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How Cops Spot a DUI

Written by David O
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How Cops Spot a DUI

Police Officer writing a ticket for DUILaw enforcement officers are trained to look for certain driving patterns that may indicate a driver is under the influence of alcohol and or drugs.  According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration the three most common ways cops spot a DUI are; 1) wide turns, 2) straddling along the central marker between lanes, and 3) appearing to be drunk.

Officers must have a “reasonable cause” or a “reasonable suspicion” that a driver is violating the law in some manner to pull the driver over.  Reasonable cause and reasonable suspicion have no precise definition but it must be something supported by a collection of facts, for example an officer could see a car swerving and that minor moving violation would be enough for a stop.

An officer cannot pull someone over because they may have a hunch that person is DUI, they also cannot randomly pull drivers over in hopes they will find an individual that is DUI.

How Cops Spot a DUI

Here is the complete list of impaired driving signs cops are looking for when searching for DUIs.  The list, provided by the NHTSA, is in order from most common way a cop spots a DUI to least likely way.

  • Negotiating a wide turn
  • Straddling along the central marker between the lanes
  • Appearing to be drunk
  • Near misses or hitting either another vehicle or an object
  • Weaving between lanes
  • Driving off of designated highway
  • Swerving within the lane lines
  • Speeding over 10 mph above the designated speed limit
  • Questionable stops in traffic lanes
  • Tailgating
  • Drifting
  • Driving over center marker between lanes
  • Excessive braking
  • Driving against traffic
  • Questionable signaling
  • Delayed reaction to traffic signals
  • Inappropriate stopping or slowing
  • Illegal or unwarranted turns
  • Accelerating or slowing down quickly
  • Driving without headlights on

Interestingly enough, excessive speeding is not a sign of DUI.  Speeding requires quick reflexes and strong judgment, traits that are usually typical of a sober individual.  However if an individual is speeding and they also happen to be DUI, an officer would be able to investigate that individual for DUI even though they did not initially pull them over for DUI.

If you have any questions or comments regarding the above subject matter you can contact David at david@davidodefense.com.

 

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How You can Prevent a DUI – Tips on getting the Car Keys

Written by David O
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How You can Prevent a DUI – Tips on getting the Car Keys

You can prevent a DUI by taking the car keys away from a friend, family member, or someone who appears to be under the influence of alcohol. Follow these key collecting tips provided by the U.S Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

GET THE KEYS: How You Can Intervene

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Advertising Council’s Innocent Victims public service campaign emphasizes the need to intervene and get the keys away from someone about to drive drunk. Here are some helpful tips and advice from focus group research on how people can get the keys away from a drunk driver.
  1. If it is a close friend, try and use a soft, calm approach at first. Suggest to them that they’ve had too much to drink and it would be better if someone else drove or if they took a cab.
  2. Be calm. Joke about it. Make light of it.Vector Car key ring
  3. Try to make it sound like you are doing them a favor.
  4. If it is somebody you don’t know well, speak to their friends and have them make an attempt to persuade them to hand over the keys. Usually they will listen.
  5. If it’s a good friend, spouse, or significant other, tell them that if they insist on driving, you are not going with them. Suggest that you will call someone else for a ride, take a cab, or walk.
  6. Locate their keys while they are preoccupied and take them away. Most likely, they will think they’ve lost them and will be forced to find another mode of transportation.
  7. If possible, avoid embarrassing the person or being confrontational, particularly when dealing with men. This makes them appear vulnerable to alcohol and its effects.

 

If you have any questions about how to prevent a DUI or if you have recently been charged with a DUI, call David O Defense, 206-459-6392. Our DUI lawyers are here to help!

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Young Man Poses as Law Enforcement and Sets Up his own DUI Checkpoint

Written by David O
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Crazy but true story out of Somerset, Pennsylvania where a young man pretended to be a State Trooper and set up a fake DUI checkpoint across state Route 601 at 4am in the morning.

According to the real Pennsylvania State Troopers, 19 year-old Logan Shualis, went to a lot of trouble to set the stage for his DUI checkpoint, including everything from; placing street  flairs in the road, parking his vehicle diagonally across the highway, dressing the part, and carrying a BB gun as if it were a real pistol.

One motorist who complied with the hokey DUI checkpoint said Shaulis claimed he was a PA State Trooper and required the driver to hand over his driver’s license, registration, and car insurance papers.

Logan’s hoax wasn’t convincing enough, suspicious drivers quickly notified law enforcement officials of the fake DUI checkpoint.  When the real state troopers arrived on scene, Shaulis tried to ditch his BB gun by giving it to the passenger in the car he had stopped at that time… saying, “I can’t get caught with this!”

fake State TrooperTo make matter’s worse for the young man, state troopers determined Shaulis was under the influence of alcohol during his DUI checkpoint charade.  State troopers also determined Shaulis must have driven drunk to the location where he set up his DUI checkpoint.  While Shaulis was under the influence of alcohol he was trying to arrest civilians for DUI as well – Crazy but true!

Logan’s checkpoint was shut down permanently and he was hauled off to jail.  He faces charges of DUI, impersonating a public servant, and unlawful restraint.

Luckily for us Washingtonions, we do not have to worry about DUI checkpoints, or fake ones for that matter!  However most States do allow for DUI checkpoints (aka sobriety checkpoints), so be careful while visiting the great states outside of Washington this summer!

States that do conduct DUI checkpoints include: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.

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