Driver distractions or inattentive driving play a part in one out of every four motor vehicle crashes. That’s more than 1.5 million collisions a year – more than 4,300 crashes each day!

A report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicates that inattention caused 68% of rear-end crashes.

When a driver’s eyes were off the forward roadway for greater than 2 seconds, the odds of a crash or near-crash occurring were nearly double those when the driver was paying attention to the forward roadway. (http://www.aaafoundation.org/pdf/RiskyDrivingReport.pdf)

Look here for more facts – http://www.aaafoundation.org/pdf/distraction.pdf

Talking or Texting while driving

Using a cell phone while driving increases your chance of getting into a crash by 400%. When dialing a phone number or engaging in intense conversation, you’re not watching the road like you should. A “hands-free” apparatus is helpful, but they can’t prevent you from becoming involved in a conversation and losing concentration. Your best defense is to pull off the road and stop in a safe place before using your phone.

Teens and Defensive Driving

The majority of fatalities in teen crashes are people other than the teen driver. Over the 10 years from 1998 through 2007, there were 24,655 drivers ages 15 through 17 involved in fatal crashes – 36.9% of fatalities were the teen driver, while 31.4% were passengers, 24.4% were in other vehicle, 7.0% were non-motorists (more charts and facts here – http://www.aaanewsroom.net/Assets/Files/2009227951380.09AAA_TeenCrashes_Lores.pdf)

Arguing with passengers

Don’t drive when angry or upset. Emotions can interfere with safe driving. Wait until you have cooled down or resolved problems to drive.

Avoiding Driver Fatigue

Each year, falling asleep at the wheel is responsible for at least 100,000 automobile crashes, 40,000 injuries, and 1,550 fatalities nationwide. Drowsy driving most often occurs during late night/early morning or late afternoon, usually on a high-speed road, and most often the driver is alone in the vehicle. The crash usually involves a single vehicle leaving the roadway.

Stay focused on the road. Don’t drive if you are tired. Share the driving responsibilities on long trips.

Avoiding Driver Fatigue

Each year, falling asleep at the wheel is responsible for at least 100,000 automobile crashes, 40,000 injuries, and 1,550 fatalities nationwide. Drowsy driving most often occurs during late night/early morning or late afternoon, usually on a high-speed road, and most often the driver is alone in the vehicle. The crash usually involves a single vehicle leaving the roadway.

Stay focused on the road. Don’t drive if you are tired. Share the driving responsibilities on long trips.

What to do if you are involved in a crash

Each year, falling asleep at the wheel is responsible for at least 100,000 automobile crashes, 40,000 injuries, and 1,550 fatalities nationwide. Drowsy driving most often occurs during late night/early morning or late afternoon, usually on a high-speed road, and most often the driver is alone in the vehicle. The crash usually involves a single vehicle leaving the roadway.

Stay focused on the road. Don’t drive if you are tired. Share the driving responsibilities on long trips.

What to do if you are involved in a crash

Traffic collisions are at an all time high with around 20 million each year. At the same time, however, drivers are grossly uneducated regarding collision procedures.

Prevention is best, but if you are in an accident move safely to shoulder of the road and call *347 for assistance.

Road Rangers is a free service, operating 24-hours a day/seven days a week to assist stranded motorists.

Defensive Driving Tips

The following are some of the basic concepts of defensive driving:

- Slow down, especially during inclement weather conditions or at night.

- Do not follow too closely.

- Concentrate on your driving at all times.

- Check your mirrors frequently

- Assume that drivers will run through stop signs or red lights at intersections and be prepared to react

- Keep a watchful eye on pedestrians and pets along the roadside.

Using Turn Signals

The NHTSA and the insurance industry have reported that unintended lane change crashes have been the direct cause of 23,000 annual fatalities on U.S. roadways. When drivers signal before making a lane change they give others on the road an extra split second of reaction time to adjust their driving. An extra split second is all that is needed to avoid the swerve that very frequently causes crashes and road run-offs. (http://signalamerica.org/index.html)

Yielding & Merging

Failing to yield the right of way is a very frequent cause of older driver crashes. Always yield to pedestrians in or near crosswalks, even if there are no markings on the street. You must also yield to traffic already using the intersection. A driver turning left must yield to a driver going straight or turning right.

