Comment on Anon runs into his boss
LodeMike@lemmy.today 2 months agoYou likely can
You 100% can. People have gotten DUIs for operating a Zamboni while drunk, which is a vehicle that drives entirely in a closed environment not on the roadway.
You can get a DUI for driving anything while intoxicated that requires a drivers license to operate, regardless of where you are operating it. That said, people who get blasted and drive around their own privately owned fields are not likely to get caught. That doesnt mean that just because they dont get caught that its not illegal to do
I’m fairly certain you can do whatever you want on your own property drunk.
That said, cops are dicks and will arrest you anyway and you’ll probably get a lawyer to have a judge dismiss it later. But after you are arrested and paid for a lawyer and spent some time in jail.
I’ve heard people say to throw your keys in the trunk if you want to sleep in your car. But again, cops will be dicks about it anyway. I wish they’d just make it explicitly legal to sleep it off in a car.
Im not going to dispute the reality that doing whatever you want on your own property, assuming its large enough that youre basically alone, is kind of de facto legal in the sense that you most likely wont get in trouble for doing it.
But, that doesnt make it actually legal. The way that most state laws on DUIs are written you can get a DUI doing a lot of things that are nothing like driving a car on a public roadway.
One example: a Zamboni DUI in Fargo, ND where the defense contested that you cant get a DUI on a zam under state law
Defense attorney Lindsey Haugen said during the bench trial Tuesday that the law is not clear whether a Zamboni is considered a vehicle, or whether it is illegal to drive the machine on the ice while drunk. He also said witnesses are hazy on whether Anderson drove the Zamboni on a road behind the arena to dump ice or whether that road was accessible to other vehicles.
But Municipal Court Judge Stephen Dawson said state law is written to include vehicles “such as” a Zamboni.
Afterward, Haugen said his research of DUI law found specific vehicles such as tractors, snowmobiles, recreational vehicles and boats, but he found no references to a Zamboni.
Looking at this, you can clearly see that the law in ND outlines a ton of stuff that tends to happen on private (or otherwise closed) property and not on a roadway using a car. Boating is an obvious example since its in the water, but recreational vehicles definitely refers to ATVs and side by sides or whatever they call them. Tractors are driven on roadways sometimes but obviously most of their use is on private land. Snowmobiling also doesnt occur on open roadways, and at most occasionally crosses them.
If a snowmobiler is drunk and hits a snowshoer or crashes on a privately owned mountain, they still will get a DUI. If a guy operates a zamboni drunk in a private non-profit ice rink they still get a DUI. If you got drunk and went go-karting you could get a DUI.
If you get wasted and do donuts on your own private field, whether in a snowmobile, a truck, or a zamboni, legally you could definitely get a DUI. But you wouldn’t probably get one. There is a worthwhile distinction to be made there. If you and a friend get wasted and take the ‘boni out to whip shitties in your private field, but he flies off and dies, you’re definitely getting a DUI in the investigation of that death
It’s all very “if a tree drives drunk in the middle of a forest, but no one is around to see it, is it a DUI?” The answer is still yes, or at least it would be in a world where trees drive cars
I’m sure it varies by state/municipality, but people have gotten DUIs for falling asleep in their car in their own driveway
Cops will arrest you because they have no repurcussions if they are wrong. Doesn’t mean the charge is valid or it will stick in court.
qualia@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Yeah, unfortunately you can get a DWI for pulling over and napping in your car on the side of the road because you didn’t feel safe driving. Because they argue how else did you get there if not by driving. And I suppose no one sober would choose to start drinking on the side of the road in a car.
A good challenge to this might be to use an acceptable BAC testing model right out of the box to record your BAC of 0.00, driving to the side of a road police travel by, retesting BAC of 0.00, removing alcohol from trunk, drinking and testing your BAC until an officer arrests you, then using the video and data for visual aids in the jury trial in your defense.
You’ll likely still get some fine for being considered to have wasted the states’ time & money, and may even lose if you’re unattractive and/or arbitrarily considered a public nuissance. But you’d likely be among the most cited case law for cases involving the dumbest college kids (e.g. me, based on how much time I’ve spent on this).
KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 2 months ago
It’s even worse than that. You can be parked right outside of a bar and still get a DWI, because if you’re in the driver’s seat and could conceivably access the keys, you’re considered to be ‘in control of the vehicle’, which is all it takes. So if you’re going to do this, make sure the car isn’t running, the keys aren’t anywhere near the ignition, and you’re in the back seat.
cobysev@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Back around 2005 or so, I was stationed in Japan with the US military. A buddy of mine parked his car on the shopping strip in front of the military base’s main gate and then walked to a bar. Later that night, intoxicated, he stumbled back to his car, intent to sleep it off in the back seat before going home.
A gate guard saw him drunkenly ambling toward his car with a key in hand and ran after him. Busted him for a DUI on the spot. Dude didn’t even get into his car and he got a charge on his permanent military record for intent to drive under the influence of alcohol.
I dunno how things work in the civilian sector (I don’t drink at all), but the military doesn’t play games.
DisgruntledGorillaGang@reddthat.com 2 months ago
That’s fucked up.
grue@lemmy.world 2 months ago
And guess what: having an open container of alcohol in a car is it’s own separate crime, just to make sure all those bases are covered.
bitjunkie@lemmy.world 2 months ago
You underestimate me.