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BIKERNET WEATHER BREAK–Yep, it actually snows in Texas once in a while. Here’s a couple of shots from Rigid Frame Richard outta Austin–this week.
THE JILL QUOTE–“Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arrivingsafely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid inbroadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudlyproclaiming– WOW– What a Ride!”
–from Jill Z.
RIGHT OF WAY LAW EFFORTS IN SOUTH DAKOTA–I am the Legislative Officer for the South Dakota ABATE. Darrel Killion forwarded your idea to me to handle.
We agree that we must use this publicity to create some good. Our challenge is to find language that accomplishes our goal but does not ?shoot ourselves in the foot? by causing unintended consequences.
Do you have anything in mind for a motorcycle right of way bill for us to use as a starting point?
Since it is too late for bills to be introduced in our legislature this year, we have some time to perfect this and gain sponsors.
–Larry Nielson
Legislative Officer
SD ABATE
18476 385th ave.
Tulare, SD 57476
605.596.4339
BIKERNET PARENTAL ADVICE–A father watched his daughter playing in the garden. He smiled as hereflected on how sweet and innocent his little girl was. Suddenlyshe just stopped and stared at the ground. He went over to her andnoticed she was looking at two spiders mating.
“Daddy, what are thosetwo spiders doing?” she asked.
“They’re mating,” her fatherreplied.
“What do you call the spider on top, Daddy?” sheasked.
“That’s a Daddy Longlegs.” Her father answered.
“So, the otherone is Mommy Longlegs?” the little girl asked.
“No,” her father replied.”Both of them are Daddy Longlegs.”
The little girl thought for a moment,then took her foot and stomped them flat. “Well, that might be OK inCalifornia, Oregon, and Massachusetts, but we’re not having any ofthat shit in Texas
–from S &C
DAYTONA DUI WARNING–Florida is Aggresively pushing a new program, “You Drink You Drive You Loose”. Directives came out of Tallahassee to law enforcement to get on board with this.
It is a election year and the state wants to look like it is doing everything to protect its people and also at the same time make the Mothers Against Drunk Drivers happy.
I think it is more a Money Maker than any thing else. Look at the amount of people ticketed the multiply that by $16,000 per person (Average what it costs a person Charged with a DUI according to one of the courses Counterattack) I am putting some more together and also looking how motorcyclist fit into this picture.
WHY DO YOU THINK COPS AND LAWYERS REFUSE TO BLOW? OKAY, OKAY I know you are going to say because They Suck! But in all reality it may be because they know machines can be programmed, malfunction, misread etc. OF COURSE THE OPTION IS TO MAKE SURE THE COP TAKES YOU TO THE HOSPITAL FOR A BLOOD TEST. The hospital in most cases does not care one way or the other. They will do the test fairly and with out prejudice. After all they are not adding another notch to their belt for busting a drunk driver.
If the cop will Not Take You To The Hospital you can Bet Your Ass he knows you are really Not DUI and wants the bust any way. So It Will Look Good On His Record or for some other reason like they did not like your attitude or you are a BIKER!
The refusal is BullShit and a tool some times misused by arresting officers. There are numerous reports that people have requested Blood Tests in lieu of Breath Tests which is legal under the law. Yet the arresting officer will refuse to take the accused to a hospital and write on his report the accused refused the breath test and leave out the part about them requesting a Blood Test. This results in the accused loosing their license through a Motor Vehicle Administrative Hearing for failure to submit.
In many cases the accused wins their court case but still have lost their drivers license.
This is not justice in my eyes. It is the only offense where Double Jeopardy applies to my knowledge. You can kill some one and be found not guilty and even though you did it not be retried.
In the case of the Motor Vehicle Department who Claims That Driving or Riding is a Privilege, You can loose your Right To Drive because a Cop Said. BULLSHIT JUST IN CASE YOU DID NOT KNOW ? SOME ? COPS DO LIE AND EVEN PLANT EVIDENCE ON SUSPECTS. Granted This is Not Fair To All The Good Cops Out There BUT IT IS UP TO THEM TO CLEAN THEIR OWN DIRTY LAUNDRY. Just as it is for BIKERS TO DO THEIRS!.
–ROGUE
DAYTONA DUI STATS–For some, it’s easy: Just don’t blow it.
More people arrested for drunken driving in Florida are refusing to take the alcohol breath test, fearing it’s a piece of evidence that could clinch a DUI conviction.
Some attorneys say refusing to take a breathalyzer can give drunken drivers a slim advantage against a DUI charge, but it can also work against them.
In 2002, almost a third of the 69,551 people who were charged with DUI snubbed the alcohol breath test, according to the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Refusals to take the alcohol breath test climbed statewide between 1998 and 2002, the latest year in which statistics are available from the state’s drivers license division.
“People want to provide as little evidence to the state as possible,” said Volusia County Judge Freddie J. Worthen, who hears DUI cases routinely in Daytona Beach.
“The breathalyzer is evidence.”
While some police officers said privately they would never submit to an alcohol breath test, others pointed to the penalties for refusing the test and say a defendant’s best bet is to take a deep breath and blow.
That advice seemed to be lost on Ponce Inlet Police Chief Steve Thomas and former Daytona Beach police Detective Minokah Lipps. Each was arrested on a DUI charge and both refused the breathalyzer. The charges against Thomas were dropped, and Lipps pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of reckless driving. However, as a result of her arrest last September, Lipps was fired Friday by Daytona Beach police.
