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[lamont]

Ok, let's go back to the speed limit example. If someone gets pulled over for going 10 mph over the speed limit, they get a comparably smaller penalty than someone caught going 25 over. Yes, I drank. But the fact that I blew a 0.00, clearly showing I was perfectly sober by the time I was in the car (the highest my BAL could've been at the time I stepped into the car, going by the rule that it drops by .015 for every hour after drinking, is .015 since I was tested an hour after -- still under the legal limit of .02 for underage DUI). So my only point is that what I did seems by all accounts to be far less severe than someone underage who is caught piss drunk and possibly causing trouble and/or being uncooperative. THAT'S why I would argue that my behavior warrants different treatment.

Thing is that the law is apparently that for any MIP infraction that you lose your license for 90 days. That sounds clear, and if you don't want to lose your license you shouldn't be drinking or shouldn't get caught. I routinely do 8-10 mph over the limit and I'm okay with the cost of that if I get pulled over, and I try to keep a pretty low profile on the road so that I don't attract attention...

Advice well taken, but in this case we actually didn't have any bottles in the car because the cop got us after we dropped them off in the dumpster. Same thing would've happened had we walked to the dumpster, just without the possibility of me landing a DUI. And there won't be a next time for me back home, that's for sure... I'm keeping it confined to college from now on, lol.

Guarantee you that kids pulling up to a dumpster on a saturday night, hopping out and dumping trash into it will trigger a different reaction when a cop sees it than a kid walking to a dumpster with a garbage bag and throwing it in... If you're dumping out empty bottles, no judge is going to consider that MIP just by that fact and if you smell like alcohol you've got a pretty good excuse. If a car is involved, just the fact that you've got open containers is enough to get you in trouble, and it immediately introduces the suspicion of not only MIP, but DUI, and that is going to earn you more attention from any cop who sees you...

 

[Jorbar1551]

what do police normally do when they catch an underage person with a fake I.D?

 

[PhillyDiver86]

Thing is that the law is apparently that for any MIP infraction that you lose your license for 90 days. That sounds clear, and if you don't want to lose your license you shouldn't be drinking or shouldn't get caught. I routinely do 8-10 mph over the limit and I'm okay with the cost of that if I get pulled over, and I try to keep a pretty low profile on the road so that I don't attract attention...

I understand... trust me I'm not just some dumb kid who goes around drinking all the time without regard to the consequences for myself and others... that's why I would never step into a car if I weren't completely sober. And it's easy to say, well if you don't want to lose it then don't do it, and that will certainly be first and foremost on my mind until I turn 21 this upcoming year. But because I hadn't before been involved in a situation remotely close to what happened that night, I wasn't aware of the loss of license penalty. Is it going to stop me from drinking casually with my friends? No, I'm by no means a party animal but I am in college after all. But like I said I certainly won't do it in my hometown until I'm of age.

Guarantee you that kids pulling up to a dumpster on a saturday night, hopping out and dumping trash into it will trigger a different reaction when a cop sees it than a kid walking to a dumpster with a garbage bag and throwing it in... If you're dumping out empty bottles, no judge is going to consider that MIP just by that fact and if you smell like alcohol you've got a pretty good excuse. If a car is involved, just the fact that you've got open containers is enough to get you in trouble, and it immediately introduces the suspicion of not only MIP, but DUI, and that is going to earn you more attention from any cop who sees you...

Well you are going to have to trust me here as a native of the suburb in which I grew up... it would most definitely lead to the same result. Three kids wandering around and dumping stuff in a dumpster at 1:30 am would absolutely draw the attention of any cop in my town that saw it. The empty beer bottles and smell of alcohol on us would be more than enough to warrant them giving us underage citations -- after all it's based completely on the cop's judgment. A bunch of my friends were out on New Years walking to a 711 in my town when cops stopped them and breathalyzed them. All failed it and all were slapped with underage citations. This is the kind of thing that happens in a town where cops have nothing better to do, quite frankly. Not a bad thing, just now my friends and I know to what extent it's true. Wouldn't happen in the city, but in the suburb where I grew up you better believe it would.

