Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano vetoed legislation that closed loopholes and clarified several conditions in current DUI laws. She disagreed with a statute that would have restored certain motorists

A Senate bill failed in committee that would have made the penalties for boating while intoxicated the same as drunk driving in Oklahoma. The measure also called for a boating infraction to count against a person

A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that Angie Everhart was charged with driving under the influence in California. The red-headed former supermodel was stopped last Thursday around 2:00 am on Wilshire Boulevard. She was released on $15,000 bail.

Everhart, 38, was reportedly engaged to Joe Pesci, 65, until he recently started dating a 43-year old West Hollywood florist. A spokesperson for the model said the couple were never engaged and that they remain good friends. Everhart was romantically involved with Sylvester Stallone 13 years ago.

Are you trying to find an experienced DUI Lawyer in Los Angeles?

Scott Weiland entered a plea of no contest and received a sentence of 192 hours in county jail for his arrest for driving under the influence in Los Angeles. The singer must complete the jail sentence before May 28. He was also ordered to enroll in an 18-month alcohol awareness program and pay a $2000 fine. Weiland will be on probation for four years.

Weiland

Fort Worth police have dealt with many motorists so intoxicated that they were passed out behind the wheel of their parked cars. General orders for an arrest for a Texas DWI in Fort Worth however required that officers have proof that the motorist was actually driving a vehicle. As a consequence, typically no drunk driving charges were filed.

The definition of operating a vehicle was the sticking point, as it was usually interpreted as having the engine running with the vehicle in gear and the driver utilizing the brake or accelerator. Instead of being arrested with drunk driving in Fort Worth, passed out motorists were charged with public intoxication and allowed to sober up in jail.

An arrest for driving while intoxicated in Texas is more serious, resulting in fines, loss of license, a 2-year probation period and possibly even mandatory installation of an ignition interlock device. In contrast, a public intoxication charge simply requires payment of a fine, and the arrest does not go on record as an alcohol related driving incident.

To address the issue, the District Attorney

Man uses sewer in attempt to avoid Ohio DUI

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in Washington, D.C. released a new nationwide report that estimates the number of drivers considered driving under the influence or driving while intoxicated. The percentages of all motorists driving drunk ranged from a low of 9.5% in Utah to a high of 26.4% in Wisconsin. Several other states in the upper Midwest ranked high on the list, including North Dakota at 24.9 percent and Minnesota at 23.5 percent.

On average 15.1 percent of U.S. drivers 18 or older drove while legally intoxicated at least once in the past year. The 2008 data release is the first time a projection of drunk driving in the nation has been compiled.

The report was based on state level information on DUI and DWI incidents and pervasiveness, as well as data from the National Surveys on Drug Use and Health. The combined number of drivers surveyed over a three year period totaled 127,283.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that there were about 16,700 traffic related deaths in 2004 involving a driver under the influence of alcohol.

The SAMHSA report also revealed that about 5% of adult drivers drove under the influence of illicit drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, inhalants, hallucinogens, heroin and prescription drugs used nonmedically.

SAMHSA Administrator Terry Cline hopes the report highlights the scope and nature of national issue of driving under the influence, and helps direct resources and prevention efforts. The full report is available at .

State Estimates of Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol and Illicit Drugs in the Past Year among Current Drivers Aged 18 or Older: Average of 2004-2006

* The standard error (SE) is a measure of these sampling variability of an estimate, where smaller values represent greater precision and larger values represent less precision.

SOURCE: Office of Applied Studies, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2004-2006

SAMHSA is a public health agency within the
Department of Health and Human Services. The agency is responsible
for improving the accountability, capacity and effectiveness of the
nation’s substance abuse prevention, addictions treatment, and
mental health services delivery system.

The San Antonio Police Department has announced increased patrols for drunk driving in Texas during the city

Prominent state senator Rosalind Kurita wants to ban certain advertisements used by Tennessee DUI lawyers. She was successful in adding an amendment to a bill that would prohibit ads stating that the lawyer was a DUI specialist, offered a discount rate, claimed more expertise in drunk driving defense or guaranteed an outcome in the case. She says the amendment was in reaction to drunk drivers not being convicted.

Other Tennessee General Assembly law makers publicly say the provision violates First Amendment free speech rights. Senator Jim Kyle said,

In November 2005 Nicole Anaya was arrested for drunk driving in New Mexico after police felt she had made an illegal u-turn before reaching a DWI checkpoint. The appeals court said that the law enforcement officers did not have reasonable suspicion to stop Anaya, as the turn was made in sight of but outside of the checkpoint zone established by police. In its decision the court said,

May 26, 2012