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A Report from the Hinterlands
"We were up at a bar in Independence celebrating a co-worker's wedding and I found I'd had a bit too much to drink. I didn't think I should drive home, so I got in the back seat of my car, locked the doors and went to sleep.
"Sometime later, I was awakened by a man in everyday clothes pounding the glass and sides of the car, screaming at me to open the door. Just awakened, I had no idea what was going on and as I sat there, the assault became more and more violent and abusive.
"I climbed over the seat to the front, located the keys, and was about to start the car when the man broke out the side window with his fist, reached in and took the keys, and put me under arrest.
"He was a plain-clothes police officer. The first time he identified himself as such was when he arrested me.
"I was charged with resisting arrest and DUI, even though I wasn't driving. It was enough that the keys were in my possession."
The moral of Dan's story is this: if you feel that you are too drunk to drive, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SLEEP IN THE CAR instead. The police routinely check cars parked in the lots of bars, restaurants, and motels. They will certainly find you and you will certainly go to jail. You would be better advised to drive home stinking drunk.
Do you suppose this is the result that those lawmakers were looking for when they framed those drunk-driving laws? Or is it a bit self-defeating?
Or perhaps its exactly what they wanted. Perhaps the lawmakers were more interested in generating revenue than keeping drunks off the road.
c 1997 CDAMM