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Woman texted "driving drunk woo" just before fatal crash

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The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
Usually the drunk person is hitting the target head on. Car makers have spent billions of dollars improving the safety of frontal accidents. If you're hit on the side there's far less to "cushion" the impact and you're taking the full brunt of the hit.
Yeah, it sucks. Some cars have side airbags though. Do those usually work in cases like this?

How did the passenger die? Were they not wearing a seatbelt? Or was the damage just worse on their side? Were they drunk too?
 

Maximus.

Member
Thread title is a tad confusing. Just to be clear, both drivers survived, but the passenger in the offender's car did not.

Yes thank you for clarifying what is stated in the OP. People should read the OP before hitting the reply button, not comment on the title. The drunk driver is a dumb bitch and it sucks that her and other drunk drivers take so many lives due to their selfish behavior.
 
There are two ironies here:

1. Most people consider themselves above average drivers, which is mathematically impossible.
2. You're less likely to die in a crash when you're drunk, for whatever reason.
 

Anoregon

The flight plan I just filed with the agency list me, my men, Dr. Pavel here. But only one of you!
There are two ironies here:

1. Most people consider themselves above average drivers, which is mathematically impossible.
2. You're less likely to die in a crash when you're drunk, for whatever reason.

Most people assume they are above average everything.
 

Allforce

Member
The REAL scary part is this happened almost 2 years ago, in 2013 and she's never seen a day in jail yet. Just imagine how many times she's been out partying since then and driven drunk? People this dumb aren't scared straight.
 
0.178 Per mille? Sorry, but I wouldn't call that drunk.

Its not permille. Its the US BAC 0.178

which equals 1.78 permille. The common measurement in Europe. So pretty drunk.
Was confused for a second too because of the measurement differences between countries.
 

darscot

Member
2 hours later though was when she took the breathalyzer. Also have fun hiding the smell of your breath depending on what you were drinking. I had a DUI when I was in my early 20's, and blew a .22 about 30 mins after being pulled over...and I was in absolutely no position to drive. Double vision and the whole nine.

I did a police training thing, its a double blind test of alcohol content. You go to like a special bar and get served drinks. You have no idea how much you are being served, some guys get basically no alcohol and some guys get lots. Then you have to do all the road side sobriety tests to a bunch of rookie cops. I passed every rookie cops test but the old dog doing the training said I was over the limit. I was well over what she blew. It was a fun day because other guys where stumbling drunk but almost dead sober. It's interesting when you have no idea how much your drinking. I would have no way driven as I thought I was a little over but I had no idea I was as bad as I was.
 
Freaking idiot, wrong person died in this situation, tho getting in with a drunk driver is never a good idea either. Hope they throw the book against that drunk driver
 

riotous

Banned
It's definitely not taken seriously enough in American culture.

Often not in the courts either; I know people with multiple DUI's who not only never saw even a minute in jail, but managed to never lose their licenses

There are people hard nosed about it; but many more who just don't care. Drinking problems in general are completely ignored and laughed off when you are in your teens and twenties.
 
It's definitely not taken seriously enough in American culture.

Often not in the courts either; I know people with multiple DUI's who not only never saw even a minute in jail, but managed to never lose their licenses

There are people hard nosed about it; but many more who just don't care. Drinking problems in general are completely ignored and laughed off when you are in your teens and twenties.
Yup. Alcoholism is a disease. But it's treated as party city, baby.
 

foxtrot3d

Banned
It's definitely not taken seriously enough in American culture.

Often not in the courts either; I know people with multiple DUI's who not only never saw even a minute in jail, but managed to never lose their licenses

There are people hard nosed about it; but many more who just don't care. Drinking problems in general are completely ignored and laughed off when you are in your teens and twenties.

It'd odd reading the responses in this thread and the other thread where a Gaffer is facing possible jail sentence for a DUI.
 

ezrarh

Member
I love cars, I love driving, but I will fully welcome a world of self driving cars. Two of todays move dangerous acts while driving spectacularly combined to end someone's life for no reason. People will never stop driving under the influence, they will always believe they are a good enough driver to text while doing so, they will always put on makeup, eat breakfast, do the crossword, etc on their morning commute. The only way this is going to be a thing of the past is to stop people from having to do the driving themselves. Such a shame at 22 to throw her life and her friend's life (and nearly the other driver's life) away.

The funny thing is if we didn't build things around the car, we wouldn't need self driving cars. We could have something called trains. Then we can ban people like her from ever driving again and not completely prevent them from doing things.
 

riotous

Banned
It'd odd reading the responses in this thread and the other thread where a Gaffer is facing possible jail sentence for a DUI.

That guy had 2 priors and was charged with 3 felonies. People seem to think he's going to prison for a DUI; he's going to prison for 3 felonies (one of which is probably felony DUI; I looked up AZ law and it said your 3rd DUI is a felony or "Aggravated DUI")

But it does vary wildly state to state.
 

RS4-

Member
It'd odd reading the responses in this thread and the other thread where a Gaffer is facing possible jail sentence for a DUI.

But he wasn't drunk and texting, correct? Just under the influence of some medication? I'll have to read up again.
 

rbanke

Member
The funny thing is if we didn't build things around the car, we wouldn't need self driving cars. We could have something called trains. Then we can ban people like her from ever driving again and not completely prevent them from doing things.

Yeah, I wish public transit was much more prevalent. What you say is especially true where I live (Near Orlando, FL). You HAVE to drive to get anywhere around here. Taking someone's license away is a huge problem that can totally take away their ability to work. Idealy it should simply be a privilege that you no longer have access to, not a one way ticket to poverty.
 

riotous

Banned
But he wasn't drunk and texting, correct? Just under the influence of some medication? I'll have to read up again.

