Dui

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hey dwando, if you are for real, then i feel really bad for you!
honestly, I think a lot of us have been in similar situations, or just in a car with someone who shouldnt be driving. or maybe not haha, this is SDN after all. i think you should explain it in your application somehow...everyone makes mistakes. i've made A MILLION! and you know what, I 'm sure there's doctors who have made equally poor choices.


just don't get another dui... ;]
best of luck.
 
dwando, if it makes you feel any better i also received one of those dui's in the past...so at least there are two of us battling it uphill

on amcas there is a spot to 'explain' the 'crime' that you committed...i am planning on taking full advantage of that opportunity as you should too...

like everyone has said we got caught doing something insanely stupid...does it make us addicts? don't think so...but you know what they say about opinions, they are like *ssholes everybody has one, so just keep your head up and deal with it like an adult and the best will happen what ever it might be

good luck to you
 
Just wanted to add an anecdotal experience to this discussion...

When my brother was 19 years old, he was driving from Virginia to Houston and got pulled over in Alabama. I don't know how, but he ended up getting arrested for marijuana possession. My Dad hired a pretty good lawyer and he ended up being convicted, but with a "sentence" of only 200 hours community service and with the condition that the event would be expunged from his record when he turned 21.

2 years later, he applied to law school, which requires a similar disclosure. He ended up not having to report the event because it was removed from his record, and it hasn't caused any problems since (the law school he attends has since discovered that this occurred). However, if he had attempted to falsify his application, it is very likely that he would have his degree and/or bar license revoked. So having something like this happen is not necessarily the end of the world, but it definitely causes more problems than its worth.

Please note that I am only sharing this experience for anecdotal purposes. I do not condone falsifying your application or misrepresenting yourself in any way.
 
searun said:
...Most folks who get a DUI have a serious alcohol/drug problem. That is a statistical fact and reality...
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Although your words may hold marginal credibility (as in a DUI = stupid decision), I find them extremely narrow minded. A DUI does not equal alcohol and drug problems. Many responsible, hard working, and great individuals are convicted of DUI's every year. It doesn't mean they are alcoholics, it means they were inebriated enough to make a single poor decision. If you have ever had 3-4 drinks with dinner and then driven home you could have been over the legal limit and prone to a DUI.

Also, don't jump to any conclusions about my actions. I've never gotten a DUI or had a close friend whose gotten one. But that doesn't mean I don't understand the other end of the spectrum.

TexasMD2B said:
...First of all, everyone who gets a DUI isn't an alcoholic or druggie. I totally understand the wrong place/wrong time thing: I knew quite a few people at UT who gott'em (we ARE the number one party school in the country after all - so consequently, there is TOO MUCH drinking going on)...
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I agree with you, but just to let you know... my alma mater was the #2 drinking school a few years ago and then never made it back to the top 10 the next year. Seems a little odd considering the top 10 change drastically every year (I'm assuming you're talking about Princeton Review).

PainKiller69 said:
by the way... I just got a DNA test done and I am 28% Sub-Saharan African, 18% Native American, and 3% East Asian. My chances of acceptance just went up. hehh
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Wow. This is pretty terrible. If you're going to apply for URM and get a free hand out you should at least know what you are without a DNA test. Maybe that DUI was befitting and henceforth ruins my previous arguments.
 
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RA1987 said:
My county uses random checks, and our DUI apprehensions have gone up. You can take that to mean that they are effective at catching more people, or that people are drinking in larger numbers.

It is one of those "necessary evils" and to be honest, if they stop 20 people and only 1 is DUI, I personally am okay with that. It takes less than 5 minutes and if it saves a life somehow then that is fine with me.
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Actually the number you should be looking at is has the number of traffic accidents/deaths caused by intoxicated drivers gone down since they started random checks? If your county is like any other county in the nation that has random checks, the answer is probably inconclusive or no.

Plus are you ok with big brother asking for your "papers" for no reason?

(Note: NHTSA numbers concerning "alcohol related" accidents are not accurate as they consider any accident where alcohol was present in any form as a drunk driving incident [according to the MADD marketing spin]; whether it is a DD hitting a deer with a car full of drunk passengers, a sober driver hitting a drunk pedestrian who suddenly lurches onto a road, a car full of young sober Mormons getting into an accident at 2am (they extrapolate their data based on demographics and circumstances of the accident even if no alcohol testing was done by the police. If the police had no reason to breathalize the driver, why should the NHTSA include them in their statistics just because they fit a certain age stereotype?), a sober driver being hit by a drunk driver or a drunk driver hitting another car (or statistically more likely, being involved in a single car accident).

