Goodbye, Fifth Amendment
Thursday, September 17th, 2009 Posted in DUI/DWI | 50 Comments »By Eric Peters, Automotive Columnist Next time you get pulled over by a cop - or stopped at random in a "sobriety checkpoint" -- you might want to remember the following laugh line: It's called the Fifth Amendment to the Bill ...
California Supreme Court: Breathalyzer Results Can Be Challenged
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 Posted in DUI/DWI | 15 Comments »An article in the Los Angeles Times late last week brought attention to the California Supreme Court's recent ruling that Breathalyzer findings can be challenged in court: Under the law, a suspected drunk driver can submit to either a blood test, ...
The Ignition Interlock Hoax
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 Posted in DUI/DWI | 5 Comments »By James Baxter, NMA President MADD and its bloated stepmother, NHTSA, have been pushing for mandated ignition interlock devices (IIDs), preferably in all vehicles, but they know from experience these things have to be done in an incremental fashion, or there ...
MADD Pushes To Make DUI Violations A Felony
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 Posted in DUI/DWI | 14 Comments »By James Baxter, NMA President MADD’s current excuse for existing is to make DUI violations a felony, the most serious of criminal convictions. A felon, along with going to prison, loses the right to vote, the right to possess firearms, any ...
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 | 13 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 | 45 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 | 91 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 | 11 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 | 51 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. ...
