Tovarishchi Don't Let Tovarishchi Drive Drunk
Quick: Which country will have the world’s toughest DUI laws? You won’t believe it.
Despite the MADDening work of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the average inebriated American driver usually gets away if he or she passes a field sobriety test without bursting into loud laughter, or if caught with a blood alcohol content below 0.08 percent.
Russia, a country that – according to popular wisdom – runs on vodka, soon will join the growing league of zero tolerance countries. According to Der Spiegel, Russia’s President Dmitrij Medwedew introduced a law that lowers the allowed BAC in Russia from currently 0.03 percent to the nyet level of 0.0 percent. Russia will join many Eastern European countries which (surprise, surprise) already demand tea-totaling traffic participants. Most of the EU allows 0.05 percent, says Wikipedia. In the U.K. you can have a pint more: 0.08 percent.
China, the country with some of the world’s highest accident rates, will also impose stiff penalties, says China Car Times. As of April 1, drivers caught with any alcohol in their blood will lose their license. China has an odd points system that gives you 12 points to start with, and then points will be subtracted. Once you reach zero: No more driving. Don’t buckle up for safety: Your points go from 12 to 10. Driving drunk will cost you 12 points – you are out. Driving with a fake license or a fake plate did cost you only 3 points, as of April 1, this will also increase to 12 points. Your fake license will be taken away.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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Most countries in the Middle-East (Gulf) have a ZERO tolerance on BAC. This means that no blood test is necessary. If a Police Officer ...smells....alcohol on your breath, there is a mandatory 28 days prison sentence to be meted out. I might be mistaken, but in Saudi Arabia there is also a good lashing to be have on top.
In Ontario, over .05 first offence =3 day suspension and a call to your insurance 30 days for a second 90 for a third. Over .08 One year suspension $1000 or more fine, mandatory retraining $500, and a one year ignition interlock, $1200 to install $100 a month monitor fees. To say nothing of what havoc it may cause to your electrical system. Insurance will double or triple for five years.Second offence, double the above plus 2 weeks in the can. On the US roads the cops are everywhere I usually go with the flow,but no more than 10 MPH over the limit. In Ontario the cops are few and far between. On the four laners if your not doing 75 to 80 you are hindering trafffic. When I was a reciever at GM, I had seasoned US truckers,tell me they had never seen anything like it in the states. "Where are all your cops"they would say Well I'll tell where they are. They will have six OPP cruisers, and a mobile breathilizer set up on the off ramps,tow trucks on standby stopping all vehicles. Its called a ride program [Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere} The Regional Police set up on city streets, 7 or 8 cruisers 10 cops. They will sit in unmarked cruisers watching the bars. Meanwhile we have breakins,home invasions,street racing,drug dealers,rapes and gun fights[only the bad guys have guns in Canada] Due to our totally enept system of justice,that allows real criminals to walk away with a slap on the wrist. I could take an illlegal hand gun hold up a store and be in less sh-- than an impaired.
NulloModo: "This is ridiculous. Allowing any presence of alcohol in the blood to turn into a DUI will just lead to the police turning ordinary traffic stops into DUI busts to boost conviction rates just because someone who failed to signal had a BAC of .01. " The objective has never been to make the streets safer. It is to dis-empower the average citizen by getting us all out of our cars and onto the city bus.
By the way, that video is too funny. But I question whether or not it's real. No matter, I laughed anyway.