Two bills that attempt to reduce DWIs pass

[TexasRed]

After a daylong debate over drinking and driving in the Texas Senate, two bills that attempt to reduce DWIs passed Monday.

The first bill allows police officers more authority to take blood or breath samples from DWI suspects who have been convicted before.

The bill was named after a 13-year old Houston girl, named Nicole Lalime, whom was killed by a drunk driver. Her parents came to support the bill.

"If we change one person, then it will have been worth it - it's what keeps us going," Valoree Lalime, Nicole's mother, said.

The Senate also passed a bill to allow police to set up sobriety checkpoints. The bill requires police to consider the number of drunken driving arrests and accidents in an area the previous year and is limited to large cities and counties.

Texas is one of only 11 states that doesn't allow sobriety checkpoints.

"If we have a tool before us that other states have used successfully and we know for a fact that it saves lives, then we've done a disservice to the people of this state," Republican Sen. John Corona said.

Both bills will now head to the house for more debate and another vote.

Supporting that effort, Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck went to Austin Wednesday. He said getting a law for sobriety checkpoints is a top priority for his city.

Those of you in Arlington are a tep closer every day :roll:

[FATboy05]

"If we have a tool before us that other states have used successfully and we know for a fact that it saves lives, then we've done a disservice to the people of this state," Republican Sen. John Corona said.

Wonder what proof he has of this statement :?:

[firestarter]

Conroe PD logged in over 20 DUI's last weekend in a sobriety check points.

[mrpiff]

And the top judge in Montgomery County (where Conroe is located) went to court today to face a DWI charge. :shock:

[Fubar]

For the alcoholics, check points mean jack shit, there gonna drink and drive no matter what....But I can tell ya for SURE for most casual drinkers, here in Toronto when the "ride"(DUI Check Points) programs are out, people take heed...and they DEFINITELY save lives....it's a topic of conversation every holiday weekend around here...."hey bud you should take a cab, the "rides" are out....everybody that lives here will concurr I have no doubt about that.

[TexasRed]

Cant argue that Fubar .. my biggest problem is that there are literally hundreds of cops patrolling the streets daily/nightly & there area already laws on the books to take care of drunken drivers & get them off the streets immediately.

The checkpoints piss me off to no end - because now EVERY friggin body has to be inconvenienced .. when you might have only had 2 beers on your way home from work. There is no "probable cause" to pull me over if I'm driving normal -- unless I'm fucked coming up on a checkpoint. Unconstitutional doesnt even cover this. Of course, we've lost most of our constitutional rights already .. :evil:

[Fubar]

your very minor inconvenience may safe a life.....maybe the life of someone in your family ....just another way to look at it....I guarantee you if you have ever lost anyone you loved to a drunk...you wouldn't look at the forced stop as an inconvenience....you would be glad to see it...just sayin

[Mominatrix]

We have DUI road blocks here. We have for as long as I can remember. Generally speaking when a road block is set up everyone in a bar or party hears of it quickly. All the phone companies probably log lots of calls because everyone is calling to say don't go that way the road blocks on. When we left a bar in Cananda 2 years ago a girl pulled into the parking lot and warned a group of about 12 of us to go another route a ride check was set up. It's an inconvenience for sure but for those of us in TN it's just a part of life. Honestly I didn't know they didn't do that everywhere. Your lucky to have an opportunity to oppose it. It was never on the books for a vote since I was 18.