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Jackass star Ryan Dunn had received at least 23 driving citations in the 13 years before his fatal car accident Monday.

Pennsylvania police say they believe Dunn, 34, was driving at least 130 m.p.h. when his Porsche 911 GT3 veered off the road, slammed through a guardrail, tumbled into a wooded ravine, hit a tree, and burst into flames.

Of Dunn’s driving citations, 10 were for speeding and careless driving, and three more were for driving with a suspended license, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Among those, 90 percent of which ended in guilty pleas, was a 2005 DUI arrest. Charges were dropped when he completed a probationary program. His license was suspended for more than a year, court records show.
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Drinking and driving is notoriously known for being dangerous, but it turns out that imbibing even one drink can seriously impair a driver.

University of California sociologist David Phillips and coauthor Kimberly M. Brewer found that blood-alcohol levels below the legal limit of 0.08 percent are still associated with injury and death-related vehicle accidents. The UC San Diego study, published in the journal “Addiction,” displayed that as little as one drink can impair a driver enough to cause a fatal or severe accident.

Phillips and Brewer looked at data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, which includes information on all U.S. people involved in fatal car accidents. They examined the ratio of severe injuries to minor ones.

The data set had nearly 1.5 million people between 1994 and 2008. It covered all times of day accidents were reported and the blood-alcohol content of those involved by increments of 0.01 percent.

“Accidents are 36.6 percent more severe even when alcohol was barely detectable in a driver’s blood,” Phillips said.

Even with a BAC as low as 0.01, Phillips and Brewer discovered there are 4.33 serious injuries for every non-serious injury versus 3.17 for sober drivers.

“Compared with sober drivers, buzzed drivers are more likely to speed, more likely to be improperly seat-belted and more likely to drive the striking vehicle, all of which are associated with greater severity,” Phillips said.
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The governor make Alabama’s DUI law more strict by signing senate bill 361 into law Tuesday morning.

[Click here to read bill]

The new law would require some convicted drunk drivers to install ignition interlocks on their cars.

Those locks would make it impossible to start their cars without first testing their blood alcohol levels.

Madison Senator Bill Holtzclaw sponsored this bill in an effort to reduce drunk driving accidents.

Alabama is the last state to adopt some form of ignition interlock device.

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The Minnesota Court of Appeals has reversed the drunken driving condition of a disabled man who was intoxicated while riding his three-wheeled mobility scooter.

The appeals court ruled Monday that scooters don’t count as motor vehicles as they’re defined by state statutes.

John Doe drove his electric scooter on the sidewalks of Grand Rapids to a car dealership one day in 2009. His blood alcohol level tested at 0.17 percent, just over double the legal limit for driving a car.

Because of the way the traffic regulations are worded, the appeals court says, a scooter counts as a wheelchair, not as a motor vehicle that can legally be driven on a highway. So, it says, Doe counted as a pedestrian, not a driver.

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Apple Inc., manufacturer of iPhone and iPad, officially decided to block apps that encourage drunk driving.

In an update of its App Store review guidelines on Wednesday, the tech giant explicitly banned apps that allow drivers to evade DUI (driving under the influence) checkpoints.

“Apps which contain DUI checkpoints that are not published by law enforcement agencies, or encourage and enable drunk driving, will be rejected,” states Section 22.8 of the new guidelines.

The move came four months after four Democratic U.S. senators Harry Reid (D-Nev), Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) sent a letter to an Apple, Google and R.I.M. asking them to take down the apps that show the locations of police checkpoints, red light cameras and speed traps.
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Repeat MN drunk drivers will be forced to use an ignition interlock device in their vehicle after July First. It’s part of new, tougher DWI laws meant to reduce the number of drunk drivers in the state.

The device forces the driver to take a breath test before the car will start.

Kevin Voss is an Assistant Stearns County Attorney who handles most of the county’s DWI cases. He says the change also covers first-time offenders who’s blood alcohol level is twice the legal limit.  he says eligible offenders can opt to get their driver’s licenses back by installing the Ignition interlock device.

