Glenn Robinson was charged with Georgia DUI after being stopped about 2:00 am for weaving while driving his 2007 Bentley Continental. Police said Robinson, 34, admitted to having had several drinks. He failed several field sobriety tests and registered a 0.11 on a breath test. The legal blood alcohol level in Georgia is .08.

Robinson, a former Purdue University basketball star, played for in the NBA for Milwaukee, Atlanta, Philadelphia and San Antonio. Nicknamed ‘Big Dog’, he most recently played with the San Antonio Spurs in 2005 and he has hopes of returning to the league this season.

Robinson was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and reckless driving. He was released after posting bond.

Greenwich, Connecticut has employed a unique way to remind people not to drink and drive. Local police have installed signs on the off-ramps of major highways that feature a martini glass inside a red circle with a red slash.

Developed by Officer Robert Brown after spending time at the Institute of Police Technology and Management in Florida, the signs are a ready reminder of the consequences of DUI. Brown said, “We wanted…to emphasize that we take drunk driving enforcement very seriously.”

Funds for the sign fabrication came from the police department and the state highway division. Plans are under way to install more signs. In addition, Eagle Scouts are being used to erect two scoreboards that display the number of Connecticut DUI arrests in Greenwich to date.

Brown said, “I think education, together with enforcement, has more of an impact."

One of the few contestants to impress the judges at the Seattle auditions of American Idol has a DUI arrest record.

Thomas Daniels, 21, entered a guilty plea to an Oregon DUI arrest in 2004, and was required to pay a fine, join a one-year alcohol program, attend AA meetings and regularly see a probation counselor.

The DUI arrest was to be expunged from his records after completion of the court mandated requirements stemming from his conviction.

The Oregon DUI was not Daniels’ only arrest. In late 2005 he was involved with a hit-and-run accident. He failed to appear in court for that incident and he was arrested again.

Daniels did not indicate whether he disclosed his criminal past to the producers of American Idol.

Arizona State Senator Jim Waring has proposed legislation that would create a new classification of DUI offenders. It would address drunk drivers who register a very high blood alcohol content. The penalties for such an arrest would include requiring first-time DUI offenders to serve their full jail term and not permit a suspension of a sentence.

Statistically, nearly two-thirds of all accidents resulting in an alcohol related fatality involved a driver with a BAC of at least 0.15, or nearly twice the legal limit. Waring calls these drivers “dangerous.” Currently state law defines an Arizona DUI has having a BAC of 0.08 and an extreme DUI as 0.15. Waring would like a new Arizona DUI classification that would apply to drivers with a BAC of 0.20 or higher. To reach a BAC of 0.20, 150-pound person would have to drink eight alcoholic beverages in an hour.

Waring would also like to prevent judges from suspending the sentence of extreme DUI offenders. The law allows for the partial suspension of a sentence if the drunk driver completes an alcohol treatment/education program.

The Arizona State Senate Transportation Committee has approved Waring’s legislation. It has yet to be voted on by the full Senate or House of Representatives. Whereas opponents are equally interested in fighting drunk driving, they cite the financial impact of incarcerating more offenders. Most expenses associated with jailing a DUI offender would impact the budgets of local municipalities.

MADD feels that extreme Arizona DUI offenders, especially repeat alcoholic drivers, necessitate a ‘tough crackdown’ in state law.

Getting cleaned up in Ohio –City workers at the Franklin Area Wastewater Treatment Facility were startled to see Zachary C. King, 24, approach them at 2:30 am. King was soaked with sewage up to his chest after he had crashed his car into an aeration pond that separates solid waste from liquids. It is unclear how King made it into the facility though he said he was looking for northbound Interstate 75 when he drove into the sewage pond. King failed field sobriety tests and agreed to take a breath test after failing to reach his lawyer. The Breathalyzer showed a blood alcohol content of .22, nearly three times Ohio’s .08 legal limit. King was charged with Ohio DUI.

Getting the munchies in Minnesota – Police responded to calls of a possible drunk driver and found a Maple Grove, Minnesota man passed out in his car. The vehicle was next to a gas pump with the motor was running. The driver had a half-eaten candy bar in his hand and on his shirt. The 23-year old was arrested on suspicion of Minnesota DWI.

Room Service in New York – A Colonie man was charged with New York DWI, along with several other offenses including criminal mischief, obstruction, menacing and resisting arrest, after crashing his pickup truck through the wall of an Albany Red Carpet Inn. The truck belonging to Patrick Prince, 41, was found completely lodged in the room he had rented in order to drink with friends. Prince was seen screaming in the parking lot after the accident and he tried to flee from police officers. Prince has prior drunk driving arrests.

In need of a toaster in Kentucky – A Pennsylvania truck driver was charged with Kentucky DUI after overturning his tractor-trailer and spilling Kellogg’s Pop Tarts on the highway and hillside. Bernard Boxhill, 48, failed a field sobriety test and had red, glassy eyes, slurred speech and was unsteady on his feet.

Local municipalities across California are now empowered with a new program designed to reduce drunk driving. If someone is stopped for suspicion of California DUI or is found driving without a driver’s license, the motorist’s vehicle could be impounded for 30 days.

The program is funded by a grant from the California Office for Traffic Safety. Titled the ‘Vehicle Impound Program by OTS’, the goal is to remove DUI drivers and those driving with a suspended or revoked license as a result of a DUI conviction from the streets by taking away their vehicles. Police logs show that repeat DUI offenders are more likely to drive without a license.

The grant covers pay for officers staffing sobriety checkpoints and conducting DUI enforcement operations. In addition, sting operations will be used to catch people driving to or from a courthouse with a suspended or revoked driver’s license. Repeat California DUI offenders and those who drive without a license could have their cars impounded for 30 days.

