No, I am not talking about the Cicadas that would arrive by the billions every 17 years in PS and take over every inch of CV property. I remember as a little boy watching city employees with large wide shovels scooping up hundreds of dead “bugs” at a time and putting them in very large trash containers.
Instead I am referencing the hordes of tourists (who do bug some of us at times) we happily welcome every year. These “snow birds” help our economy but also create traffic jams.
“Snowbird” traffic results in more cars on the road getting into accidents and arrested for a DUI. This week I will analyze the DUI impact of more cars on the road and what a driver should do to avoid that situation happening to them. Next week I will look at how it also affects the increase in auto accidents…and then what to do when that happens.
There is a focus on arrests during “snowbird season” which truly occurs throughout California. There were 936 DUI Arrests in California, a 22 percent increase, and 40 innocent drivers killed in CA during the NY’s weekend alone. This was a 38 percent increase over the same period last year. Of the 40 people who were killed on the road, 13 people were not wearing their seat belts per the CHP said.
Chances are none of the affected drivers read and followed my weekly warning: DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE, CALL A TAXI, LYFT OR UBER………THEY ARE A LOT CHEAPER THAN GETTING AN ACCIDENT OR ARREST AND CALLING ME … LAW ENFORCEMENT WARNS “DRIVE SOBER OR GET PULLED OVER”
Year in and year out every weekly legal column has the missive to GIVE THIS CARD TO ARRESTING OFFICER WITH LICENSE/INSURANCE. Unfortunately most drivers get black and white fever when stopped by the police. This is especially true after they have been drinking and they forget everything they have read to do.
My warning suggests saying: “Upon advice of my attorney, Dale Gribow, I exercise my right to remain silent until you contact him at (760) 837-7500 or dale@dalegribowlaw.com for his Ok. My attorney has advised me the VOLUNTARY FIELD SOBRIETY AND BREATH TESTS, at the scene, are OPTIONAL (unless one is on probation). Thus I ELECT not to take them. I want to cooperate and am happy to take a BLOOD TEST.”
There are so many things drivers don’t understand about drinking. I have explained in previous columns that the kind of mixer you drink affects how you will feel the next day. Some people think sugar makes a hangover worse. But sugar actually causes your body to absorb alcohol more slowly. So a liquid that has sugar makes a better mixer than diet drinks. Thus drink cokes not diet cokes.
Most people don’t know that drinking is harder on a woman’s body. In general, pound for pound, women’s bodies have less water to dilute alcohol, and more alcohol gets absorbed into the bloodstream. So a woman can drink less than a man and still get a man-sized hangover. And a woman who drinks heavily is likely to get alcohol-related organ damage sooner than a man would, even if she drinks less. And we should all remember it is not the number of drinks but rather the amount of alcohol in each drink.
To avoid a DUI you must know your rights:
- Field Sobriety and Breath Tests at the scene are OPTIONAL.
- If no drink for a few hours, request a Blood test at the station.
- It takes about an hour for a drink to go in or out of your blood.
- A DMV hearing MUST be requested within 10 days or right to a hearing is lost and license is suspended.
- Silence is Golden and Handcuffs are Silver so DON’T TALK to POLICE.
- DUI requires both a DMV and Court hearing.
- The 23152 a & b filing gives the DA two (2) bites of the apple.
- A 23152b only deals with an alcohol reading of .08 or more
- If you lose the DMV hearing your license is suspended for 4 months and if you plead in court or lose at trial your license is again suspended by DMV…….but you do not have to endure two suspensions.
DALE GRIBOW
“TOP LAWYER” – Palm Springs Life (DUI) 2010-2018
“TOP LAWYER”-Inland Empire Magazine Nov, 2016
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