Vengeance, Bad Data Make For Terrible DUI/DWI Policy
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 Posted in DUI/DWI | 1 Comment »By James Baxter, NMA President This editorial by James Baxter is a response to a five part series on drunk driving in Wisconsin that appeared in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel in October. The Journel-Sentinel series on “excessive drinking,” primarily related to drunk driving, ...
Use This Card To Stand Up For Your Rights At Roadblocks
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 Posted in Roadblocks | 9 Comments »The 4th Amendment has been weakened significantly over the years in an effort to allow the use of roadblocks as a law enforcement tool. Fortunately, you still have rights should you choose to exercise them. When citizens are faced with roadblocks, ...
A Blueprint For Reasonable Drunk Driving Laws
Monday, June 30th, 2008 Posted in DUI/DWI | 24 Comments »As a followup to last week's post on the possibility of mandatory breathalyzers in every vehicle, we thought it would be worth going over the organization's stance on DUI/DWI laws: The NMA supports drinking and driving regulations based on reasonable standards ...
Mandatory In-Car Breathalyzers Coming?
Monday, June 23rd, 2008 Posted in DUI/DWI | 51 Comments »By Eric Peters, Automotive Columnist If you're not a convicted drunk driver, should you still be required to have an in-car breathalyzer fitted (at your expense, 'natch) to your next new vehicle? Apparently, some automakers -- including GM and Toyota -- ...
Drinking Improves Highway Safety (Apparently)
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 Posted in DUI/DWI | 10 Comments »By Jim Baxter, NMA President A new federal study from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (part of the US Dept. of Health and Human services) just confirmed that states with the highest levels of self-reported drinking and ...
The Fourth Amendment Is Dead
Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 Posted in Motorist Privacy | 45 Comments »By James Baxter, NMA President The Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution has been strangled with convoluted legal rationalizations, riddled with bullets in the form of Supreme Court decisions and drawn and quartered by “creative” law enforcement interpretations. ...
Breath-Alcohol Analysis: How Reliable Is It?
Friday, December 21st, 2007 Posted in DUI/DWI | 11 Comments »By Gerald D. Simpson, Ph.D. In a 1983 law review article, Stephen G. Thompson observed the following: "Modern criminal justice is premised upon the requirement that a criminal defendant be proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt before punishment can be meted out. ...
5 Federal Court Cases That Weakened The 4th Amendment
Thursday, December 6th, 2007 Posted in Roadblocks | 5 Comments »"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and ...
5 Things You Need To Know About Roadblocks
Wednesday, November 21st, 2007 Posted in Roadblocks | 69 Comments »Q. Are roadblocks legal? A. The US Supreme Court has found roadblocks to be legal for a variety of purposes, the most prominent being so-called "sobriety check points." There is a longer history of roadblock approvals related to checking vehicles near ...
What Everyone Should Know About The Drunk Driving Problem
Thursday, November 8th, 2007 Posted in DUI/DWI | 39 Comments »We frequently hear that drunk drivers "cause 50% of all highway fatalities." This falls into the category of "tell a big enough lie long enough and loud enough and people will believe it." The truth is closer ...
