DC City Council to the Rescue! (burp)
Tuesday - October 18, 2005
I went to a party a few
years ago with a friend who brought along a pocket breathalyzer
as a sort of conversation piece. For kicks, I decided to test
myself after each drink I consumed. To my amazement, the device
was wildly inconsistent.
The DC Justice League:
poised to save happy hour for us
all!
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A couple beers
registered me at anywhere between .01 and .08. It all depended
on...? How I held it? I learned that this was the same type of
device police used in the field. My friend, a seasoned
alcoholic with a few DUI's, told me that a cop will test you in
the field, and based on the (wildly varying) result, will
decide whether or not to bring you in and test you on the
official, super-accurate machine. Based on its result, charges
will be brought or not.
Unbeknownst to everyone in the district
until last week, DC's legal limits were dangerously low.
Someone (a lawyer no less) learned that DC's legal limit is .01
and that DC cops could haul you in on mere suspicion. The news
media pounced on the issue. Bar and restaurant owners were
outraged. Drinkers were, well, very upset. This is DC damn it!
We need happy hour! We need liquor to help us unwind and sleep
at night, and thick black coffee (or mocha espresso) to kick
start us in the morning!
Thank goodness for the DC City Council!
They sprang in to action today in an emergency (yes, emergency)
session and unanimously voted to raise the legal limit to .05.
I guess they felt abolishing limits all together would be
irresponsible. Anyway, all has been remedied... just in time
for happy hour.
Posted at 05:52 PM < Just Another Brick in the Blog
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