Merging is the hardest part about freeway driving, especially when traffic is heavy. Observe the posted speed on the ramp. As you approach the merge lane, start to match your speed to that of the traffic already on the expressway. At the same time check for a gap in traffic and accelerate to merge into it. If the traffic is very heavy, do not come to a stop. Slow down partway down the ramp and then accelerate as you merge into the lane. Another common mistake drivers make is not paying enough attention to any cars in front of them during the merge. You never know what the cars in front of you might do. Give yourself plenty of room so that if the car in front of you suddenly stops, you have time to react accordingly.

*All facts from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety (http://www.aaafoundation.org), or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/)

“Drunk driving is simply not worth the risk. Not only do you risk killing yourself or someone else, but also the trauma and financial costs of a crash or an arrest for impaired driving can be significant,” said Florida Highway Patrol Director, Colonel John Czernis. “Violators often face jail time, the loss of their driver license, higher insurance rates, attorney fees, time away from work and dozens of other expenses. Do not take the chance. Remember, if you are over the limit, you can expect to be under arrest.”

Law enforcement in all 50 states will be participating in the “Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest” campaign, which is part of a $13 million public service campaign on radio and television, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“Drunk driving is deadly, it’s against the law, and unfortunately, it’s still a problem,” said Secretary Ray LaHood. “With the help of law enforcement around the country, we are going to continue doing all that we can to stop drunk driving and the needless tragedies that result from this reckless behavior.”

The reality is that a significant number of serious and fatal car accidents are caused by drunk drivers. However, it is just as true that law enforcement frequently blame an accident on a driver when it is determined that he or she has been drinking. Further investigation may have determined a driver accused of DUI was not at fault in the accident. This can have a dramatic impact on your case and can even prevent you from being charged with a felony DUI or with DUI manslaughter.

Additionally, holiday weekend enforcement frequently leads to sobriety checkpoints and other questionable enforcement tactics that often result in questionable arrests. Those charged with drunk driving should always seek the advice of an attorney. DUI charges, particularly for first-time offenders, are often beatable. By the highway patrol’s own estimates, only about half of all motorists charged with drunk driving last year had been convicted of DUI by year’s end.

Drunk driving can result in the loss of your driver’s license, jail time, fines, court costs, mandatory treatment and skyrocketing insurance rates. Job loss and the inability to hold certain jobs or enter certain professions is also a common consequence of a drunk driving conviction. Financial estimates put the cost of a DUI at $10,000 or more. Spending the money to hire an experienced DUI attorney in Miami can help protect your rights, your freedom and your financial well-being.

A Monroe County circuit court judge said Wednesday he lacked the authority to overrule a new state policy by granting a drunken driving suspect a temporary driver license, but urged attorneys to quickly pursue a greater “due process” issue with the policy.

Judge David Audlin told defense attorney Sam Kaufman that state law did not empower him to temporarily grant one of his clients charged with driving under the influence a “hardship” driver license to drive to work, school or other necessary tasks.

Since July 1, if a law enforcement officer does not show up for a defendant’s license hearing, the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DMV) tells him or her to take their case to court instead of automatically granting a temporary permit, as was the previous policy for decades.

Kaufman contends that denying his client a hearing in which law enforcement must present evidence in his case violates the client’s constitutional right to due process. He filed an emergency motion last week challenging the policy on behalf of two clients, Louis Licitra of Key West and Jenny Tyler-Marquis of Casselberry, both of whom were arrested in Key West.

The first step was asking Audlin for emergency relief on Licitra’s behalf, but Audlin noted that law did not give him the authority to stop or suspend DMV proceedings.

“Basically, I was asking for [the court] to allow my client to keep his driver license pending his DUI legal case,” Kaufman said. “I was asking for temporary relief today, but the larger issue is going to heard next month.”

Kaufman and other defense attorneys, notably Miami lawyer Richard Hersch, are challenging the state and want the courts to overturn the policy change.

DMV attorney Damaris Reynolds wrote in her response to Kaufman’s motion that the state is trying to keep drivers safe.

“It is the expressed intent of the Florida Legislature that persons … who pose a danger to the public safety should not be permitted to drive during their appeal,” Reynolds wrote. “The purpose and intent of the administrative suspension statute is to protect the public who use the state’s roads and highways.”

She further noted that “driving is a privilege, not a right,” and that revoking a driver license in some cases is a “legitimate legislative goal.”

