[Harris County, TX] No-refusal 24/7 going into effect.

I agree with you completely, I do not like this at all. Especially the fact that this:

I would almost guarantee is the main driver of the program, not public safety. This is why I'm glad I can bike to most places I enjoy frequenting.

 

Wait, I don't get it. If no-refusal 24/7 is legal, why doesn't every county do it?

 

So Harris County is going to pay for a judge to be available 24/7 just for DWIs? I'm sure this will eventually happen in Travis County, too. The number of No-Refusal weekends has steadily rose over the years.

 

It is expensive. Like the article states above, it pulls away officers from the streets for almost an entire shift which means that in order to keep a proper presence in the street the entity will have to hire more officers/schedule more shifts when DWIs are more frequent. The alternative is less of a presence which is apparently what Houston is going to do. They have decided convictions and fines are worth more than overall public safety (if it were only about safety they would be okay with just an arrest and getting those drivers off the street, but instead the numbers and money are more important).

 

For some reason, I thought this was about seat belts.

 

I guess I just figured that a county could make it legal 24/7 and leave it up to the officers to enforce get a blood test or not. Does this law make it mandatory for all people pulled over on suspicion to be tested?

 

No it is not mandatory. It is only if you refuse the breathalyzer. Also, it is not up to the officer to enforce the blood test. There has to be a warrant signed by a judge for the blood draw.

I wonder what the statistics are for conviction rates where the driver accepted the breathalyzer? I would like to compare that to the rate of convictions when there is a blood draw to see which is the better option should you be pulled over and not know whether you over the limit or not (as we all know two beers can put you above .08 depending on the beer and your size but its hard to tell sometimes).

 

I'm curious as to how long it'll take to get to the blood drawing part.

If it takes a few hours between getting pulled over, getting the warrant signed, being transported to the facility, etc etc, a good bit of alcohol can be oxidized out in this amount of time.


and for the record, I plan to never find out.

 

No, just if you're suspected of drunk driving and you refuse a FST or a breath test. It's a good program, and it gets a lot of drunk drivers off the road. It's also a more accurate test of how much alcohol is in the blood stream since a BAC over .15 is a higher offense now. The article is a bit misleading, I don't know if Harris County is planning on expanding a DWI program, but it doesn't require more officers, it just gives those officers out in the street another tool to use in getting a DWI conviction. The Judges are salaried so they won't get paid more either. San Antonio, and I imagine Austin considering the number of drunk drivers New Braunfels gets going to and fro, has a big issue with drunk driving.

 

30 mins to an hour. Most blood draws occur on people who are completely sloshed. So the loss of BAC wouldn't really matter much.

 

Surprising that a group of people who probably regularly have a few drinks and then drive home have an issue with this.

Thankfully I have a wife who (1) doesn't drink and (2) refuses to let me drive if I'll be drinking, so I have a built in designated driver.

 

It isn't that a judge has to be in the courtroom, or that they have to be available, only that they can be reached. Judges are already on call for warrants, so this is not going to be much of a change. Harris county already runs a 24/7 intake office where issues like this are dealt with.

Basic suspicion is not enough for a cop to request a breathalzer.

If an officer's first request is for you to do a breathalyzer, and you do so, before a field sobriety test, it cannot be used against you as they do not have enough probable cause to warrant its use.

The way that it works is that after a cop pulls you over, they must first have the suspicion that you are over the legal limit (i.e. slurring words, poor driving, smelling like alcohol), at which point they will ask you to step out of your vehicle to perform "roadside gymnastics". They will only ask you for a breath sample if they have enough probable cause from your field sobriety test, or the fact that you smell like booze to suspect you are in fact over the legal limit. It is at this point that the no refusal law kicks in.

 

No, I meant .15. I have personally seen a 125 lb female who blew a BAC of .24 and she still lived.

 

Conviction rates where the driver accepted the breathalyzer are difficult to actually measure, since defense attorneys have many different methods for proving that the data was incorrectly. Rule of thumb however is to never blow if you think there is a chance you are above the legal limit. The reason you want to refuse to blow, is that it can give you a longer time to sober up, and projected alcohol levels (which they will use if it has been more than an hour since you were pulled over) are much easier to dispute. Refusing to blow is a much more lenient offense than a DWI.

 

Might be an issue at bottle shares

 

Except when they get a blood warrant

 

I have actually seen and heard from people, as recently as the last 24 hours, where they felt completely fine to drive, and passed field sobriety tests at .10-.12.

It varies person to person, taking into account, muscle, fat, and how often you drink.

The same level of BAC can also feel different day to day. Some days you may feel buzzed at a .04, and some days not until at or above .08. Unfortunately it is a very difficult science.