Someone who has multiple conviction for DUI (called OVI in Ohio) faces increasingly severe consequences with each conviction. For example, while a first OVI typically results in three days in a hotel at a driver intervention program, a third offense with a high test or test refusal is a mandatory…
It’s January in central Ohio, and the temperature is slightly above zero. It’s not exactly golfing weather, and at this time of year, I begin to wonder if we will ever see golfing weather again. It’s not the time of year we think about using golf carts, and most of…
It’s July 4th weekend. With Independence Day falling on a Thursday, it’s an extra-long weekend. That means more cookouts, and it also means more police officers patrolling the roads of central Ohio on the lookout for drunk drivers. In central Ohio, the roads are patrolled by several different police departments.…
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but what happens near Vegas gets broadcast for the world to see. That’s what Erin Brockovich found out a few days ago when she was charged with Boating Under the Influence on Lake Mead, just outside Las Vegas, Nevada. After reading the news…
William Strebler was lucky and unlucky. When he drove his car between two parked trucks, nobody was killed or injured. That’s pretty lucky. After he was found guilty of driving under the influence of his prescribed pain medicine, his conviction was affirmed by the court of appeals, and he had…
The holiday season is at its climax. Some of us who would not ordinarily step foot in a mall battle huge crowds to buy last-minute gifts. Most of us attend more parties in two weeks than they we do the rest of the year. All of us are being told…
According to the Columbus Dispatch, drunk driving fell 54 percent in the past two decades…among teens. This conclusion was reached in a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The primary reasons for the decline of teen drunk driving are reported to be increased gas prices,…
This weekend is the annual ‘Lifesavers’ National Conference on Highway Safety Priorities. Lifesavers is a yearly seminar that addresses traffic safety issues like seatbelt enforcement, pedestrian safety, distracted driving, and driving under the influence. This year is the 30th anniversary of the conference, and the keynote address was given by…
Plea bargaining is part of the criminal justice system. If there weren’t plea bargains in large jurisdictions with high volumes of cases, the system would quickly be overwhelmed and log-jammed. In certain types of cases, however, there are no plea bargains. One of those case types is a “game day…
It’s hard to believe that time of year is here already. Kids are going back to school, the leaves will soon be changing colors, and law enforcement is cracking down on D.U.I./O.V.I. in the Columbus, Ohio area. This weekend in central Ohio, officers are operating four D.U.I. checkpoints. One checkpoint…