For those drivers who have had DWI’s before, Voss says it will be mandatory.  He says the Minnesota Department of Public Safety wants to make sure repeat drunk drivers are not consuming alcohol before they get behind the wheel.  Voss says those offenders will be required to get the device before they get their licenses back.

Voss says along with reducing the number of drunk drivers, the state is also trying to make it so people can drive with a valid driver’s license and be monitored at the same time.

The cost of the device is $50 to install, a $100 monthly monitoring fee and another $50 to remove the interlock system afterward.

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When a new breath-alcohol analysis machine used by New York State Police began to experience various glitches in 2009, officials at the time said all the devices were reprogrammed and prosecutors across the state were assured that nobody was wrongfully charged with drunken driving.

At least one local attorney, however, is questioning why defense attorneys and defendants charged with DWI during that time were never told about the potentially defective machines.

The attorney, John Leonard, also is wondering why state police will not turn over all the maintenance records that might prove their official claim that a mathematical flaw in the Drager Alcotest 9510 machine has been corrected.

Until he sees such documentation, Leonard said he’s not convinced that the rights of anyone whose breath is tested by this machine are not at risk.

“How many people are in state prison now throughout the state that never had a chance to know that the machine they blew into potentially had a problem,” Leonard said this week. “District attorneys continue to prosecute defendants on machines they know potentially have a problem, and the defendants never had an opportunity to put that issue in front of the jury.”
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District Attorney David Soares just announced a new policy regarding plea bargains in drunk driving cases.

Soares told the press that he will crack down on people who refuse to take the chemical test. Soares says those who refuse the test will not be able to get a plea bargain that reduces their charges from DWI down to a driving while ability impaired.

He says his DWI prosecutors are seeing more suspects refusing the tests in beliefs that it will help make it harder to convict them.

Opposition to the policy says this is “one size fits all justice” and that it doesn’t leave room for extenuating circumstances. They also question the timing of the announcement.

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Lawmakers gave final approval Tuesday to an overhaul of Nebraska’s drunken driving laws that would force people convicted of first and second DUI offenses to have sensors installed on their vehicles that would keep them from driving while drunk.

The bill (LB667) also creates the offense of driving drunk with a child in the vehicle and makes motor vehicle homicide of an unborn child a distinct crime from DUI.

The Legislature voted 46-0 to send the bill to Gov. Dave Heineman, who is expected to sign the measure into law.

The bill, by Speaker Mike Flood of Norfolk, would heavily incorporate so-called vehicle interlock devices. Before a vehicle can be started, the driver must exhale into the device, and if it detects alcohol at a pre-set level, it will not start.

People arrested for DUI would have incentive to apply to have interlock devices immediately, which would allow them to drive to work, medical appointments, etc., rather than losing their licenses temporarily.

They also would get credit, if convicted and ordered by a judge to use interlock devices, for the time they voluntarily had them.

Flood’s bill would allow the state to pay for interlock devices for indigent offenders.

The bill originally called for scrapping a system Nebraska has used since 1992 to deal with DUI cases called administrative license revocations, or ALRs.

Under that system, police confiscate the driver’s license of anyone arrested for DUI and issue 30-day temporary licenses to be used until administrative hearings can be held before the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

People who believe they have been wrongly accused can ask for DMV hearings, at which arresting officers testify and hearing officers evaluate evidence and recommend whether revocations should go into effect or be dismissed.
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If you’ve been charged with driving under the influence or other criminal offense in Sarasota, then you should look no further then Musca Law for aggressive and effective defense.

The Sarasota criminal lawyers at Musca Law offer a free legal consultation:

Sarasota, Florida Office
1990 Main St., Suite 750
Sarasota, Florida 34236
Phone: (941) 916-3627
Available By Appointment

The Sarasota defense attorneys at Musca Law have vast experience defending those accused of all sorts of crimes throughout the state of Florida. These include, but are not limited to, DUI and other traffic offenses, white collar crimes, violent crimes, theft crimes, weapon offenses, sex crimes, probation violations, juvenile crimes, drug crimes, fraud and more. If you have been charged with one of these crimes or another crime entirely, we welcome you to call 941-916-3627 and schedule a free and confidential legal consultation.
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