Qld Police Have Gps Breathalisers Now

[Carbonator]

GPS for Police is Tassie bound as well. Not sure why as it seems a waste of money. Seems an over empowered Police force is the way Australia is heading as citizens civil liberties shrink more and more under the guise of safety and security.

On this point, I can see 4 words;
Evidence - Hi-Tech proof of location, no defense can beat it (AFAIK).
Integrity - Possible data download or transmit capability, so if a positive alcohol reading is detected, it must be acted upon.
Accountability - Possible data storage for Audit purposes.

However as mentioned before the motorist is an easy target and a never ending source of revenue for governments.

Not wrong - but it demonstrates there is "anti-social" behavior out there! The Police would not be out there if society didn't want them, so we must not drink and be anti-social behind the wheel.

I thought drinking was one of the most pro-social opportunities we get, but as mentioned before, we are more limited now, more than ever when it comes to where how social we can get with the factor of getting home included.

 

[Dazza_devil]

They would have a GPS in the car as well I reckon. Perhaps it's saves on paper work having one in the breath tester and it's something to spend some of the billions of dollars of revenue raised from speed camera's every year. I'de like to know where the other 50 billion dollars goes though.
I remember 20 or more years ago when it was the done thing to stagger into the car and drive home, nearly everyone was doing it, now you just can't get away with it. This has gotta be a good thing, no? Nothing I can admit to but others I know have had to stop for a ralph out the car door on the trip home and got the spins from takin off too fast at the traffic lights but hey they couldn't of been too pissed, at least they seen the red light. Myself, I'm on a zero limit and another offence will see me down south for a stretch. The zero limit suits me fine, it's been nearly 12 years since my last offence and I haven't even been tested since.
Really if the cops need to know where the drink drivers are they don't need GPS's in the tester, they found me and have never bothered me with a breatho since I stopped drink driving.

 

[Pennywise]

:icon_offtopic: : Took the wife out to dinner for her birthday a few years ago.. to some joint in Williamstown. We knew we'd be drinking so we took a cab there and back.. on the return trip the cabbie had to stop and blow at a booze-bust. Cabbie was fine and as we waited for the result, I rolled the window down and told the cop I was drunk (hence the cab) and asked if he'd let me blow just to satisfy my curiosity at BAC. I asked nice and respectfully, too (I might add). Anyway, the cop went nuts blasting into me that I was treating him like he's a fu!king joke (his words), on and on and on. I couldn't believe it! He threatened to pull me out of the car and arrest me for disturbing the peace, interrupting an investigation.. all sorts of shit. Screaming, all the while, mind you. He was obviously having a bad day, but a simple, "No. That's not appropriate" would've sufficed. I will add, 99% of the cops I've encountered here in AUS have been great tho.. fully there to help, etc.

Cheers

reVox

Similar thing happened to me a few years ago, was out at a new years party at some beach on the NWS coast, had a few drinks (like maybe a 6 pack) in the space of about 4 hours. I was the designated driver & GF at the time wanted to leave sooner than we had planned. So I walked up to the booze bus and asked the copper if he could breath test me because I obviously didn't want to get behind the wheel if I was over. She went a psycho at me and she told me that if I want to get tested I have to be in the car, and consequently if I was in the car and I was over, I'd get charged. What a joke, I was trying to do the right thing. I didn't get in the car for another 2 hours because I didn't know what BAL I had and the f**kin' bitch followed me around the whole time. Bitch!

 

[Adamt]

If you aren't completely sure you're under the limit, there's no way you should be driving. Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's to be done.

 

[Peteoz77]

It's not classified as 'drunk', it's classified as 'the point at which alcohol begins to impair motor and reflex functions'.

Which is Bullshit as well. .05 is where "some" people are affected. I have a mate that drinks a LOT (like 15-16 stubbies every night). At .05, he is not impaired, whereas my mother is very much impaired at that point.

I'm not suggesting that the drrunks be rewarded for their daily consumption, I'm just suggesting that every RBT stop actually tests motor functions, not alcohol level. Then we get the real criminals off the road.. everyone whose motor funtions are not up to scratch.

