DC cops: one glass of wine gets you busted for drink/drive

[emad]

Dinner, dinner everywhere and not a drop to drink
By Alec Russell in Washington
(Filed: 15/10/2005)

It has survived the fast-food "vulgarianism" of Bill Clinton and the Tex-Mex "cowboy" tastes of George W Bush. But now the grand Washington dinner party is facing the zero-tolerance regime of the DC police, who insist a single glass of wine is too much if you want to drive home.

For decades the city's social powerbrokers have maintained the dining traditions of a bygone era: dress "informal", meaning frocks and suits; the honoured guest receiving and delivering an elegant homily and, crucially, cocktails, several wines and liqueurs flowing.

Ronald Reagan, who presided over a boom in Washington entertaining after the drabber years of the Carters, dubbed the city's legendary hostesses, "the Georgetown Ladies' Social Club". As they and their successors have long made clear, it takes more than the arrival of a new First Family at the White House to knock them off their perch.

Bill Clinton may have been known on the 1992 campaign trail for his midnight pizzas and love of deep fried chicken but, like his predecessors, he made the social pilgrimage to the table of Katharine Graham, the late owner of the Washington Post.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/10/15/wwide15.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/10/15/ixworld.html

[soothsayer]

1. How is it legal to arrest people for something that's not illegal?

I hope all this exposure makes these money grubbing bastards back off this insane policy.

[Eric J in MN]

4. Washigton, DC has a ".01" standard,

instead of the more common ".08."

[emc]

5. in the west

Here in NM, I believe its .05 for people who drive for a living---but anyway, its also wine festival time ---october fest---but how in the hell are you supposed to go to a wine festival, and then leave---I guess you stay all night on the grounds or bring your own personal slave who has a drivers license------

[soothsayer]

6. Wow. This is really going to hurt the restaurant biz in dc, or else

really increase metro ridership. That's just effing stupid.

[TahitiNut]

8. Got a cite for that? All the info I see says it's 0.08 everywhere, now.

I see nothing to indicate a lower BAC standard in D.C.

"According to the D.C. Code, a driver with a blood alcohol level of .08 or above is presumed intoxicated and may be arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated. Every state has in recent years set the same level -- acting quickly once Congress threatened to withhold highway dollars if they didn't."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/14/AR2005101401959.html


Once upon a time, I understood that there was a differnece between DWI (Driving While Intoxicated) and DUI (Driving Under the Influence) where the former was a BAC above 0.08 and the latter was less than 0.08 BUT was a citation for a violation or erratic driving. Anyone can be stopped and cited for erratic driving.

[Eric J in MN]

10. It's from wonkette

http://www.wonkette.com/politics/the-district/index.php#district-police-thirst-for-duis-130536

District Police Thirst for DUIs

When most people say, "Don't drink and drive," they mean, "Don't get shitfaced and put your and other people's lives in danger." When the city of Washington, D.C says, "Don't drink and drive," they mean, "We must fill our arrest quotas and raise money from frivolous fines." Drivers in the District can be arrested for having a blood alcohol count as low as .01. Perspective: Maryland and Virginia define drunk as .05 or above. Nationally, drunk is .08 (next Wonkette party will be held in a national park). Blood-alcohol of .01? You can get that from smelling vermouth. (Which is all we ever do with vermouth, anyway.)

Has anyone checked into the campaign donation records of Diamond Cab? -- WONKETTE

[soothsayer]

9. Not true---finally looked it up. DC is .08 like most places

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/14/AR2005101401959.html

<snip>
According to the D.C. Code, a driver with a blood alcohol level of .08 or above is presumed intoxicated and may be arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated. Every state has in recent years set the same level -- acting quickly once Congress threatened to withhold highway dollars if they didn't.

In most states, including Maryland and Virginia, a driver with a blood alcohol level of less than .05 is generally presumed not intoxicated. The D.C. Code states, however, that drivers with "less than .03" percent blood alcohol are not presumed not intoxicated -- a provision that makes it easier to prove low blood alcohol cases in court.

The emergency legislation proposed by Schwartz, Cropp and council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) would strike that language from the code. Instead, they propose bringing the District in line with the states and adding language to make clear that drivers with less than .05 blood alcohol are presumed not intoxicated.

Between .05 and .08, is a "neutral zone," Schwartz said, where no presumption about intoxication is made. And blood alcohol content may be considered with other factors to prove a driver's impairment.
<snip>

much more at link above

[Pepperbelly]

2. I would think that they would have to flunk a ...

beathalyzer or something first. There has to be evidence or there is no conviction.

[emad]

3. A coke-detector test would be better than breathalysing harmless

post-dinner party drivers...

[HereSince1628]

7. Are DC cops profiling white drivers after 10PM in suits or frocks?

Just kidding guys...

Drunk driving is no joke, I am assuming the concern is not for people having just 1 glass of wine.