I think truly drunk drivers are irresponsible but I'm sorry, until we can start having a rational presentation of the facts and discussion of alternatives, DUIs in the US are probably not going to decrease even more. Statistically, there has been no decrease in drunk driving fatalities by decreasing the legal limit from 0.1 to 0.08, [the AMA's original recommendation 50years ago was to set the legal limit to 0.15], considering the fact that the overwhelming majority of drunk driving accidents are caused by drivers with BACs over 0.16, and I believe even MADD has admitted at one point that the problem is not drivers who blow a 0.08 but those who repeatedly get pulled over for blowing far above that. If MADD and various levels of government is truly committed to reducing DUIs, there has to be a rational conversation regarding what can be done to reduce DUIs, not one of how to punish DUIs. Which also kind of interesting considering murder can be charge in different ways, all the way from first degree murder to involuntary manslaughter; why aren't there different levels of DUIs based on what your BAC was?

I believe that if we put forth half as much effort promoting/subsidizing cab companies (in my state it is illegal to flag down a cab in the street, you have to call one and make a reservation), promoting public transportation (in my city the trains stop running 30min before last call and I have no idea if we have any night buses, which are popular in Europe), or actually stopping drivers before they get into cars (I know of people who have been followed by cops from the bar until they were pulled over in front of their house) as we do demonizing DUIs, we could actually make a difference. But of course it is just easier to sweep everything under the table and call all DUIs evil, whether they blow 0.08 and have been pulled over for a broken license plate light or blew a 0.16 after swerving all over the highway, and child murders and the like without having any rational thought or discourse.

This is starting to get off topic but personally, I find this the biggest problem with our current government and voters, we have all these special interest groups promoting their interests and advertising their slant, but yet when you actually start researching them you end up being disillusioned. Unfortunatelty, most of do not take the time to actually research what they are actually supporting and blindly support what they hear. I used to contribute yearly to MADD (their yearly "gift" of address labels makes it hard not to), but when I started reading more and more about them, their position and reasoning started to become less and less logical.)
 
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It's immensely, immensely easier to decide you've had 3-4 drinks and might be around a 0.08 and shouldn't risk driving for fear of being arrested for a DUI, than to decide after a night of heavy drinking whether you're below 0.16 or not. I'm sure I've been 0.16+ many times, but I have no idea what the difference between that and a 0.13 is (when I got two minor in consumption university citations I blew .13 both times...I would've considered myself "pretty drunk" both times...I can't imagine how different an addiontional 0.02 would feel).

The point of the cutoff I would imagine would be to catch you at a time where you're still thinking rationally and clearly enough (and where your inhibitions haven't been shut down yet) to think "I know exactly how many drinks I've had over exactly how much time, I know exactly how much alcohol should be in my blood stream, and I know exactly how much that should affect my decision to drive or not drive."
 
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My lil bro got a ticket for driving without shoes on in CA, and my dad went to get his license in CA barefoot and failed the test for that reason (why my dad went barefoot is beyond me). So I think that is a law in CA.
 
OP, I understand that you feel you should get a second chance. However, the severity of this crime and the possible outcomes will make it difficult for you to matriculate and be licensed. Since you consumed alcohol at a bar I'm assuming you are 21 (I don't remember from your post) so the DUI will be on your record once convicted. Playing this off as you're a good student and have no prior convictions seems immature to me and it appears you're downplaying the DUI. I could see if this was a parking ticket or something less severe, but the DUI is a high-risk crime that cannot be lessened in severity. Best of luck, but you are going to have an arduous road ahead of you. Next time, let someone else drive.
 