I never drink drive, but I would be willing to pit my motor skills at .05 against an 80 year old who is sober...any time.

 

[Pennywise]

If you aren't completely sure you're under the limit, there's no way you should be driving. Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's to be done.

I totally agree. I had a mate in Sydney who used to drink drive, although he knew he was over the limit. I actaully made him cry one day after a nice long chat to him about the issue. What really got to him was when I asked him if he was going to tell the parents if he ever hit a child, and how did he thinks his parents would feel if he ever got hit by a drunk driver and killed. There is just no excuse for stupidity.

 

[Adamt]

I'm not suggesting that the drrunks be rewarded for their daily consumption, I'm just suggesting that every RBT stop actually tests motor functions, not alcohol level. Then we get the real criminals off the road.. everyone whose motor funtions are not up to scratch..

I'm pretty sure there's a thread floating around with many ideas of this sort, twas interesting conversation. Though, there's not much that is quicket (and easier for the cops) than "Wind your window down and blow into the tube, sir".

 

[Dazza_devil]

Similar thing happened to me a few years ago, was out at a new years party at some beach on the NWS coast, had a few drinks (like maybe a 6 pack) in the space of about 4 hours. I was the designated driver & GF at the time wanted to leave sooner than we had planned. So I walked up to the booze bus and asked the copper if he could breath test me because I obviously didn't want to get behind the wheel if I was over. She went a psycho at me and she told me that if I want to get tested I have to be in the car, and consequently if I was in the car and I was over, I'd get charged. What a joke, I was trying to do the right thing. I didn't get in the car for another 2 hours because I didn't know what BAL I had and the f**kin' bitch followed me around the whole time. Bitch!

I've found Tassie cops are pretty good generally as compared to mainland traffic police.
I once came out of a pub, got into my van and a mobile unit pulled up behind me just as I was about to start her up. A bit of quick thinking (alcohol clears my mind) and I got out of the vehicle, went back to the cop car and asked to be tested because I was a little unsure of my level of intoxication. The officer politely said no worries and I blew .08. The orifficer then said "you better give me the keys, sleep it off in your van and pick up your keys from the station in the morning". I gave them the keys and got into the back of my van. What they didn't know was that I didn't use the keys to start my bus, the ignition was busted from an attempt someone had made to steal my car. I had her wired so that all I had to do was touch the right wires together and away she went......
I drove my van to the station the next morning to pick my keys up.

 

[Carbonator]

I never drink drive, but I would be willing to pit my motor skills at .05 against an 80 year old who is sober...any time.

Quite a a good, non-legally binding, argument!

My old man at 68 is quite a paranoid driver. Poor dude the other day, completely sober and awake, reversed out of his driveway and smashed into the garage across the road from his place before getting out of the rubble and caused about $15,000 damage to the building and car inside. This is totally the fault of alcohol abuse, probably 40 years of it actually. His body and senses are in a very deteriorated way!

And at a prang a few moths ago, I saw an old mate, now tow truck driver, I ask who was at fault. He said it was 99% the oldest drivers at the scene!

 

[Scruffy]

Beginning to understand the current pub culture and why Australians go to bed at 8pm.

 

[komodo]

In germany, even though society there has a different stance on drink driving, there was always a bus to get me home. So simple, finish up at the pub at 1:40, get to bus station at 1:55, buy 2 beers at the station as well as some food and drink and eat on the bus home...

We have night rider in melbourne. Basically follows a similar route to the [met system] trains - only it opperates whilst the trains dont. And theres always a sleven (7-11) near the pick up points in the city so you can grat a maggot sack (meat pie) or a rats coffin (sausage roll) and jump on the bus.

