Southern York County Life

Wondering if anyone else saw the sobriety checkpoint setup at Main Street and College Avenue late Saturday night into Sunday morning.  It looked like a movie set with lights on the sidewalks of main street, cones and flares down the center line, and about 15 or so officers.

Darecop, can you possibly tell us how it went and maybe how many were caught?  I know somebody who rolled through after 12:00 when it hadn’t been setup for that long, and was told by an officer that they had already gotten 2 for drinking and 1 with drugs.

Crawdaddy

Here is the info from the first DUI Checkpoint in Southern York County.  From 11p.m. Saturday night to 3 a.m. Sunday morning we stopped 94 vehicles.  We arrested 11 from the checkpoint and an additional 7 for outstanding warrants. As for the arrests.....4 adults and one juvenile were charged with DUI, 3 adults charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, 3 juveniles for underage drinking and one adult for public drunkenness.  It was a lot busier than we expected and the results were some of the highest in the county. Besides all of our officers, there were officers from Southern Regional, York Area Regional and Red Lion and people from M.A.D.D. were there to provide food and beverages and to talk to the officers when it got slow.  There was even a few spectators from the community that showed up to watch what we were doing. Out of the DUI arrests the Blood Alcohol Contents ranged from .066% for the juvenile (.02% is the limit for Juveniles in PA) the adults were from .105% to .207% (legal limit for adults is .10%) So as you can see...Drinking and Driving is a BIG NO, NO!  and Team DUI does not cut breaks.  

Thanks for the quick response and full explanation Darecop.  After seeing all of that, I will feel a little safer on the road tonight.   

.02% for a juvenile? I thought you had to be 21? How much alcohol does it take to reach .02% - a sip?

The below link from the PA Licquor Control Board website details the “ZERO TOLERANCE” policy on youths and drinking.

http://www.lcb.state.pa.us/edu/materials/Zero-tolerance.asp

CD

CD - I understand that Zero Tolerance perfectly well. My question is, why would there be a .02% limit for juveniles when you must be 21 to drink in the first place. By saying a juvenile can have a .02% blood alcohol level is implying they can drink.

I’m not totally sure, my best guess is that you have to be 21 to drink, but can drive much younger, 16 I think with a learners, could be wrong, I’m far beyond that young age.  I think the idea is, when you’re that young, ANY alcohol, including that which you might get from cough medicines etc, would even put you over that tiny little limit.  Some kids like to abuse OTC medicines with the alcohol in them.  Other than that, I have no idea. 
CD

There are 2 classes of DUI’s, Adult and Minor, People ages 16 and 17 found to be DUI are charged in Juvenile Court, where as 18 to 20 year olds are charged as adults the .02% is the standard for persons under 21 years of age and .10% is the standard for adults. truck drivers are held to a .04% limit when operating a commercial vehicle. As for how much beer will get someone to a .02% it depends on the persons body weight and absorbtion rate.  Generally 2 beers for an average size person ages16-18 years old.  Hope this clarifies things a little.

As for how much beer will get someone to a .02% it depends on the persons body weight and absorbtion rate.  Generally 2 beers for an average size person ages16-18 years old. 

Thanks DareCop. It does help, but it still seems a little strange to me - allowing minors an .02% when drinking under 21 is illegal. To me - if drinking under 21 was illegal, then there should be no allowable limit. I even think moreso because of your quote above “it would take 2 beers for the average 16-18 y/o to reach .02% -

Would someone taking alcohol based medication even register on a breathalyzer test?

Obviously there needs to be some parameters in place for law purposes. Perhaps that is why the .02% is the standard.

CD - good point about minors trying to abuse OTC items. I did not even think about that. (I dont have kids - yet)

As for th OTC items, I have never came across that situation so I can’t give an answer to that one.  However, if OTC items were being used the person would exibit the same effects as a person drinking alcohol....They just wouldn’t smell like a brewery, instead they would have a strong odor of what ever they consumed.  That question would be good to ask a suspected DUI driver if there was little to no odor of alcoholic beverage and they had a strong odor of cough medication.  Thanks.  Excellent question. :idea: