This article from the SF Chronical really caught my eye. A girl,in 2009, while intoxicated with a blood alcohol level of .10 grabbed the steering wheel when she and her boyfriend got in a fight. The boyfriend lost control of the car and it spin into a ditch. Both the girl and her boyfriend suffered injuries.
The girl was found guilty of driving drunk. Her lawyer appealed siting the fact that she wasn't behind the wheel, her boyfriend was. In a 3-0 decision the state appeals court in San Fransisco, the girls conviction was upheld. " 'State law defines a driver as someone who has "physical control of a vehicle,"' "
So what do you think, should a passenger who is intoxicated and interferes with driver get a DUI?
Thursday Night Open Thread
3 hours ago
8 comments:
I am really surprised by this ruling. I do not agree that she had total "physical control of the vehicle", she was not sitting in the drivers seat and she did not have her feet on the pedals. Her boyfriend sat her in the passengers seat with the intent for her to be a passenger, a person who does not and can not control the vehicle. This was obviously just a good deed gone wrong. If courts are going to rule this way, I think laws should be made that state that an intoxicated person must be seated in the back seat of a car so they can in no way take control of the vehicle.
-Sandy Frank
She is responsible for the damage done, therefore, she is responsible. How about this: what if she killed someone? Who do you think should be responsible for the death?
I agree with Sandy that the girl did not have total physical control of the vehicle. I feel like the driver should have responsibility for his/her own car. They know they are driving an intoxicated person, so they should take extra precaution while driving.
I'm surprised something like this hasn't come up before, I feel like a situation like this happens more than once. I think it's good that it's been worked out.
I think the blame rest on both the girl and the boyfriend. She was intoxicated and made the decision NOT to drive. The boyfriend knew she was under the influence and was fighting with her in the car! Both of them made bad decisions. They both suffered consequences for their actions. I just think the courts are setting the wrong precedent.
I'm going to side with Aaron on this one. The girl was intoxicated and she caused the driver to loose control by taking hold of the wheel. She may not have had total control over the vehicle, but she definitely did have control over the wheel for a short time. She caused the the car to spin into a ditch. We also don't know what happened in the car between the two. If it was just an argument without physical contact and she decided to grab the wheel, then its her fault. The law's the law.
I agree with Michael and Aaron- the girl caused the accident. We can't forget that fact. Even though the boyfriend had control of the car's acceleration, the girlfriend took control of the wheel. As a result, she steered the car into the ditch. It doesn't matter how fast your reaction times are, if you're on the freeway (or even driving anything over 20 or 30 mph), you can't stop fast enough if the wheel gets turned sideways. I do think that they clearly made both good and bad decisions- the bad one being fighting, the good one being the girl not driving. But not all good decisions are the best decision. If I was out with someone that drunk, I'd have them go in the backseat. There, they can go crazy without negatively affecting my driving. The DUI laws are designed to punish drunk people who caused accidents, and that's what this girl did.
I agree with Kathy, Michael, and Aaron; the girl was responsible for the accident, even though both the boy and girl made bad decisions that pretty much everyone else has listed so far. Sandy pointed out that the boy let the girl sit in the passenger's seat "with the intent for her to be a passenger," which may be true, but it was his fault for letting her sit there. Kathy and Sandy are right that intoxicated people should stay in the backseat.
Aside from the controversy, I hope both of them are/will recover and be okay.
Sarah- I agree that the girl is responsible for the accident. I just don't think that it should have been a DUI. Just cause she grabbed the wheel its not like she was in control of the car. I think it should have been called something else.
Aside note: the actual accident happened about 2 years ago and i think both are recovered.
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