Nonetheless, Audlin said “it appears there is merit” to Kaufman’s due process argument, and he placed attorneys on a “faster briefing schedule” in an effort to have the larger issue heard by Sept. 29.

His findings were startling.

After consuming almost any type of bread product — white loaf bread, donuts, pretzels, pastries, etc. — Price consistently registered blood-alcohol readings on the machine. These levels were commonly around .03%, but rose as high as .05% (enough, along with a drink or two, to reach illegal levels). Further, the Intoxilyzer’s slope detector (an electrical circuit designed to detect alcohol from the mouth rather than from the lungs) failed to indicate the presence of any “mouth alcohol”. He reported this in an article entitled “Intoxilyzer: A Bread Testing Device?”, 15(4)Drinking/Driving Law Letter 52.

Reacting to the use of this article by defense attorneys in their state, the Washington State Toxicology Laboratory conducted their own studies to refute the findings — this time with the machine used in Washington, a DataMaster. Unfortunately, their research only confimed Price’s experience.

As reported in Logan and Distefano, “Ethanol Content of Various Foods and Soft Drinks and their Potential for Interference with a Breath-Alcohol Test”, 22 Journal of Analytical Toxicology 18 (1998), a variety of breads and soft drinks were tested and found to contain no alcohol. Alcohol-free subjects then ingested these products and provided breath samples into a DataMaster. The law enforcement researchers’ conclusions:

We found that, particularly at low concentrations but as high as 0.046g/210L, mouth alcohol rather than expiratory breath alcohol may be reported as apparent true breath alcohol…

In other words, alcohol-free subjects who consumed bread or soft drinks were causing the machines to read up to .05% blood alcohol concentrations (readings are rounded off to closest 1/100th percentile). Furthermore, the slope detection system failed to screen the effects of mouth alcohol from that of alcohol coming from the lungs:

It is evident from these results that the slope detector feature was unable to distinguish mouth-alcohol concentrations at these very low levels.

What caused bread to register on breath machines as alcohol? The theory of the state lab’s experts:

Most baked products with listed contents indicating they contained yeast did in fact have some alcohol present. Alcohol is produced by the fermentation process in yeasts by their action on simple sugars used in preparing the dough….Although most of the alcohol in the dough is lost during the baking process, some is evidently retained in the matrix of the bread…

Parenthetically, there exists additional scientific literature reporting intoxication in animals eating dough and sourdough. Suter, “Presumed Ethanol Intoxication in Sheep Dogs Fed Uncooked Pizza Dough”, 69(1) Australian Veterinary Journal 20 (1990); Thrall, et al., “Ethanol Toxicosis Secondary to Sourdough Ingestion in a Dog”, 184(12) Journal of American Veterinary Medical Association 1513 (1984).

The effects of bread on breathalyzers is not just an interesting anecdote. The significance of these findings should be apparent. First, bread dough tends to stick between the teeth and remain there for extended periods of time, later to be breathed into a breathalyzer; it also absorbs alcohol while between the teeth. Second, although it is not illegal to drive with a .04% blood alcohol level,adding one or two drinks to the bread reading could raise that above the illegal .08% level.

MIAMI BEACH — Voters could cast ballots for Mary Jane come November should a budding effort to decriminalize marijuana possession in the city gain traction.

In front of City Hall on Wednesday evening, the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy announced a drive to gather signatures in support of a proposed amendment that would make “personal” possession of marijuana in Miami Beach a civil code violation punishable by a mere fine.

“We’re empowering local government to deal with this differently,” said Ford Banister, the group’s chairman.

Banister hopes to put the proposal before the city’s voters in November.

But already questions have been raised about the legality of the initiative, given state and federal authority over drug laws.

Florida law says possession of less than 20 grams of pot is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Activists like Banister argue that criminal charges for personal marijuana possession are excessive and a burden on police, prosecutors and jails. Banister’s proposal would punish possession of less than 20 grams with a city-levied fine of $100.

Norman Kent, the attorney who drafted the proposal, said police would have the choice to issue a city code citation or charge a subject under state law.

Not surprisingly, the movement has its critics.

Miami Beach Mayor Matti Herrera Bower said she would not support such a change in the city’s code, and questioned whether marijuana laws could be changed in Miami Beach alone.

And Bob Jarvis, a constitutional law professor at Nova Southeastern University, said he was “stunned” and doubted the viability of the proposal.

