1st Choice Driver Improvement Center

Calling a Relative after your DUI Arrest?

Webmin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 13:42:32 +0000

There are certain aspects to a night out on the town which most people consider before leaving for the festivities.

“Did I bring enough money?”

“Do I have clean underwear on?”

“Did I find a designated driver?”

All are completely legitimate questions. Now the question of “who do I call from jail when arrested for DUI?” has somewhat of an answer for those who find themselves in a watering hole in Utah between now and Sept. 7th.

The new program is designed to give callers a feeling of what it would feel like to have to make that call – giving them a sense of what their mamma will say, how their spouse will react or how their Priest will have them atone for their sins.

Sounds incredibly awkward- it’s suppose to.

Teaming up together is the Utah Highway Patrol and a group of local Utah bars in the hope of letting people practice an uncomfortable call from the local lockup.The group hopes to help dissuade drinking and driving.

After all, what is more sobering than having to call your mother, father, spouse and let them know you are in the clink for a DUI offense?

A phone number has been set up to reconstruct what it would feel like to make a call after a DUI arrest. After dialing 1-877-JAIL-FON, the caller is given the option to talk to a frantic mother or a disapproving father, among others, such as an angry spouse and even a less than enthused coach and priest. A prerecorded message then plays one end of what the conversation might sound like, with the caller filling in the other half.

Slogans associated with the campaign include “Getting a DUI is easy, calling your mom from jail is hard.”

Maybe it is a testament to the overly stimulated mind of our youth which are no longer scared straight by group visits to the morgue to see a result of a drunk driving accident, or stand face-to-face with a cell mate from Block ‘C’ who is serving life for vehicular manslaughter.

But what these local bars and the Utah Highway Patrol are banking on is that young people partying are still very scared to feel the wrath of their parents for such decisions of stupidity, and a late night partier is still extremely scared to inform their spouse of their decision to stay late and drink it up rather then make their way home.

In either case, the results should hold up as a new dynamic to the fight against drunk driving in the great state of Utah.

Class D License Explained

Webmin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 02:53:38 +0000

To Obtain Your First Driver’s License (Class D)

• A valid learner’s license must be held for one year and one day from its issuance. It must be surrendered at the time of testing.

• Must be in compliance with Joshua’s Law. (Link to Joshua’s Law Explained)

• Appointments for on-the-road tests are mandatory and should be made up to 90 days in advance. Reservation numbers are:

(678) 413-8500 select option 3 or

Toll-free (866) 754-3687 if dialing from an area code outside the metro-Atlanta area.

• Applicants must know their social security number. The number is required to issue a permit.

• A parent or legal guardian must sign an affidavit at the time of examination that the applicant has had at least 40 hours of on-the-road driving training either privately or 20 hours of on-the-road training in conjunction with a driver’s education class.

• A parent or legal guardian with a Georgia License or ID Card will have to sign for you. The legal guardian must have a certified guardianship paper from court or adoption paper with embossed court seal.

• A Georgia DDS Certificate of Attendance form must be signed and notarized from your school. It is only valid for 30 days. All applicants under the age of 18 not enrolled in school must provide a GED diploma, high school diploma, or an attendance form from your local Board of Education if you are enrolled in an approved home school program.

• You must have the Alcohol and Drug Awareness Program (ADAP) card.Click Here for more information or call (800) 245-4410.

• Applicant will be required to pass an eye and a driving test.

• The vehicle the driver is testing in must be properly insured, registered, have a valid tag and must pass a safety inspection. You will be asked to show a valid insurance card. You may not take the test in a rental car.

• The license fee is $10.00 cash, money order, check, or credit/debit card.

Georgia Ignition Interlock Bill Stalls in State Legislature

Webmin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 01:12:36 +0000

The legal battles over ignition interlock law has made it to the state of Georgia, as lawmakers debate a measure that would require more convicted DUI offenders to use the mechanism on their cars.
According to the Savannah Morning News, the bill, brought by state representative Tom Knox, is waiting to be reviewed by Georgia’s House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee.
Representatives of Mothers Against Drunk Driving are urging the committee’s chairman, Burke Day, to schedule a hearing. Day has said that he will do so, but that he doesn’t know if he’ll do so in time for the state House to act on it this session.
In particular, the bill would allow judges to order the installation of ignition interlock on an automobile after a person’s first DUI conviction. The option for a judge to do so currently exists only for a person’s second DUI conviction.
According to MADD, Burke Day is “holding up and blocking” a hearing on the bill.
Day, in response, has said that he isn’t against interlock bills, but that he is “simply not going to let just any bill out until I have more facts,” and he emphasized that it is his job as chairman to make sure that bills are well-researched.
Day said that the state’s budget crisis has tied up hearing schedules, making it difficult to hold a public hearing about the proposed bill.
According to MADD representatives, in 2008 Georgia saw 416 drunk driving related deaths. They also said efforts similar to the proposed bill have reduced drunk driving deaths elsewhere by more than 30 percent.
While Day maintained that there were “other sides” to the issues raised by the bill, MADD lobbyist Frank Harris said that he had not heard about any opposition to the proposed bill. Day in turn responded that a public hearing often unearths this sort of opposition.
If the bill should stall this year, it will need a new sponsor next year, because Knox is giving up his spot as state representative in order to run for insurance commissioner. Of the bill, he said “I think it’s a good bill, and a necessary one.”