Bond8204 said:
It's immensely, immensely easier to decide you've had 3-4 drinks and might be around a 0.08 and shouldn't risk driving for fear of being arrested for a DUI, than to decide after a night of heavy drinking whether you're below 0.16 or not.
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I agree with that, the big problem I have is that there is no differentiation, at least legally, between the 2-4 beers and driving home vs the I was out for 6hrs drinking continuously and am going to stumble to my car drunk

The point of the cutoff I would imagine would be to catch you at a time where you're still thinking rationally and clearly enough (and where your inhibitions haven't been shut down yet) to think "I know exactly how many drinks I've had over exactly how much time, I know exactly how much alcohol should be in my blood stream, and I know exactly how much that should affect my decision to drive or not drive."
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But oh wait, you blew below the limit but can still be charged for a DUI depending on how the cop who pulled you over feels about it🙄
 
TexasMD2B said:
(we ARE the number one party school in the country after all - so consequently, there is TOO MUCH drinking going on)
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I don't know about that... :laugh: Michigan State University? Cedarfest 2008? Footage of the riots this year were aired in several countries outside USA. Average BAL of an MSU student: higher than my GPA. But that's nothing to brag about 🙂. Sorry to get off topic.
 
But oh wait, you blew below the limit but can still be charged for a DUI depending on how the cop who pulled you over feels about it🙄
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No, the point was that after 0.08 the ability to differentiate and make rational, inhibited decisions begins to decline. Even if at 0.12, say, you're still statistically unlikely to kill somebody, you might not have an ability to decide between what's 0.12 and what's 0.16.

The cutoff has to happen somewhere. Therefore, they made it at the point where research shows alcohol first begins to have inhibitory effects on your brain/decision making etc. People know what the cutoff is and violate it. They pay the price.

Go to bed😡
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Get off your pedestal.
 
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ChemGrad08 said:
My lil bro got a ticket for driving without shoes on in CA, and my dad went to get his license in CA barefoot and failed the test for that reason (why my dad went barefoot is beyond me). So I think that is a law in CA.
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ROFLMAO

did you dad just walk to the driving test center barefoot? aahahaha .. or was it b/c he took them off before driving... either way, that's hilarious..... Oh California
 
dwando said:
for a 170 pound male....two mixed drinks at a bar = over the limit.
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135 lb female = I don't drive if I've even had half a drink. I don't want to ruin my life or someone else's. It's called having PRIORITIES.
 
dwando said:
how about haveing two rum and cokes? how about you go to a mexican restaurant have two magaritas? say you do this at happy hour after a really hard day or week. its been about 5 hours since you've had lunch, your stomach is empty.....over the limit....i just hope you guys know that the legal limit is not very high....most people who drive after having any alcohol are at risk.
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Ta Da!!!
 
dwando said:
What are my chances of getting into medical school with a DUI on my record. It is the only thing of my record. I have not speending tickets or anything. This is serious i'm not a troll.
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Honestly, don't admit it. Don't report it. You'll be fine.

bth
Touro
 
Honestly, don't admit it. Don't report it. You'll be fine.

bth
Touro
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Categorically false. Don't set yourself up to fail a background check and get yourself kicked out of school.
 
Bond8204 said:
Categorically false. Don't set yourself up to fail a background check and get yourself kicked out of school.
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Has never, ever happened. Guarantee.

bth
Touro
 
This is exactly why every bar in a America needs to have one of these:

http://www.safety-devices.com/al3500.htm

Drinkers will be able to figure out their BAC before leaving the bar (granted their BAC could elevate after leaving, but it helps). Sure every once in a while these machines would lead to "drink offs" for who can reach the highest BAC.. But overall I think this would greatly improve drinking and driving decisions. As many people here have said, its very difficult to determine if you're over the legal limit whether you have had 2, 4, or 6 drinks.

Obviously, most bars around town won't invest in one of these bad boys. Even though they would make a lot of profit and pay for the machine itself in 3-4 months probably. So the next best thing is to get a personal breathalyser. Don't go for anything under $100, there are a lot of crappy and inaccurate breathalysers out there (sort of like radar detectors).
 
To the OP: You may be able to plead down to a lesser charge that omits DUI. Your good lawyer will be worth every penny if s/he can manage that.

If you do end up with the DUI on your record you will need to report it on the AMCAS and you will have the opportunity to explain what happened and how you've changed (you get a short paragraph sized space).

I was pulled over one year at Christmastime by a cop who had all kinds of excuses for pulling me over (including that I applied my brakes while going down hill 😕wtf??). Then he flat out said, "some people do that because they've been drinking". I laughed in his face and told him I was five months pregnant and hadn't had anything to drink other than a glass of milk.

