Quote:
Originally Posted by superbat
I was a foreman of a grand jury in NY a few years ago. We were given the history of our legal system which included DUI by the District Attorney.
He told us the reason the police will give a ticket to a driver that is sleeping in a car that has been drinking (booze on this or her breath, as well as seen drinking in the car) is to protect the police agency and others.
It seems that an officer did not give a ticket or arrest a guy who had been drinking and was “sleeping it off“ in his car, the officer just told him to sleep it off before driving home. The fellow, a few minutes later started driving and caused an accident that killed another person. He was over the limit and was then charged with DUI. When the family of the person that was killed found out that the first officer did not take him in they sued the police agency and won a large settlement. That is how our legal system works like it or not.
As a result of that case, at least in NY, officers are instructed to give a ticket when the officer sees someone breaking the drinking law or arrest the person who over the limit to protect the police agency as well as others.
The law in Florida includes golf carts.
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Please don't confuse the topic of this thread with driving under the influence or even potential DUI. No one will question that.
This topic talks about having one or two drinks in your stationary golf cart while listening to music at the square and getting a citation while at the same time you could legally do this just by standing outside your cart on the sidewalk. I would think that even the patrolman giving the ticket must feel guilty doing this. If not they should have their conscience evaluated!
This citation doesn't stop anyone from drinking at the square and then driving home drunk. To me handing out these citations is indefensible. Common sense needs to prevail at some point. This is another one of our semi-annual debates on 'letter of the law' vs. 'spirit of the law'.
PS> please cite the Florida law that includes non-registered golf carts. I'd like to read it but could not find it. I assume you found it since you stated it as fact. Thanks.