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0 pointsunderwater14y ago0 comments

I've lived in Australia, UK and now California. Drink driving is much more accepted here. In Australia I regularly encountered random breath tests (police stopping and breath testing dozens of drivers at a time) and have been pulled over by a police car purely so I could be breathalised (I was completely sober).

I feel it's much more commonplace and acceptable in the US to drive alone to a bar, drink, and then drive home. Cities are much smaller in Australia and the UK so catching a taxi, public transport or walking is feasible.

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tptacek14y ago· 2 in thread

We have a pesky 4th Amendment in our Constitution that broadly (but not completely) prevents the police from pulling over cars without cause.

So, it is true that if you're a "steady" drunk driver, you're perhaps more likely to get away with driving drunk here than in Oz.

If you get pulled over though, you're likely to be arrested. Getting arrested in the US (as opposed to getting cited) is very unpleasant.

waterlesscloud14y ago

Cause is pretty easy to come by, though. Speeding is the most likely, but there's also the old standby of "weaving".

I worked in a bar for a few years, which oddly enough involved driving home at the well-known bar closing time for the city. And that late at night I pretty much ignored speed limits. I got pulled over quite a lot, and every time as soon as they realized I wasn't drinking, they let me go with no penalty. They were quite obviously trolling for DUIs.

tptacek14y ago

Good for them, I say. At any rate, obviously, if you're speeding (which I, too, do all the time) it's tough to complain about being pulled over.

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