In addition, please keep in mind that the OPs knowledge of the amount of booze needed to put him over the limit may have been acquired after he was pulled over. Furthermore, many first time drinkers, and others who are inexperienced, are unaware of the effect of alcohol on their system. As a kid I knew a man who did time for having killed two pedestrians while driving drunk (this happened sometime in the 1950s, I think). He was a non-drinker for religious reasons and had had some secretly spiked punch at a social event (someone thought it funny to secretly give the abstainer a drink). My grandfather was a character witness at his trial. So it is not appropriate to immediately characterize everyone who is charged with DUI as an alcoholic or an addict.
 
as far as failing a background check? i'm not sure, my lawyer keeps telling me it depends on hard the company or school looks when conducting a background check. some companies do not check traffic incidents if you are not required to drive a vechical. also, my dui (well pending dui) occured in a small town (less than 5000 people) which makes my lawyer think will make it even harder to find while doing a background check.
 
dwando said:
as far as failing a background check? i'm not sure, my lawyer keeps telling me it depends on hard the company or school looks when conducting a background check. some companies do not check traffic incidents if you are not required to drive a vechical. also, my dui (well pending dui) occured in a small town (less than 5000 people) which makes my lawyer think will make it even harder to find while doing a background check.
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If you end up with a DUI, the fact that it was in a small town isn't going to matter. It's not a traffic matter like speeding or running a stop sign, getting a DUI is a completely different type of violation.
 
Yes, not every person who is convicted of a DUII is an alcoholic or addict. But I still think that the majority of people who are convicted of this offense do have drug or alcohol problems. The odds of drinking too much on only one occasion and then being pulled over and arrested are very small. Most offenders are serial drinkers and drivers and the odds finally caught up with them.
 
if it's a college student getting a DUI, i don't really find that too terrible to be honest. i have too many friends who have been pulled over for drinking and driving that if i judged them i wouldn't have any friends left! no, just kidding, but...i definitely have some friends who have been pulled over and it was mainly bad decision-making. none of them are alcoholics. sometimes you are just coming back from a bar and you stupidly didn't think of another way to get home. if you had multiple offenses, though, you're done!

i personally wouldn't automatically deny someone from med school for a DUI. however, i'm sure i would take someone with no record over someone with a DUI. it should definitely hurt your chances, but i think it's unfair to eliminate your chances.
 
supertrooper66 said:
if it's a college student getting a DUI, i don't really find that too terrible to be honest.
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Being a college student doesn't justify it or make it not as bad. Yes, everybody makes mistakes, but it only takes one mistake to have some pretty bad consequences. If you think you're mature enough to drink, then you should be mature enough to figure out how to safely get home after getting yourself trashed. It's not like you're saying you don't want to wear a seatbelt, where the only victim is yourself. Driving impaired can have effects well beyond just yourself...that is why we have limits. How hard is it to take a cab, or the bus, or to have a designated driver? Spend the night at your friend's house? Being a stupid college kid isn't going to make a bit of distance to the friends of family of someone that died because you were too immature and stupid to realize you shouldn't be driving when you're drunk.
 
The only DUI's i have even a little sympathy for are underage drinkers who are well below the legal limit but get screwed by zero tolerance. One of my friends got a DUI when he was 19 after having a beer with dinner 2 hours prior. Blew a .01 or something.

For the OP, no sympathy. This isn't that complicated people. Just don't drink and drive. There is no reason to, ever. Frankly, you don't seem to have learned your lesson. The DUI is your fault and only your fault. You chose to drink 2 stiff drinks on an empty stomach and then drive legally drunk. We're supposed to feel bad that the cop pulled you over for something else? You need an attitude adjustment. The only way adcoms will look past your conviction is if you show them that you have learned from it and taken steps to make sure it never happens again.
 
just because my blood alcohol level was slightly above the legal limit doesn't mean i was driving reckless. alcohol affects everyone differently. this is why i have hired a lawyer to attempt to dismiss this charge since the officer did not have a reason to suspect dui. but in the end, this is a terrible situation i am in and i know that. oh, and please don't judge me, you don't know anything about me.
 
I'm afraid I've got to join the bandwagon in saying that you seem less than remorseful, which isn't going to be of much help to you when applying. I can't help but be bothered by your earlier comment of "the cop was trying to make an example of me." That makes it sound as though all of the drivers on the road at any given time are drunk, and that you just happened to be the one to be caught. That doesn't change the fact that you did indeed commit a crime. Also, because he pulled you over for something else, you must have been more than buzzed if he noticed your impairment and was suspicious enough to test you for alcohol.

