working with the stipulations of a plea deal can make the difference between jail time and probation.

Last Thursday, part of U.S. 501 was the site of a fatal car wreck involving drunk driving. As ABC 11 reports, a 17-year-old Northern High student was drunk behind the wheel at two in the morning when he apparently lost control of his car, went off the road, hit a tree, and the car flipped over.

Writers for the Winston-Salem Journal report that the Winston-Salem area was recently ranked as one of the most desirable places to live in the nation. But, on the other hand, Forsyth County has some of the most DWI arrests in North Carolina.

"These are six innocent children," says highway patrol officer Joshua Wupperfeld after a 31-year-old woman - who faces felony drinking and driving - rolled her SUV four times with her six children in the vehicle.

Monitech, a firm that makes ignition interlock devices that thwart attempted drunk driving - the only firm to provide ignition interlock devices for all of North Carolina since 1989, as Michael Biesecker reports for the Houston Chronicle - has sued the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles and Commissioner Mike Robertson after its contract with the state wasn't renewed.

As Jim Utter reports for the Charlotte Observer, racecar drivers - at least when it comes to NASCAR competitions - do not need to have state driver's licenses.

That's a good thing when it comes to NASCAR driver Michael Annett, whose driver's license in North Carolina was suspended for one year (though Annett can apply for a restricted license after 45 days) after a recent DWI conviction.

Late last week on Friday 55-year-old Eleanor Thompson raised the ongoing debate regarding people who have problems with alcohol abuse and are charged with repeat DWI offenses. (Because of the facts of this case, we are assuming that Thompson does have a problem with alcohol abuse. We could be wrong.)

Thompson, who has previously served two years in prison stemming from prior drunk-driving convictions in 2004 and 2006, was arrested twice on Friday for North Carolina DWI.

As Craig Reck reports for WECT TV6, it was one "productive afternoon" for a multi-agency police check point on Saturday, over Memorial Day weekend.

Among the tally were eight arrests for drunk driving, as well as two arrests for driving after consuming alcohol, and six arrests for open containers in the vehicle.

Fatal Vision goggles make everything dark green when looking through them, and everything also looks much closer than it really is. These goggles simulate conditions when someone is drunk and behind the wheel of a car. With prom coming up for many high school students across North Carolina, students are getting a crash course on the dangers of drunk driving.

The editorial board at the Daily Tar Heel makes its case for cutting funding to North Carolina's Alcohol Law Enforcement agency (referred to as ALE). ALE is the North Carolina agency tasked with enforcing the state's alcohol laws, and is notorious for the tactics it employs to arrest minors for underage drinking.

In January we posted about North Carolina's social host liability laws. Most people aren't aware of social host laws, but what you don't know can hurt you. Under North Carolina law, if you host a party where alcohol is served, you may be held responsible for a drunk-driving incident involving one of your guests.

We are one of 37 states with some form of social host liability laws. Many states have laws which extend to bars and restaurants as well as individuals. A recent example of this comes from a bar in Philadelphia which was held partially liable for a DUI car accident that killed three people.

North Carolina's DUI enforcement is tough, and no one is considered above the law. The recent conviction of a prominent public official is proof that North Carolina authorities take DUI charges seriously.

Earlier this month the mayor of Raleigh was found guilty of three charges stemming from a drunk-driving arrest last December. The charges included DUI, careless driving and a liquor law violation.

Drunk driving is an equal opportunity crime, meaning that both men and can be charged with DWI. However, most people tend to think that men drive drunk more than women do. It would be easy to draw that conclusion from seeing DWI convictions printed in the news.

But that perception might soon be changing. The FBI recently published statistics which show a sharp increase in the amount of women charged with DWI. Since 2005, DWI arrests involving women ages 18-34 has jumped 36 percent. DWI arrests for young men have only gone up 4 percent since 2005.

Last week we reported that North Carolina Police were stepping up DWI enforcement for the whole week of St. Patrick's Day. During the "Booze It and Lose It" campaign police all across the state were on high alert for drunk driving, drugged driving, and every other kind of bad driving they could find.

The campaign ran from March 11 - 17, and in that time North Carolina Police issued 1,013 DWI citations statewide. They also issued thousands of citations for other offenses including speeding, drug possession, seat belt violations and child passenger safety violations.

Today is St. Patrick's Day, which means a lot of celebrating all across North Carolina. We're all a bit Irish today and people will be wearing green, watching parades, and most importantly, heading out for drinks at our favorite bars.

But today is also a big day for police all throughout the state. St. Patrick's Day always brings an increase in drunk-driving accidents and DWI arrests. During last year's celebration North Carolina police reported 154 alcohol-related crashes, 12 injuries and 4 fatalities.

Lately we have discussed several proposed changes to North Carolina's drunk driving laws. If passed, the laws will effectively toughen sentencing for those convicted of a DUI. But most people don't have a clear idea of the current sentencing guidelines and how sentences are decided. A recent DUI case involving a man in Mount Airy shows that DUI sentencing gets compounded with each conviction.

Earlier this month a Mount Airy man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for Drunk Driving. Why was his sentence so harsh? Because of his previous record, he qualified as both a "habitual impaired driver" and a "habitual felon."

North Carolina will soon be facing an over-crowding problem in our prisons. It is not difficult to see why. We recently posted about laws that would increase prison sentences for offenses such as drunk driving. Longer prison sentences ultimately means more people in prison at the same time.

But all that extra jail time comes at a cost. Taxpayers spend millions every year paying for inmates to spend more time in jail, and North Carolina may even have to build more state prisons if the trend continues. So what's the solution?

Earlier this month we posted about how individuals can receive a DUI even if they don't drive. If you are found drunk in your car with the keys visible, you could be charged with a DUI. It was shocking to learn that a DUI only requires an intoxicated person and a car. Now, it appears that a car might not even be necessary.

Earlier this month, two men were arrested in Texas for driving drunk. But they weren't driving cars, they were "driving" a mule and a horse. The two men were riding through a city street in Austin when they were "pulled over." The police officer originally charged them with a DUI.

Last week we reported that North Carolina is considering mandatory installation of interlock ignition systems for all first time DUI offenders. These devices require a driver to pass a breathalyzer test in order for the car to start. This punishment may seem extreme, but it turns out that interlock systems and similar devices may just become standard in all vehicles within the next decade.

The Washington Post reports that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is funding private research to develop intoxication testing technology which is faster, less intrusive, and more sensitive than current breathalyzer technology. What's more amazing is that the NHTSA has plans to make this technology mandatory on all new vehicles.

North Carolina may be on its way to some much tougher drunk driving laws. Following a fatal drunk driving accident on New Year's Day, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is urging lawmakers to crack down on offenders by imposing tougher sentencing and mandatory use of interlock ignition systems.

A representative from MADD says that 37 percent of North Carolina's drunk drivers are repeat offenders. She argues that sentencing is too light and repeat DWI offenders are usually not punished until they seriously injure or kill other drivers.