It is hoped that the program increases public awareness of the problems of drinking and driving, and that the loss of a vehicle acts as a deterrent.

Anti-drunk driving groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving have advocated the installation of alcohol detection systems in vehicles. Several automobile manufacturers have announced intentions to develop such systems for their fleet. Now inventors and companies are racing to fill the growing market for devices that may prevent motorists from driving under the influence.

Recently Alcohol Countermeasure Systems, a Canadian company, announced it had struck a deal to install its Alcolock breathalyzer system in Volvo trucks. The effort goes into effect this year in Sweden and will be expanded to other Scandinavian countries in the near future. In a separate agreement, the company will begin providing alcohol detection devices for cars sold in Sweden in 2008.

The Swedish government is advocating installation of detection devices in all vehicles by 2012.

An alternative to a breathalyzer device is a sensor that can detect the presence of alcohol through the skin. One such system, called the Transdermal Steering Wheel Alcohol Sensor, is being developed by an inventor keen on capitalizing on the campaign to fight drunk driving. It has been reported that Toyota Motor Company is looking into a system that analyzes a driver’s blood alcohol content through sensors in the steering wheel. The sensors keep the car from being started if it detects a high level of alcohol.

The Transdermal Steering Wheel is currently being tested by KS Centoco Wheel, a large major steering wheel manufacturer near Detroit. A similar, competing system is being developed by Transbiotec of California.

Both the breathalyzer and sensor technologies have limitations and concerns. Industry experts envision new technologies being developed over the next decade. TruTouch Technologies, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been developing products based on infrared technology that detects glucose levels without relying on blood or breath tests. A stationary version of the detection system is currently in use, though an in-car system is not yet available.

The mail must be delivered in Wisconsin – A mail carrier in Waukesha, Wisconsin has been taken off his route after being arrested for Wisconsin DUI. The postman drove his delivery truck into oncoming traffic, jumper a curb and hit a No Parking sign. He then showed up at the post office incoherent and with blood on his hands. Tests showed his blood alcohol level was nearly four times the state’s legal limit.

Do it yourself auto improvements in West Virginia – David Woods, 30, decided to drive his Oldsmobile to a Beckley, West Virginia AutoZone store for parts. Unfortunately his car only had three tires and a rim. Police responded to a speeding car that was ‘all over the road’. They then noticed that the car’s front bumper was off and debris was falling from the car. When Woods finally came to a stop behind the auto parts store he said he "thought he could make it". He failed a field sobriety test and was arrested for West Virginia DUI.

Another single car/multiple arrest incident– Adding to last week’s list of multiple drunk driving arrests involving a single vehicle, we have news out of Australia. Police in the Northern Territory arrested a 25 year-old man around 1:00 am and charged him with DWI after registering a 0.141 BAC. A short time later police stopped the same vehicle and arrested a woman for drunk driving. Then the 52 year-old owner of the vehicle was stopped while driving his car with a blood alcohol content of 0.229. Australia’s legal blood alcohol limit is 0.05. All three are scheduled to face DWI charges in Magistrate Court.

Being in the wrong place in California – A man taking out the trash ended up being pinned against a house by a drunk driver. Tiffany Lynn Souza, 27, of Discovery Bay, California told police that she attempted to parallel park her van when she crashed into a parked car. That vehicle was pushed into the driveway next door where it hit a boat trailer. The trailer ended up pinning Eric Morias, 24, against his friend’s house. Souza was charged with a California DUI.

The Supreme Court of Ohio is reviewing legislation that allows police officers to stray from strict guidelines for way sobriety tests are administered to suspected drunk drivers. Field sobriety tests are commonly used during a suspected DUI/OVI traffic stop to determine a reasonable suspicion of intoxication.

The tests can include making the motorist show an ability to walk and turn without stumbling and watching the smoothness of eye movement. The most common standards for administering and scoring such tests come from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Previously, the High Court established that those federal standards must be adhered to by police officers when making a DUI arrest. In 2002, the Ohio General Assembly passed a law that loosened the rules. The law allows for the introduction of the results of a field sobriety test in court if the officer simply conducts the tests in ‘substantial compliance’ with the federal rules. The law was written in response to the dismissal of a DUI conviction in 2000 because the arresting officers did not follow the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration standards.

At issue is whether the Supreme Court of Ohio thinks lawmakers erred when making it acceptable to be in ‘substantial compliance’ with the rules rather than following them precisely. The law does not establish what ‘substantial’ means. Opponents, especially Ohio DUI defense attorneys, feel the looseness of the law shifts the rules of evidence from the court to the legislature. Proponents say it gives the judge room for allowing an arresting officer’s testimony.

The General Assembly sponsors of the law said it was needed because the NHTSA standards for field sobriety tests are too strict, making it relatively easy to get the results dismissed or barred during an Ohio DUI trial.

Paris Hilton is to be arraigned in Superior Court of California – County of Los Angeles today on drunk driving charges. Because the charges are misdemeanors, Paris is not required to appear in court and she will be represented by her California DUI defense attorney.

The California DUI charges stem from a driving incident last September. Paris, 25, was seen driving erratically around 12:30 am in her Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR while heading for a burger. According to a police report, Hilton displayed “objective symptoms of alcohol intoxication” and failed a field sobriety test. She was charged with one count each of driving under the influence and driving with a blood-alcohol level of .08 or above.

As this is the hotel heiress and socialite’s first DUI arrest, if found guilty, she faces a possible fine, probation, suspension of driver’s license, community service and mandatory alcohol rehab under California law.

Her arraignment has been delayed twice before.