Police spent a couple of hours overnight asking college-age students if they were too drunk to drive, then showing the young adults their blood alcohol levels.
In one case, a man said he thought he was just buzzed — not really drunk — and yet he registered a blood alcohol level three times higher than the limit at which drivers are presumed drunk in Florida.
The Gainesville Police Department conducted the survey near two midtown locations late Wednesday and early Thursday.
Of the 61 people who agreed to participate, 18 who thought they could drive had blood alcohol levels at or above the legal limit, police said.
No one was asked to give their name or provide details about where they had been drinking or if they were legally old enough to drink, according to police.
Instead, the officers said they wanted the participants to learn from the survey.
“We did this so that maybe these people will remember how they felt when they gave us a breath sample that showed they could be DUI,” said Cpl. Stephen Girard. “Hopefully sometime in the future, when they are thinking about driving after they have been drinking, they will remember how they felt now and will decide not to get behind the wheel.”
Police said the man who told them he was just buzzed, not drunk, had a blood alcohol level of .248, more than three times higher than the .08 level at which he would be presumed drunk in Florida.
“He told us he had six drinks in six hours,” Girard said. “The good news was that even though he only thought he was buzzed, he did know he should not have been driving.”
Girard said he and the other four officers who conducted the survey learned something, too.
“There were a number of people who thought that if they had a blood alcohol level below .08, they could not be charged with DUI, but that’s not true,” Girard said.
Under Florida law, although .08 is considered a presumption of drunkenness, people with lower blood alcohol levels can also be charged with DUI, depending on other factors like field sobriety tests.
Police said they will likely conduct another survey in the coming months, possibly during football season.
This goes to show you how easy it is to be arrested for DUI. Many people charged don’t even feel like they’ve done anything wrong. In these cases they’re best suited to promptly contact a DUI attorney to discuss the case against them and how to proceed.
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