He failed to mention the other 2 felonies he was charged with; there's something missing from that thread. For all we know he had an illegal weapon on him or something else, he didn't respond when I asked. I believe 1 one of the felonies is the DUI, the other is the assault charge he mentioned.. but the third is a complete mystery.

Several people got the impression that America has really harsh DUI laws from that; and it's really not the case.

Even if a jurisdiction has harsh laws they are often lenient with sentencing, and people can have their DUI's expunged fairly easily. A person I know with 2 DUI's has zero on their record merely for not getting another DUI over the course of 5 years.
 

minx

Member
I'm not condoning drinking and driving, I think his point is she was not out of her mind drunk. I'm fairly confident I could hide .178, I actually know I could. She was too drunk to be behind the wheel but that level is not pissed or anything.

.178 BAC? You think you can hide that? The eyes don't lie brother. Nystagmus all day.

Even if you are a functioning alcoholic and can walk and talk fine at that level, an officer who knows how to find a DUI would easily arrest you at that level.
 
Ugh. Why does the drunken idiot always end up surviving in these cases? It makes you afraid to go outside because you could be killed at any time by someone who made a really stupid decision.

And she pleaded not guilty? Really? Seriously? Throw away the key.

At least the guy she hit survived. Usually you see cases like this and the person who was hit dies instead.

Ironic that there is another thread going on where there is a ton of sympathy for a three time offender who may be going to jail for his most recent DUI which injured another driver, seemingly just because they are a Gaffer. Weird, it is.

Edit: I see it has been pointed out already. It is the outpouring of sympathy in that thread that makes it weird.
 
I remember when I moved to California and when getting my license transferred one of the questions was "what's the BAC limit?". Coming from a place where it's been .05 for as long as I can remember I had to stop myself for a second because it's .08 over here. .08 is 3 standard drinks in an hour for most men. Who the hell would let people legally drive buzzed?
 

darscot

Member
.178 BAC? You think you can hide that? The eyes don't lie brother. Nystagmus all day.

Even if you are a functioning alcoholic and can walk and talk fine at that level, an officer who knows how to find a DUI would easily arrest you at that level.

Read my post above

P.S. I am not a functioning alcoholic just always had a funny tolerance.
 
Is that mugshot from the crash? She doesn't look like anything happened to her. What a selfish person. It always sucks when the ones at fault come away unharmed.
 
0.178 Per mille? Sorry, but I wouldn't call that drunk.

Thats basically nothing.
About half a beer I'd guess.

In germany anything up to 0.5 is legal(1.6 on bicycle) , you only fucked if you get into an accident because insurance won't pay, even if you were below the legal limit.
 

foxtrot3d

Banned
That guy had 2 priors and was charged with 3 felonies. People seem to think he's going to prison for a DUI; he's going to prison for 3 felonies (one of which is probably felony DUI; I looked up AZ law and it said your 3rd DUI is a felony or "Aggravated DUI")

But it does vary wildly state to state.

Well, I was talking about the harshness people are towards this girl and the more sympathy our fellow Gaffer had. Of course, no one died in our Gaffer's situation but the potential was there.
 
Thats basically nothing.
About half a beer I'd guess.

In germany anything up to 0.5 is legal, you only fucked if you get into an accident because insurance won't pay, even if you were below the legal limit.

It was already discussed in the thread.
BAC 0.178 is 1.78 promille in Germany.
 

Rad-

Member
Thats basically nothing.
About half a beer I'd guess.

In germany anything up to 0.5 is legal, you only fucked if you get into an accident because insurance won't pay, even if you were below the legal limit.

No that is 1.78 in Germany. Not 0.178.
 

Allforce

Member
It's definitely not taken seriously enough in American culture.

Often not in the courts either; I know people with multiple DUI's who not only never saw even a minute in jail, but managed to never lose their licenses

There are people hard nosed about it; but many more who just don't care. Drinking problems in general are completely ignored and laughed off when you are in your teens and twenties.

I mean, we didn't even really have any hard and fast laws AGAINST it until the 70's and 80's when MADD came along and really pushed the issue, and not even a universal "BAC" level until 1998. Hell the drinking age was 18 up until 1984 in most states.

Basically it was a warning to "get home safe", a ticket maybe, or a cop having you sleep it off in a "drunk tank" and send you on your way if you had too much to drink and were pulled over back in those days. Those people are still around today.

It sort of boggles my mind how short of period it's actually been against the law in a really serious way to drink and drive. I grew up in the 80's so I remember the ramp up in enforcement, the public-service ads, etc., but to think that 10 years before I was born there wasn't anything stopping anyone is really scary to think about.
 

riotous

Banned
Well, I was talking about the harshness people are towards this girl and the more sympathy our fellow Gaffer had. Of course, no one died in our Gaffer's situation but the potential was there.

Ah, I see.. yeah.. some people were harsh, but there was a lot of kindness shown as well.

I feel bad for the girl in the OP personally; also she should be ashamed and face harsh penalties. The cultural influences in this country are a wicked mix at times.
 

Armaros

Member
Yeah, it sucks. Some cars have side airbags though. Do those usually work in cases like this?

How did the passenger die? Were they not wearing a seatbelt? Or was the damage just worse on their side? Were they drunk too?

It's just th fact that in frontal crashes you have the giant and heavy engine block absorbing a huge amount of the impact, not so much with a side impact.

It's a matter of mass.
 
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