[bruels]

deanf wrote: "I like it. Police shouldn't be harassing people for committing victimless crimes, which DUI is, until someone gets hurt. Once someone is hurt, the state should harass all they want."

If you were willing to drive down the highway with a lighted sign on your car saying, "Drunk Driver," I would agree with you. That would give all other unsuspecting sober drivers a fair chance at avoiding you.

I never asked drivers to get out of their cars unless I already had a good suspicion they were driving under the influence. I didn't have to get up close to smell the breath. It usually flowed out the window into my face. Also, a driver's slurred speech while answering my questions was another indication of DUI. It doesn't take much booze to interfere with speech, a fine motor skill. And finally, a goodly number of DUI drivers I stopped couldn't find their drivers license in their wallet even when it was the first thing they looked at.

A traffic stop in California is a detention. If I developed reasonable suspicion a driver had been drinking, I was empowered to have the driver leave his vehicle and be subjected to field sobriety tests to determine the degree of intoxication. During a detention, the detained person is not free to leave and the officer can within reason move the detained person to a place where further investigation can be safely conducted and controlled. A detained person who does not cooperate can be handcuffed.

If a driver refuses to perform the field sobriety tests, the officer can also surmise from that the driver is DUI. Based on all of his observations, the officer may arrest the driver for DUI if he reasonably suspects the has been driving while intoxicated.

After the driver is arrested, the officer may search his vehicle for further evidence of drinking while driving, such as opened alcoholic beverage containers.

In California, if you drive, you have already agreed to submit to chemical testing of your blood if arrested for DUI. You are not entitled to have an attorney present during chemical testing. If you refuse to submit to chemical testing, the jury will be instructed they can use that refusal as evidence of DUI.

Finally, the courts in California have ruled that if the arrested driver was involved in traffic accident where other persons were injured or killed, an officer can forcibly have blood drawn by medical personnel in a medically approved manner to prevent evidence from being destroyed.

I think if a driver is going to pay $100 for this little card, he or she is a dedicated DUI driver and the advice will do little to help him or her. It's $100 wasted.