Knowing that some people are forced to have such devices installed after a DUI/DWI conviction, would any of you do it outside a court order?
Of course, there are always ways to get around the device with the help of a sober(er) accomplice…who is, in essence then, aiding in a crime…but in all, why would you not want to have one or be willing to?
I’ve been in someone’s car whoo had one. She had to blow that thing every ten minutes or something effed up like that. Hard to make a road trip if you have to give your car a hummer evey ten minutes.
Count me out.
Provided you only had to blow in it to start the car, certainly. Why shouldn’t I?
I didn’t know those existed. How do they distinguish between your breath and a fake air flow (say, a rubber air blower)?
Having to blow on it every 10 minutes sounds like a huge pain. If its just for starting the car, I’d get it if it provides a major incentive. Reduced insurance rate would be nice. I wouldn’t get one voluntarily just to protect me from myself though, if that’s what you mean.
You have to actually hum into it while you blow. It isn’t always easy to do correctly. I don’t know how the detection process works.
I agree- I don’t need to be protected from myself either
Maybe you don’t, but maybe others need to be protected from you. And if that is the case, are you really the one to decide whether they should be?
Yes, I am.
Maybe maybe maybe
maybe monkies will fly out of my butt.
I’ve never had any DUI/ DWI charges. Why should I be punished?
I can’t see forcing you to install one, but since the question was more “would you voluntarily install one?” I’m not sure how you interpret it as punishment.
I’m not saying you’re a drunk driver…I’m just saying that plenty of people who ARE have probably said this:
to friends who have tried to take away their car keys. So…
If you weren’t a drunk driver why would you “voluntarily” install anything on your car to keep yourself from driving drunk. And, if you were a drunk driver who just hadn’t been in trouble yet why would you “voluntarily” install one?
I don’t drive drunk. I don’t feel that I need any kind of back up to prevent me from doing so.
To your second question, I don’t know…I’m not a drunk driver - don’t particularly care for alcohol, actually - so I can’t really put myself in that position.
I wouldn’t mind having one for MY car, if only because it would guarantee that no one ELSE would be driving my car while they were intoxicated. Someone asks to borrow my car. I don’t know they’ve been drinking. They come back in and say, “The #$%@ thing won’t start!” I tell them to blow into the little tube. “But I did, and it STILL didn’t start!” “Have you had anything to drink?” “Well, there were those three beers…” “Oh. No, you can’t borrow my car, actually.”
I might do this if I had teenage kids who used my car. I don’t see any other circumstances where I would do it, but then again I’m never going to have teenage kids either.
I don’t drink, so I would not want to suffer an embuggerance. A responsible drinker would not drink and drive, and likewise should not be expected to put up with a significant inconvenience.
I would have no problem with short jail time and a multi-year driving ban for anyone who drinks and drives once, and medium jail time and a lifetime driving ban for anyone who drinks and drives a second time.
As far as the hardship of a repeat drunk driver never being permitted to drive again, I have no sympathy. Such a person can move to an urban center and take a bus or a cab.
I would love to access to a breathalyzer. An accurate portable one would be nice. I love to go out on a friday night with the group from work and have some beers. I would like to think I’m safe when I go home, but it would be great to be sure!
Khadaji - i’ve seen many restauraunts and even bars that had a breathalyzer machine installed - usually on the wall near the washrooms. I dont know how accurate they are, but keep an eye our for them, if you think you occasionally might be walking the line between drunk and sober.
mnemosyne, the only one of those I ever saw was $1 a blow, and just turned into a game. “Let’s see how high a number I can blow!” If they were free, they would be much more useful, I think.
I’d go for a personal breathalyzer, I do imbibe on occasion and I’d like to know if I was REALLY safe to drive, or if I just FELT safe to drive. If a law were instituted requiring one in every car, hooked to the starter, I wouldn’t be too terribly upset over it. I’d at least feel a bit more comfortable that others on the road weren’t drunk. I wouldn’t voluntarily put one in my car if I were the only person doing it.
I would have one installed, because I don’t drink and drive(I don’t even drink that much either, and most of my drinking is done within walking distance.
[hijack]
“Embuggerance”? What a cool word! Did you coin it, or is it a local expression?
[/hijack]
I wouldn’t want one. [curmudgeon]Damn interferin’ guv’mint already has its head poked halfway up my blowhole. They can damn well stay the h*ll outa my car. An’, I ain’t wearin’ no damn seatbelt, neither! [/curmudgeon]
Ummm…did the Homeland Security Act do away with the presumption of innocence?
Embuggerance. I learned it from a fellow on the Scottish National Telemark Team while he tried to pitch me off the lift after we had competed in the World Chapmionships in Whistler, Canada. Long story.
Here is an interesting photo of him from a previous World Cup race in Norway (I was not there. The pic was taken by Tim Cox.)
http://www.telemark.org/pub/pictures/morgedal.gif
