Christmas Drink Driving Campaign 2005

[Suzuki]

Last night, at about 11:30pm, I was driving back home with my girlfriend having been out for dinner at a friends house.

I rounded one corner to be met with a police road block, stopping every car passing and breath-testing the drivers.

Cop: "Have you had a drink tonight sir?"
Me: "Yes, I had a glass of wine with dinner at about 7:30pm"
Cop: "Please turn your engine off, step out of the car and come over to the pavement"
Me: "OK"

So, breath test came up with 0, and he said "Thank you" and I was on my way.

Two thoughts struck me...
Firstly, it's nice to see the police actually doing something, and actively looking for people breaking the law. Drink driving is something I have a real problem with, so I completely agree with testing people in random spot checks.
Secondly, why did the policeman who did my test look so dissapointed when my result came back negative?

Have a merry Christmas people. Don't drink and drive m'kay?
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<Simple> no I'm shaven Jon
<Simple> it is a big enough hole.. I'll leave it now
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[killa]

[it really is that quick]

[FreshAL]

They get points for making arrests. I think catching a drink driver gets them as many points as catching a rapist.

[distortion]

Its good to see them actually doing something rather than playing cards at the station to be honest.

There kind of doing the whole *Minority Report* thing, catching killers before they kill in my opinion.

So fair play to them

[Kickstart]

Hi

Contrary opinion time. Not too keen on this idea. Seems the first stage of grabbing people on suspision of anything.

Wonder how many they caught, if any. Wonder if any that they did catch were noticeably drunk.

Probably do rather better just driving round pulling over anyone driving erratically.

All the best

Keith
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[akaDAVE]

[Nath]

Agree with Kickstart. How pissed off would you be if you were made late to work or something (working nights?) because of them stopping you.

Don't the police need reasonable suspicion that you've committed a crime before they can stop you?
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Hard livin', hard luck.

[Kickstart]

[Suzuki]

[Kickstart]

[killa]

It’s not about the doing and not doing, it is the coppers attitude to the job.

You’d had a nice evening with people you like and then are forced to carry out a test, you knew what they were thinking. I’d be polite to if my well paid job was to sit on the bonnet of a cop spec Honda Accord drinking coffee and having chats with mates and locals. If and when they do catch the drunks who possibly were driving past whilst you were having your test, then the funs really begins.
A guy chatting to me about my speeding mentioned that he was caught with amber light on the tester, they wanted to get him back to the station for an accurate reading so they did 100+ on the dual carriage way back to Cheltenham from Gloucester. Lol
Police blab on about the limit, the limit is not the limit, there isn’t one. They’d like you to believe there is, just make sure you don’t have too much they say, don’t give in to another pint before leaving the pub.
That’s bollox, most drinks will get you over that limit.
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Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.
Bike:- Yamaha TRX850 | Killas Biking History | Killas Gaming History | Killas autmotive history

[JonB]

So you think they should be selective about picking and choosing, which is even worse for the policeforce because then they could get accused of being sexist, racist etc etc. At least if everyone gets pulled it's only fair and I doubt you would be moaning if you got knocked off your bike by a drunk driver.
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Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it?s worth.

[kb-zxr]

I would have no problem with it. Also it may help detter drink drivers if these random checkpoints pop up.

Better than these mobile speed cameras

[Kickstart]

[Rookie]

It's better than nothing. I always get scared on the roads this time of year. Going along the motorway to my theory last night, a van drew up alongside us in the right hand lane and indicated to go into our lane. I was absolutely bricking it, just waiting for him to barrel into us. I feel safer knowing they'll get a few tossers who actually are drunk (this guy probably wasn't, but I'm ill, so it probably made me paranoid) off the road.

[Kickstart]

Hi

Point being that wasting there time with a road block they are ignoring the total piss heads who know they are too far gone and are using small unused roads. Instead they are mainly going to catch those just over the limit who are no real danger.

After all, the law does not specify how impaired you are, just the alcohol level.

All the best

Keith
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[JodieWodie]

My mates Fiance was on a works do last weekend, and as he was the 'designated driver' for a couple of other people, he limited himself to two lager shandys for the whole of the night (truthfully)

He left the restaurant...drove to Rugby to drop the 2 people off. It so happened they lived near an easily-accessed pub car park, so they were dropped there.
As the bloke then drove off.....'neeee-nooorrr' (for that is what police cars do)
Pulled over.

"You had a drink tonight sir"?
"Yes...2 pints of lager shandy"
KER-CHING !!
"Step out of the car..."
THE WORST THING HE DID WAS CHEW A PIECE OF GUM !!!
They said "You are chewing gum..why"?
He said "Because I want to..I like it" I dont think they liked that

2 breath tests later (apparently no result was shown on the widget..therefore it was broken)
They called another car, to bring another breathaliser down to them.
They arrived...did the test...no result.
So they arrested him

My friend was going mad by this point...it was 1am..her Fiance was meant to be home at 11.30pm.

So..they took him to the nick, kept him in an interview room..waiting.
Another breath test....no result they said.
A WEE test. After another half an hour wait they walked in..."Your test was negative. You can leave now"
Err...cheers.
3am he strolled in to be met by her shouting her head off at him ! What a brill works do not

Totally mental thing for the coppers to do.
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Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow"

[mchaggis]

The usual thing I trot out is that when I've been riding cold, tired and in the dark, I've been far, far more dangerous than I would be after a glass or two of wine. Driving while tired isn't illegal in the slightest though.
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Mmmm, Guinness
Discovering the delights of Hammerite and a 3/4" brush.

[romperstomper...]

I got stopped for a breath test which would have been okay but they had to call anther cop car for a tester and they refused to let me seat in the warmth of my car ,as I had just left the gym and had a vest and shorts I was freezing waiting in the cold !

All the cops happy chistmas
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Yeah I know !

[ashley_46]

In my opinion if it stops one drunk driver then i'm all for it. How would you feel if they were more selective and missed the drunk who hit your missus or someone you care about. Whether you realise it or not a couple of drinks can have a major reaction on your reflexes and confidence and whenever i have been pulled over and breathalysed the cops have been polite and its taken no more than about 2 mins.

I also think its a good chance for them to do vehicle checks because it means they have more chance of recovering stolen vehicles or untaxed/uninsured drivers. Obviously you will get arseholes like in Jodies example and that is unacceptable but if random checks only save one life then surely its worth the inconvinience.

[mr.z]

If they REALLY wanted to stop drink drivers they should park up by pubs with totaly full car parks and not many cokes being sold at the bar.. (30 cars in the pub car park, can say for 99% sure that half of them drive off over the limmit every weekend)

Stoping dirver who are going way to slow or driveing like twats is fair enough too..


TBH i can't understand why people can't go out and have no drink, then you can say no and they can let you on your way

[Kickstart]

[lurker]

wonder how many of the above attitudes would be changed if they got t-boned by a drink driver over christmas.
i got waved into a layby just over a week ago and asked a few questions by a reasonable enough copper, wasn't tested cause i quite clearly hadn't been drinking.
didn't give him any attitude and was on my way within 5 minutes.
no problem.
dunno what the big girls blouse attitude is all about with getting stopped for one of the few worthwhile things that the police can do for the guy on the road, which is after all keeping the felfish w****rs of the world off our roads and making them a bit safer for the people that use them.

[Jack_Cheese]