In saying that I've played "sober one drives" where basically who ever is the more sober one has to drive home. Because no one wants to drive every one gets blotto and so even the most "sober" one is clearly shit faced. Not something im proud of nor something I'd encourage now I've gotten older and wiser. And im not talking a little drive either - I'm talking Melbourne CBD to Berwick - some 40 minutes on a good run down the freeway! Why did we do it? because in those days the night rider used to stop in dandenong (it now goes to beaconsfield - possibly even pakenham) where you then had to wait in the cold with no security or police presence hoping for a taxi only to pay another $40-$60 to get home. Plus we were young, stupid, probably as high as kites on some concoction of drugs and thought we'd get away with it - and we did till one of the boys wrapped him self around a tree and killed himself and another went through a fence and another rolled his car 6 times down the side of a mountain road. Amazingly not one of us got a DUI. Where were the cops doing RBTs & drug tests then?

 

[technocat]

Well I guess I am lucky I lived my youth in the carefree heady days of the 60's & 70's with no RBT and very little Police presence. Those were the days of hot chilli, disco, and cold beer where one could go where you liked, drink what you liked, and just stuck to the basic rule of acting responsible and keeping out of trouble. No drugs although they were there, just plenty of booze and a good time. Sydney was swinging in those years but unfortunately the wheels started falling off in the eighties. Road deaths became an issue, crime was on the rise and police corruption was at the fore. Then came the RBT and the rest is history. If you have never lived those years you will never know how much lifestyle has since regressed.

B)

 

[Phoney]

What shits me about drinking and driving is that if you want to go out on the town you have to pay like $40 to get back home with a taxi...and when you are drunk you are more likely to say **** it I'm going to drive and not fork out the $40.

In germany, even though society there has a different stance on drink driving, there was always a bus to get me home. So simple, finish up at the pub at 1:40, get to bus station at 1:55, buy 2 beers at the station as well as some food and drink and eat on the bus home...

Now either my girlfriend or I have to stay under the limit so we can drive home...

Well, im a $10 cab fare home from the city, but I rarely drink at a pub that I cannot walk home from these days.

 

[yardy]

So here's one of my gripes. The cops set up a massive RBT and check hundred and hundreds of motorists to catch 3-4 people who are over .05. I feel their time would be much better spent looking for people what are too tired to be driving,

or, here's a novel idea, actually plod the beat and patrol our streets like we pay them to do, maybe even catch the thieving scum bastards that break into a mans home and steal, amongst other things, my kids money boxes.

no bloody revenue in that though is there...


Yard

 

[Screwtop]

Having GPS fitted to QLD cop cars is gonna provide a great database of McDonalds store locations :lol: :lol:


Screwy

 

[Ross]

I have long thought that traffic matters should be taken away from the police & given to a new body - Traffic Wardens would come under this body as well.
The Police could then do what we really want them to do & that is concentrate on crime prevention.
Nearly all the bad feeling towards the police comes from traffic related issues - Give it to someone else & their public support would rocket.


cheers Ross

 

[Ecosse]

I have long thought that traffic matters should be taken away from the police & given to a new body - Traffic Wardens would come under this body as well.
The Police could then do what we really want them to do & that is concentrate on crime prevention.
Nearly all the bad feeling towards the police comes from traffic related issues - Give it to someone else & their public support would rocket.


cheers Ross

Agreed. My brother-in-law is a cop and he hates traffic duty more than domestics.

 

[Dazza_devil]

Some cops just aren't cut out for real crime fighting though.

 

[bum]

I have long thought that traffic matters should be taken away from the police & given to a new body - Traffic Wardens would come under this body as well.
The Police could then do what we really want them to do & that is concentrate on crime prevention.
Nearly all the bad feeling towards the police comes from traffic related issues - Give it to someone else & their public support would rocket.

While I agree with your conclusions, the job is not a popularity contest - shouldn't come into it.

Perhaps you can shed some light on the issue but I recently heard someone say that there is some proposal up there to privatise all traffic law enforcement up your way? Man, that idea would scare the hell out of me. The speed camera situation down here is out of control due to the industry being privatised to cowboys - I can't imagine what it'd be like if they were given the power to pull us over too.

 

[Dazza_devil]

Oh shit your right Bum, they will be measuring how far my car is parked from the curb with a measuring tape and counting how many times my indicator light flashed before I turned the corner. It's bad enough having to have my eyes glued on the speedometer so I don't exceed the speedlimit by 5kms.