“The bottom line? Take the test,” said well-known DUI defense attorney Flem Whited, who represented Thomas and Lipps. “I always tell my clients that if they have refused the breath test, I hope they have someone to drive them around.”
But the alcohol breath test is not mandatory, according to state law.
In 2002, 19,669 of the 69,551 people arrested for DUI in Florida rejected the test. In Volusia County, 922 of the 2,853 people charged with drunken driving refused it. Comparable figures for Flagler County were not available.
The first time a motorist refuses the alcohol breath test, his license is automatically suspended for one year; the second time, it’s lost for 18 months and the driver is charged with a misdemeanor.
Many motorists believe those sanctions are better than being convicted of a DUI, and they’re willing to gamble that a judge will reinstate their license after a review.
Whited said roughly 75 percent of the 400 people he defends on DUI charges annually have not taken the alcohol breath test.
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS
One common misconception surrounding the alcohol breath test is if one submits to it and indicates an alcohol level over the limit, a DUI conviction is assured.
When Ponce Inlet Police Chief Thomas was stopped on Herbert Street in Port Orange in January 2002 by a patrol officer who suspected the chief was driving drunk, Thomas refused to take the alcohol breath test. In a report provided by Port Orange, Thomas was quoted as telling the arresting officer: “If I blow, I will be over the .08.” That’s the legal blood alcohol threshold for drivers in Florida.
The DUI charge against Thomas was dropped because a judge ruled that the stop made by Port Orange police was unlawful.
Statistically, refusing to take the test appears to give drivers a narrow advantage in the overall conviction rate.
Of the 35,619 DUI defendants who took the alcohol breath test in Florida in 2002, about 69 percent — 24,672 — were convicted; of the 19,669 motorists who refused, about 57 percent — 11,296 — were convicted.
The remaining 14,263 motorists who received citations for drunken driving in 2002 were charged based on other factors, said Robert Sanchez, a spokesman for Division of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
County Judge Worthen said he has seen several defendants who had submitted to alcohol breath testing cleared of DUI charges. That’s because their attorneys were armed with good video of the arrest scene.
“If a defendant does very well on the video, the jury tends to discount the breathalyzer test,” Worthen said.
First Assistant State Attorney David Smith agreed, saying jurors are easily convinced by visuals.
“The video overrides the breathalyzer,” Smith said. “If a person looks good on video, the fork is in us (the prosecution). When you’ve got walking and talking on video, it’s hard to sway jurors from that.”
Former Daytona Beach Detective Lipps was arrested and charged with DUI in Ormond Beach this past September. Lipps, who was once honored by Mothers Against Drunk Driving for making 23 DUI arrests in one month, refused to take the alcohol breath test — but like the others, her video proved persuasive.
Because of a blunder at the state agency that reviews the driving records of motorists who refuse the alcohol breath test, Lipps’ license was reinstated. Then prosecutors dropped DUI charges and agreed to a reduced charge after they viewed the video of her arrest.
“She did not look impaired in the video,” said Linda Pruitt, a spokeswoman for the State Attorney’s Office.
Attorneys like Whited are also adept at pointing out the weaknesses inherent in the alcohol breath test, such as poor servicing of a machine, inaccurate readings and inadequacy on the part of the machine’s operator.
“We can argue that any number is incorrect,” Whited said. “It doesn’t scare me. We can argue about a lot of things — the machine is old. It hasn’t been serviced.”
And drivers are not always as drunk as they think they are and taking the alcohol breath test could sometimes work in their favor, said Daytona Beach police spokesman Sgt. Al Tolley.”Some people may feel very drunk, but when they blow, the level of alcohol in their system could be lower than they think it is,” Tolley said. “How does anyone really know when they’re at the limit?
LEGISLATIVE MOVES
While examples such as Thomas and Lipps frustrate MADD officials, executive director Andy Hindmann said he’s counting on stiffer penalties instituted by the Legislature in 2002 to punish those who refuse to take the alcohol breath test.
The law states that anyone who refuses to take a breath test after being arrested for DUI a second time will automatically lose his or her license for 18 months and be charged with a misdemeanor.
The option of taking the alcohol breath test won’t exist for some motorists, though.
MADD officials are hailing a state law that took effect Feb. 1. The statute requires drivers convicted of DUI a second time to equip their vehicles with breath devices linked to the ignition. The device keeps the car engine from starting if the driver’s blood alcohol reading is higher than .05.
As far as MADD is concerned, Hindmann said, the organization frowns on anyone refusing to take the alcohol breath test.
“It doesn’t matter if the person is a cop, or a judge, or anything else,” Hindmann said. “A drunk driver is a drunk driver.”
–Linda Logan, News Journal
–from Rogue
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ANOTHER DAYTONA WARNING– I’ve sure gotten old. I’ve had 2 By-pass surgeries. A hip replacement, new knees. Fought prostate cancer, and diabetes. I’m half blind, can’t hear anything quieter than a jet engine, take 40 different medications that make me dizzy, winded, and subject to blackouts. Have bouts with dementia. Have poor circulation, hardly feel my hands and feet anymore. Can’t remember if I’m 85 or 92. Have lost all my friends. But….. Thank God, I still have my Florida driver’s license!
–from Rev CarlR
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