“Even if it got enough votes to pass, I would assume at some point in that timeline federal officials would say, ‘What the heck are you doing here?’” he said.

Banister scoffed at any skepticism and said, “We are prepared to defend the amendment without question.”

Prosecutors and voters have weakened laws against personal marijuana possession in cities and towns such as Seattle and Breckenridge, Colo., and the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy was successful with a similar 2008 ballot initiative in Massachusetts.

However, decriminalization proposals have never made it to a vote in Florida. Banister’s group has spent months gathering petitions in Orlando, Jacksonville Beach and Atlantic Beach without success.

Miami Beach’s charter states that 10 percent of its 42,527 registered voters must support a ballot initiative for it to reach a vote. That would have to happen before Aug. 20 for the amendment to go before voters in the Nov. 2 election, according to a spokeswoman with the Miami-Dade Elections Department.

Banister said the group had about 80 signatures since starting June 11.

The group may have better luck in Miami Beach than in other Florida cities. The film studio rakontur, which created the “Cocaine Cowboys” documentaries, has backed the effort financially. Wednesday’s press conference was advertised on rakontur.com, which once offered visitors fake Miami Beach parking passes.

“Cocaine Cowboys” director Billy Corben said he reached out to Banister to bring the decriminalization initiative to Miami Beach in part because of its reputation as a progressive city.

“Are the people of Miami Beach ready for a sensible marijuana policy?” Corben said. “We’re just saying, let’s find out.”

Don’t believe us? Try this story on:

The Scottish Daily Record is reporting that a man was arrested for drunk driving while operating a toy Barbie car.

Paul Hutton, a 40-year-old resident of Clacton-on-Sea in Essex, was tearing down the road in a child’s motorized Barbie car. He was going the vehicle’s top speed of 4 miles per hour when police stopped him along the road at night.

Police administered a Breathalyzer test and booked Hutton for driving under the influence of alcohol. His blood-alcohol content was double the legal limit.

For his offense, Hutton was banned from driving a real car for three years. After the hearing where he learned of his fate, Hutton admitted that he was “a complete twit” for earning himself the driving ban.

“I was very surprised to get done for drink-driving,” he continued. “It is designed for three-to five-year-olds.”

Hutton had found the little pink electric car ten years previous, and had begun to customize it with his son only a few months ago, adding larger wheels to it. Still, he was candid that it was not the ideal vehicle for a full-sized adult.

“You have to be a contortionist to get in and then you can’t get out,” he said of the pint-sized pink ride. He had to drive it with his knees under his chin, and it moved more slowly than a mobility scooter, according to the article.

According to Hutton, he’d been drinking as he worked on the vehicle, and had not realized how much he’d had to drink.

“When it was done,” he said, “I couldn’t resist the temptation to take it out. I wanted to show my friend.”

Hutton had actually ignored a warning from the police. They told him not to drive the vehicle, but he went against their advice and drove it away from the scene, very slowly.

“I knew it was daft, but I didn’t realize it was a criminal thing to do,” he said.

His three year ban from driving was brought down because he had previously been convicted of DUI. Chairman of the bench in the case said “I’ve never seen the like of it in 15 years on the bench.

• Family members or friends. Someone close to you may know of a criminal defense lawyer or may have time to look for one.

• Nolo’s Lawyer Directory. Nolo offers a unique lawyer directory that provides a comprehensive profile for each attorney with information that will help you select the right attorney. They tell you about the lawyer’s experience, education, and fees. Every attorney has taken a pledge to communicate regularly with you, provide an estimate of the time and cost involved, and provide you with a clear, fair, written agreement that spells out how they will handle your legal matter and fees. For more information, see http://www.nolo.com.

• AVVO Lawyer Ratings. Avvo rates and profiles every attorney, so that people can choose the right attorney. Lawyer profiles contain helpful information including a lawyer’s experience, areas of practice, disciplinary history, and ratings from clients. Profile data comes from many sources, including state courts and bar associations, lawyer websites, and information provided by lawyers, see http://www.avvo.com

• Referral services. Some lawyer referral services carefully screen attorneys and list only those attorneys with particular qualifications and a certain amount of past experience, while other services will list any attorney in good standing with the state bar who maintains liability insurance.
• Courthouses. You can visit a local courthouse and sit through a few criminal hearings. If a particular lawyer impresses you, ask for her card after the hearing is over, and then call for an appointment.
What is a private lawyer likely to cost?

