file photo Boyd Loving
Ridgewood Police Remind You Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over
If your attending Holiday celebrations this week think twice before getting behind the wheel if you have been drinking.
In New Jersey, a person is guilty of drunk driving if he or she operates a motor vehicle with a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of 0.08 percent or greater. Although the law refers to a 0.08 percent BAC, you can be convicted of driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor even when your BAC is below 0.08 percent. Consuming even small amounts of alcohol dulls the senses, decreases reaction time, and hampers judgment, vision and alertness. If you consume any amount of alcohol and your driving is negatively impacted, you can be convicted of drunk driving.
The Ridgewood Police Department offers the following advice to ensure a safe holiday travel season for those who choose to drink alcohol:
Take mass transit, a taxi or ask a sober friend to drive you home.
Spend the night rather than get behind the wheel.
Report impaired drivers to law enforcement. In New Jersey, drivers may dial #77 to report a drunk or aggressive driver.
Always buckle up, every ride, regardless of your seating position in the vehicle. It’s your best defense against an impaired driver.
If you’re intoxicated and traveling on foot, the safest way to get home is to take a cab or have a sober friend or family member drive or escort you to your doorstep.
What is unfair in this state is that as a ‘non-criminal’ offense, you are not allowed to have a jury trial, as in other states.
With the .08 level, just about anyone ‘qualifies’ as drunk after 3 beers in an hour. So these nonsense roadblocks do nothing but nail social drinkers.
The problem drunks never seem to be the ones arrested as part of these programs.
Needing to drink three beers in an hour before driving qualifies you as a “problem drinker”. Drink slower or drive less often.