| Being arrested
for Driving Under the Influence is one of those scary events you pray
never happens to you or any of your friends. But lets face it, most people
(whether they will admit it or not) have driven after having a few too
many. You wake up the next day and hazily realize, “wow, I shouldn’t
have driven home last night,” promise yourself you’ll never
do it again and get on with the business of coping with your hangover.
DUI’s do happen and it could happen to you. Here’s the truth
about what it’s really like to be arrested for driving under the
influence: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The Good:
After you actually get a DUI, you realize that lots of people you already
know have them also. Its sort of like learning the secret handshake to
a fraternity that you never before knew existed. Once people learn about
your plight, they come to you in confidence and share their own personal
stories. You can gripe with them about how mean cops are, compare blood
alcohol levels, and compete for the worst “when I was in jail.…”
story. Even if you hardly know this person, you suddenly can talk for
hours. Together the two of you can look down on all the other people around
you because both of you are just a little bit edgy, you’re bad,
you’ve got a wild streak, everyone else is just sooo vanilla.
When you get a DUI you end up not having your full drivers license back
for about a year. It can be more or less depending on what your blood
alcohol level is and whether or not you refuse the breath test. The great
part is, you never have to drive your friends anywhere ever again. For
the first few months they’ll feel sorry for you and will come to
pick you up, console you, and take you wherever your little heart desires.
After that, if they ever get sick of driving you around, mumble something
about how you don’t really have your license back yet, and all your
paperwork is tied up in the court system, and the DMV is so confusing,
and they’ll immediately feel at fault for asking and grab their
own keys. Chances are you’ll rarely ever actually be asked to drive,
since its assumed you must be a horrible driver for getting your DUI in
the first place. When you hang out with someone new, and its time to pick
a driver, simply say, “well I would drive tonight, but I have a
DUI…” and leave it at that. People will perceive that you
are sensitive about it and not press for details.
The Bad:
Going to jail is a horrifying and disgusting experience. Going to jail
drunk and having to sober up among the horror and disgust is really the
worst 48 hours of your life. That’s right, 48 hours, and that’s
if you’re lucky. Booking and processing takes time and no one involved
in the system is in any way motivated to help your paperwork along. Meanwhile
you’re stuck in a smelly crowded holding cell without so much as
a roll of toilet paper to rest your throbbing head against. Police don’t
discriminate as to who goes into what holding cell so you’ll be
surrounded by all sorts of interesting people. If you, or one of your
new cellmates, needs to throw up or use the restroom you’ll be directed
toward the community toilet located in the corner of the room. No walls,
no partitions, nothing to separate you from any bathroom activity or odor.
If you didn’t have to throw up yet, you will now.
The Ugly:
If money makes the world go round, then DUI’s are certainly
helping to spin the wheels. That story you hear about cops having to give
a certain number of traffic tickets, DUI’s, etc. per month is absolutely
true, and the state makes an incredible amount of money off each one.
Any possible fee you could ever imagine is heaped on top of you, and there
is no way around paying for it. There’s the fine for driving under
the influence, the fine for what you were pulled over for in the first
place (speeding, swerving, etc.), police station processing fees, placing
your bond, bond bails men fee, lawyer fees, community service fees, court
time fees, getting your car out of the impound lot, paperwork processing
fees, fees the DMV charges for reinstating your license, paying for all
the classes you have to take, fees every time you have to go to mandatory
alcohol counseling, drug and alcohol testing fees, the list goes on and
on. Depending on how exclusive your lawyer is your first DUI will cost
you between 8 and 15 thousand dollars. That’s a lot of money to
throw away.
But the cost of a DUI does not stop there. Your insurance company could
drop you, and even if not you’ll have to pay sky high rates for
at least the next six years. From that point on any time your pulled over,
even for a small offense, the police officer will know about your DUI
and will undoubtedly be extra suspicious of you. On most applications
for colleges or graduate schools, you’ll have to explain your situation
and hope for mercy. Any background check a future employer runs on you
will show your past indiscretion. Think it wouldn’t make that big
of a difference? Imagine if you would choose to hire someone who has been
committed of a crime or someone who hasn’t been.
The only way to avoid all this mess and havoc in your life is to not
be arrested for driving under the influence. The only way to avoid that
is to not drink and drive. There are no “good drunk drivers”
or safe cars to be driving in, or safe times of day to be on the road.
Stop making promises to yourself the next morning and start making the
decision not to drive before you even start to drink. Remember that the
cab ride home is a small price to pay for keeping the rest of your life
intact.
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