It’s impossible to give a definitive answer. Attorneys set their own fees, which vary according to a number of factors:

• The complexity of a case. Most attorneys charge more for felonies than for misdemeanors because felonies carry greater penalties and are likely to involve more work for the attorney.
• The attorney’s experience. Generally, less-experienced attorneys set lower fees than their more-experienced colleagues.
• Geography. Just as gasoline and butter cost more in some parts of the country than others, so do lawyers. An experienced criminal defense attorney in South Florida will charge much more than one in South Dakota.

In South Florida, a defendant charged with a misdemeanor or DUI should not be surprised by a legal fee in the neighborhood of $2,500-$5,000; an attorney may want $15,000-$25,000 in a felony case in state court and double that in federal court. Most criminal defense attorneys want all or a substantial portion of the fee paid up front, especially in federal court cases. Contingency fees (where the lawyer gets paid only if he wins the case) are not allowed in criminal cases.
Can I change lawyers if I’m unhappy with the one representing me?
Requests for a change of public defender or court-appointed lawyer are rarely granted. A defendant would have to prove that the representation is truly incompetent.
On the other hand, defendants who hire their own attorneys have the right to fire them at any time, without court approval. A defendant doesn’t have to show “good cause” or justify the firing. After firing a lawyer, a defendant can hire another lawyer or perhaps even represent herself. Of course, changing lawyers will probably be costly. In addition to paying the new lawyer, the defendant will have to pay the original lawyer whatever portion of the fee the original lawyer has earned.

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I talk a lot about what legal education doesn’t prepare you for. You know what it does prepare you for? Any future interaction with police officers. By the time I finished 1L year, I knew the golden rule for dealing with officers of the law: keep your mouth shut. Knowing the law and knowing your rights helps. But whenever you deal with a cop, you should say as little as possible.

Look, as a black man that lesson probably increases my life expectancy. But every person with legal training can benefit from simplicity of silence when cops are around. If I was the victim of a home break-in and called the cops myself, I wouldn’t say anything to them when they showed up. I’d just kind of point at things and shake my head.

You don’t even have to be a practicing lawyer to reap the benefit of these skills. On his blog, Concurrent Sentences (gavel bang: Volokh Conspiracy), a Michigan area law student explains how he masterfully handled a recent traffic stop. It’s a skill all lawyers should have…

You should read the full account between the law student and the traffic cop here. But I want to show you a couple of excellent excerpts:

I got pulled over again on Friday evening. In the same exact spot I was pulled over a couple weeks ago. And again, no ticket and no warning because the stop was an illegal stop and detention. My interaction with the Asshole Police Officer (APO) went something like this:

APO: Good afternoon
ME: [silent]
APO: Good afternoon sir
ME: [silent]
APO: GOOD AFTERNOON SIR [raising voice]
ME: [silent]
APO: Do you know why I pulled you over?
ME: No
APO: I pulled you over because you have window tint on your front side windows
ME: [Silent]
APO: You ever been pulled over for this before?
ME: No, my car is registered in Colorado.
APO: In Michigan you are not allowed to have window tint on your front side windows.
ME: Officer, I am not trying to argue with you, but I am very familiar with the statute relating to window tint in Michigan and I know that the statute specifically exempts vehicles that are not registered in Michigan.

[I am VERY familiar with it, and I keep a copy of it in my car. MCL 257.709 (3)(d) "this section shall not apply to a vehicle registered in another state . . ." My car is registered in Colorado and has clearly visible Colorado plates.]

At this point, all the kid really needed to do was remind the officer of the law, and answer direct questions with simple yes or no answers. Pretty much, that’s what the guy did:

ME: Officer, if you think it is illegal write me a ticket and we’ll have a judge decide.
APO: Just give me your license, insurance and registration. How long have you lived in East Lansing?

[Trying to get me to say something that would be an admission that my vehicle is illegally registered in Colorado because residents have to register vehicles in Michigan I think within 90 days of taking up residency. It is not illegally registered.]

ME：Officer, my vehicle is registered in Colorado.
APO: I know but how long have you lived here?
ME: Officer, my vehicle is registered in Colorado.
APO: Ok, you don’t want to talk to me . . .

No, you should never want to talk to the cops. They can’t misconstrue something if you don’t say anything.

Click here for the full article.