 

[TJcop]

Philly: You seem like a smart kid (man ), so I don't want to preach to you. I can only offer you advise as an officer and as another human.
The human side says: Hey, if you plan to drink, stay wherever you're drinking! Don't leave until the morning. That's your best chance of not getting caught.

The officer side says: Don't lie to the police when you're caught. Even with the little speech I gave you before, knowing that you're 20, I'm kinda suprised that you got a ticket in the first place. Maybe it was the lying, since that is what bugs me the most. Honesty ALWAYS pays off with me. Had a few beers? Ok, I'm cool. Let's just make sure nobody is drunk, then I scream at you for making a bad choice, then send you on your way. Notice I say bad CHOICE, not bad PERSON. I believe there is a huge difference, and most of the time people make the wrong choice.

Oh, and in regards to your speeding analogy; I can say that I am prepared to pay any fine that I earn.

 

[RonDawg]

I know this forum is on its last breaths but I've got a good one...

Today, i got pulled over doing 30 in a 35. A cop pulls behind me and puts on his sirens. I do a little check, and see i'm below the speed limit with my seat belt on. His reason for pulling me over..."your license plate is hard to see with that ball traler hitch"

***, you think they have better things to do in their spare time!

The whole point of having a license plate is so your vehicle is easily identifiable. If it can't be read, it's not identifiable, now is it?

On that point, I don't know why truck manufacturers, and truck bumper manufacturers, still insist on putting mounting points that cause trailer hitch balls to obscure the license plate.

As mentioned already, Timothy McVeigh was caught not just for speeding, but for having no license plates on the getaway car. It's a good thing the officer who stopped him didn't think he had "better things to do in his spare time" or else we may have never caught what was up until September 11, 2001 the worst terrorist to strike on US soil.

 

[PhillyDiver86]

Thanks T.J., the advice is well taken and some that I most always follow anyway. Literally the one time I didn't seemed to be the worst time not to, lol. I'm sure the lying thing didn't help, when it was blatantly obvious even to us that they wouldn't buy it for a second with a freshly dumped case of empty bottles in the dumpster we had just visited. But the way cops are in my town I wouldn't be surprised at all if they slapped me with a DUI on the spot had we admitted it straight away. Of course I could be wrong and would like to think so, but the well-known stringency of cops in my town (along with fear overtaking logical thought) led to us handling it the way we did. I have no disrespect for cops whatsoever, and like I said I made sure I was on very good terms with the one taking me in, even leading him to comment that he was thrilled to be dealing with someone like me as opposed to the usual a-holes, as he put it.

And same goes with me as far as speeding, I wasn't entering any not guilty plea when I was flagged for going 82 in a 55, lol.

 

[TJcop]

Well, it's been some time since anyone posted on this thread. I hope that means that everyone has been behaving...but I know that's not true, otherwise I'd be unemployed!

I'm still here, if anyone needs a question answered.

 

[The Kraken]

A traffic question:

A car (#1) is traveling in the outside lane (curb lane if you would) of a multi-lane highway.

There are no other cars in the vicinity in any of the other lanes.

A second car (#2) is in the merge lane intending to merge into the lane in which car #1 is travelling.

As the merge lane closes with the travel lane car #2 is slightly ahead of car #1 (let us say that the driver side door of car #2 is even with the passenger side headlight of car #1).

Car #2 starts merging with car #1 and the two cars collide.

Which car is at fault?

the K

 

[TJcop]

Kraken, that's an easy one! The vehicle that is merging onto the highway (in your scenario, car #2) is "asking" permission to enter the highway. Vehicles on the highway always have the right of way, so it's the responsibility of the vehicles merging onto the roadway to make sure it is safe for them to do so.
It's no different than a vehicle leaving a driveway or a parking lot. They must make sure traffic is clear before entering the roadway, the same as a merging vehicle.

Hope that helps!

 

[The Kraken]

Thanks, TJ !!!
I knew the logical answer, but I can see some defense attorney arguing that car #1 could have slowed down, moved to another lane, or some other nonsense.

I know the position of counsel for car #1 would state that the driver was simply maintaining his right-of-way.

Drivers in the Atlanta area are so bad about that.

the K