As a side note, the drunk woman that crashed into me then fled the scene insisted (once the police and I had folllowed and caught her) that it was her first time ever being drunk in her life. While it may have been true, it's a tough job to discount what you did after the fact...
 
As I understand it, it takes more than simply a breath test to build a successful DUI case. If you didn't do anything else illegal or suspicious you have a decent chance of getting it reduced by a good lawyer who specializes in these cases. Also, driving while intoxicated does not make you an addict, however according to the DSM it automatically qualifies you for alcohol abuse. I have a few friends who had "innocuous" DUIs that were pleaded down, and they learned their lesson. I hope you learned yours...

By the way, I'd like to point out that LizzyM used the term "wtf". That is awesome.
 
sorry, mispost.
 
This may be dependent upon your state. However, you may be able to get this expunged off your record in the case your lawyer can't prevent you from being convicted of the DUI. To have this expunged, it must be your 1st offense (no, speeding tix don't count). However, your lawyer may be able to pull it off as simply a reckless driving (which I would take over a DUI anyday of the week). I would not conceed to any knowledge as to how much it would take to get you over the legal drinking limit like you disclosed here. Deny it, don't plead guilty in any case. If all else fails, then do a plead bargain and go for the expunging. I may have lost where you stated your BAC through all the moral high-horses in this forum -- please repeat your BAC as reported by the officer.
 
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dwando said:
just because my blood alcohol level was slightly above the legal limit doesn't mean i was driving reckless. alcohol affects everyone differently. this is why i have hired a lawyer to attempt to dismiss this charge since the officer did not have a reason to suspect dui.
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It doesn't matter if you were driving recklessly or not, DUI stands driving under the influence as determined by a BAC over the stated legal limit. It is ALWAYS illegal and if you do it...you deserve to be caught and punished accordingly. Read the forms you signed when you got your license, you pretty much agreed they could pull you over for whatever reason crosses their mind and if they ask for a breath test, that you consent to give it.


dwando said:
oh, and please don't judge me, you don't know anything about me.
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There's no justification for driving drunk (aside from maybe an emergency where there's absolutely no other option). I stand by my judgement of you, you're obviously not mature enough to party responsibly and you don't seem mature enough to man up to the consequences, but rather feel you should be allowed to worm out of them. Knowing you were in the process of applying to med school, you'd think that you would want to be extra careful of doing things that might jeopardize your application.
 
BluePhoenix said:
It doesn't matter if you were driving recklessly or not, DUI stands driving under the influence as determined by a BAC over the stated legal limit. It is ALWAYS illegal and if you do it...you deserve to be caught and punished accordingly. Read the forms you signed when you got your license, you pretty much agreed they could pull you over for whatever reason crosses their mind and if they ask for a breath test, that you consent to give it.




There's no justification for driving drunk (aside from maybe an emergency where there's absolutely no other option). I stand by my judgement of you, you're obviously not mature enough to party responsibly and you don't seem mature enough to man up to the consequences, but rather feel you should be allowed to worm out of them. Knowing you were in the process of applying to med school, you'd think that you would want to be extra careful of doing things that might jeopardize your application.[/quote]

This I must concur with. However, things happen. Learn and move on -- there is always the Caribbean.
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i don't think i want to volunteer anymore info about my case. my lawyer actually commented on how my BAC was not that bad, but they are really cracking down on drunk driving in my state (which is a good thing).

this is my first offense and the only thing on my record. i have never even been issued a citation, except for one parking ticket in my life.
 
dwando said:
i don't think i want to volunteer anymore info about my case. my lawyer actually commented on how my BAC was not that bad.
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Good luck. Hopefully your lawyer gets you the best possible result and hopefully you shopped around. I can sympathize with your situation nor will I comment on how. However, hopefully you learned from it.
 
dwando said:
i don't think i want to volunteer anymore info about my case. my lawyer actually commented on how my BAC was not that bad, but they are really cracking down on drunk driving in my state (which is a good thing).

this is my first offense and the only thing on my record. i have never even been issued a citation, except for one parking ticket in my life.
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I hate to be malicious, but I hope you lose your case. You still have not uttered one word of remorse or taken any responsibility for your actions. Maybe you need some legal repercussions to make you think twice before you drink and drive again.
 
Yeah, nobody likes a sloppy drunk, especially on SDN.
 
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