livinginnyc

Can now also earn you a DUI in California.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...-solano-county

SultanOfSwing

How does that even work? Surely any judge worth his salt will dismiss that case right away.

mrken30

Does California have DUI or DUII laws like in Oregon?

SultanOfSwing

Some states call it DWI (Driving while intoxicated), which implies it's something other than alcohol. I think this is what Illinois does.

But caffeine? That's total BS. It's a mild diuretic, and non-narcotic stimulant and unless needing to piss constantly somehow impairs your driving to the point of being as dangerous as being ****ing drunk, this case needs to be dropped like a mentally unstable girlfriend.

mrken30

This is some jumped up little cop abusing his power against someone who cut him up. I am very much anti Police after my experience in the US. They are too many power happy little j#$ks here. Very different to the UK. I agree the vast majority appear to be nice people, until the situation occurs when they have opinions that are not in line with the law.

I was almost arrested and charged with theft for raising a credit card dispute for faulty goods. It cost me money to pay an attorney and the Police pulled charges after I paid the Chief of Police off.

SultanOfSwing

It sucks but the reality is, during a traffic stop, the best thing to do is to keep quiet and speak only when spoken to, answer questions only when asked but otherwise sit and wait to see what the ticket is going to be. In rare cases, you may get a warning, in most cases you'll get the standard ticket for whatever it is you were stopped for but if you get in any way arsey or belligerent, you might end up with a few additional items tacked on and ticket/court costs are high enough as it is, it's just not worth it.

N1cky

Yeah, we had a very shitty experience with the US police too. Completely different experience to the UK police. The entire US system worries me now.

SultanOfSwing

For a country than spends much of its time banging on about freedom, it certainly seems to get off on unchecked authoritarianism.

tom169

This is what my approach would be if ever the situation arose.

Answering "Do You Know Why I Stopped You?" is like walking into a booby trap.

livinginnyc

(edited as it had a naughty word in it).

But seriously though, I try and avoid law enforcement as much as possible

SultanOfSwing

I've only been stopped twice. First time, I was stopped for speeding, they asked me that and I knew I was speeding so I was able to answer it. I was nice to him, especially because I could tell he was in a bad mood but I still got the ticket. Doubt I'd have got out of it anyway, I was doing 78 in a 55. Even if he'd just been sucked off by Scarlett Johanson right before getting out of his car, I wasn't getting off with a warning for 23 over

Second time was for a dead headlight bulb and I had no idea why he stopped me. That one was nice from the start though and he didn't ask me why I was stopped. Needless to say that I just got a 'get it fixed soon' for that one and was sent on my way.

johnwoo

I've been stopped three times in fifty years, each time justifiably. If you get caught fair cop, pay up and move along.
About the same number of time I have been stopped in the UK, except I the UK I just got a warning.
I think from the cops POV they have to deal with a far more dangerous environment.

johnwoo

The country? I think the country is pretty much divided, red/blue, on that and most other issues.

mrken30

Freedom is just a perception they would like you to believe.

scrubbedexpat091

I've been pulled over 2 times, once in Wisconsin and once in Canada, the WI cop was nicer, and let me go with a warning. I was doing 70 in a 55 on the interstate, but he apparently liked California based on all his comments about how nice it was there, how he wished he lived there etc etc. (Had CA licence and plates.)

The cop in Canada was not pleasent, never told me why he pulled me over, just kept me pulled over for 1/2 hour then told me to go. Never figured out what the issue was, it was snowing, and I certainly couldn't speed, I was going 20 km/h in a 30 km/h zone.