Criminal Law

Re: 2008 Senate Bill 1340 (Revise open-alcohol while driving penalties )

crazycajun — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 02:08:26 GMT

it seems that they fear guns and alcohol.

its funny, a bunch of guys with guns who drank alcohol founded this country.

Re: 2008 Senate Bill 1340 (Revise open-alcohol while driving penalties )

Michpatriot — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:47:15 GMT

uber-liberal:
is this law another attempt to deprive michigan citizens of rights? or a poor attempt at "increasing safety"?

It's just another bold faced money grab by the usefull idiots in lansingistan. They only car about money, your money and how they can get it in their pockets. The depriving of rights thingy is just a bonus for them. gotta keep us serfs down on the farm you know.

Re: 2008 Senate Bill 1340 (Revise open-alcohol while driving penalties )

crazycajun — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:09:33 GMT

perhaps he just got a bad case of "what if", sort of like the liberals get when faced with expansions of liberties and freedoms.

perhaps he just read SEVERAL of the bits of legislation offered on this subject, and 'combined' them into one post.

perhaps he has been in an accident with a 'designated drunkard' in the back seat, and had the thing labeled 'alcohol related'.

or perhaps he is just reading the 'writing on the wall'...

Re: 2008 Senate Bill 1340 (Revise open-alcohol while driving penalties )

SaneMichigander — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:37:05 GMT

Here we find a rare but unfortunate instance of the MichiganVotes bill synopsis being factually wrong, or at least very misleading.

The actual text of this bill (something serious commentators should look at before posting) proposed to create a new felony. Specifically, it proposed that anyone who is responsible for injury or death of another person while operating a vehicle with a blood alcohol content (or equivalent) of 0.02 but less than the threshold for legal intoxication (currently BAC 0.08) is guilty of a felony.

The bill made no mention of open alcohol container(s) in motor vehicles. Its only connection open containers is that it was proposed as an amendment (brand new addition, brand new sub-section) to the Michigan Motor Vehicle Code section that pertains to open containers.

Arguably, perhaps, it proposed an extension of the concept of “container” to include the human body. But that is a stretch. It is similar to Michigan's “minor in possession” law that says a minor with any blood alcohol content is “in possession” of alcohol.

One commentator here – in addition to obviously not having read the actual bill – also has erroneously referred to the bill as a “law.” It is not.

This bill was introduced in May 2008, and was immediately assigned to a legislative committee. It never was taken up for active consideration. It died when the 2007-08 legislative session adjourned in December 2008.

However, similar legislation may be introduced in the new, 2009-10 legislative session. If it is, it should go nowhere.

This kind of legislation is a Trojan Horse that exploits society’s general dismay over vehicle crashes involving drunk drivers. It actually seeks to criminalize the consumption of any alcohol by incremental steps.

Re: 2008 Senate Bill 1340 (Revise open-alcohol while driving penalties )

uber-liberal — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:30:56 GMT

is this law another attempt to deprive michigan citizens of rights? or a poor attempt at "increasing safety"?

obviously, safety has nothing to do with it, if you are in an accident, even if it is not your fault, you are instantly a felon if you have ANY alcohol content and an open container.

this must apply to ALL OCCUPANTS OF THE VEHICLE, AS IT DOES NOT STATE "THE DRIVER". that means that if you are a designated driver, and you drive a drunk home, and he cracks one open just before you get slammed by some ditzy driver yapping on a cell phone, that your accident is alcohol related, and the drunk is a felon, whether he was driving or not.

how does THIS make us safer???????????

it doesn't.

What The Heck Is This?

Anonymous Citizen — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:28:40 GMT

So if you take one sip of beer and have an open one in the car and some moron in a prius runs into you and gets hurt you are now guilty of a felony? I thought we had drunk driving laws already. Quit with the stupid laws. Please do us all a favor, quit, and go get a real job out here in the real world. You idiots are starting to make mikey jackson look sane and lansingistan look like neverland.

2008 Senate Bill 1340 (Revise open-alcohol while driving penalties )

admin — Mon, 01 Jan 2001 05:00:00 GMT

Introduced in the Senate on May 27, 2008

Click here to view bill details.