DUI WTF I wasnt driving

I have never gotten a DUI or lost my driver’s license, but I have been pulled over three times. The first time was for speeding (43 MPH in a 25 MPH zone; my very first offense) after 11pm with nobody else on the road. I fought the ticket and got it knocked down to 5 MPH over, which means no points on my license.

The second time was for making a left turn on a red light, also late at night. The straight lights were green, but the left turn arrow was red. I was tired, impatient, less than 10 minutes from home, and not thinking clearly. The cop let me off with a warning.

 

how does 'keys in the ignition' work with push to start autos?
anyone have experience with this & DUI enforcement?
example: you are in a car with push to start (no traditional ignition/keys), drunk & resting + you have the radio on but the car is off
how would the law/cops deal with this scenario?

it sucks how our culture allows the govt/cops to take advantage of a law abiding citizen if you put alcohol to your lips
the key to alcohol consumption is moderation, & sadly many drinkers dont get this

 

Yea, but driving drunk and knowingly let an unlicensed person drive your vehicle are two totally different things. Just because he was drunk and letting his sober but unlicensed girlfriend drive does not mean he should get a DUI.

 

This is actually a very good point!

 

I'm pretty sure if you are in the car with the keys (or the fob), a reasonable assumption would be that you had the intent to drive. I think this would be very difficult to beat. If you're planning on sleeping one off in your car, make sure you do not have the keys in your possession.

 

@Jerry311SD

The third traffic stop still gets me angry even though it happened almost a year ago and I ended up not getting points on my license; Because of this incident, I have lost almost all respect for law enforcement in Doylestown, Pennsylvania...

It was January 2019, and I was working at car dealer detail shop at the time. I also worked at a bar as a barback part-time. After work at the detail shop, I stopped by the bar for the weekly open mic night. I had two non-alcoholic beers (alcohol does not play any role in this).

A friend of ours (me and my friends) got kicked out of her apartment and showed up at the bar where I worked with all of
her worldly possessions, including her bedsheets, a PlayStation 4, and a large flat-panel TV. I have a friend who lets friends crash at her house when they’ve got no place else to go. One text message later, I got the first friend a place to stay. So, we loaded my Tacoma with her stuff and drove her to the friend’s house in Chalfont.

What really screwed me up is that going to Chalfont required me to go straight at a 3-way intersection where I normally turned left. I was also sleep-deprived and had an intoxicated lady friend yammering in my ear.

I stopped at the red light, looked both ways, and proceeded through the intersection. I essentially treated the red light like a stop sign; I’m not saying I wasn’t in the wrong, but there was nobody around and I didn’t blatantly run the red light.

The next thing I know, a goddamn sheriff’s deputy in an empty prisoner transport van comes out of nowhere. In Bucks County, the sheriff and deputies are allowed to pull people over if they witness a violation (which I did not know prior to this traffic stop), but have no authority to write tickets.

I honestly did not know why I’d been pulled over, as I did not realize I’d gone through a red light. The egotistical deputy probably took this for “giving him
an attitude.” He took my license, and the registration and proof of insurance for the Taco, and disappeared for at least 15 minutes.

Finally, a conventional officer from Central Bucks Regional Police Department showed up but did not come to my truck. Instead, he went right to deputy dickhead. The next thing I know, the officer is coming to my truck and handing me a $140 ticket without even getting my side of the story. My response upon receiving the ticket was to say “Damn it!” in frustration. The officer, who did not witness the violation, told me to calm down because I was being recorded, and said I’d almost caused an accident (Bullshit! There was nobody on the road and my dashcams prove this).

The cop also more or less attempted to intimidate me into just paying the ticket, by saying that he and deputy so-and-so would be there in court if I chose to fight it.

The very next day I contacted the owner of the bar where I work, who happens to be a well-known and respected local attorney. He talked to both deputy who stopped me and the officer who’d written the ticket and made a deal; Basically “If my client pleads to a lesser charge with no points, you guys don’t have to come into court.” Without a doubt, my lawyer also mentioned that I had Aspergers, and that I had a job that could be put in jeopardy if I got points on my license. I got a $25 fine and no points on my license.

My primary reason for fighting that ticket was because I believe both officers acted unprofessionally and tried to intimidate me, and like I said I am still not too fond of law enforcement agencies in Doylestown Borough.

 

A department may have a policy that they do that, or the DA may have a policy about it, but it is not ILLEGAL to arrest without giving Miranda. Miranda does not apply to utterances made by someone in custody. It is for questioning, or activity designed to ellicit incriminating responses, while a reasonable person would believe they are not free to leave. There is a lot of case law on it. It would be prudent to mirandize someone pursuant to arrest, but is not ILLEGAL not to.