Spotting drunk drivers and calling them in isn’t always cut and dried for some people. If you’ve ever spotted a drunk driver and wondered whether or not to call 911, you know how it feels to hesitate before making that call. After all, it’s hard to be 100% sure, even if all signs indicate that person is impaired.
If you feel like that, imagine how the police feel when they are trying to arrest suspected drunk drivers and the usual drunk driving indicators aren’t panning out. Despite 0.0 breathalyzer readings and passing a field sobriety tests, there have been a lot of cases where police feel as though someone was driving impaired but they can’t prove it. In Austin, Texas, those cases are covered by a “Take No Chances Policy.”
Take No Chances has led to many arrests, but the most talked about happened to Larry Davis in 2013. He was pulled over on suspicion of driving while intoxicated (DWI) and he had no problem submitting a breathalyzer sample. That sample was 0.0, and when he offered to submit to a blood test, no alcohol was found in his system. According to the arresting officer, he didn’t perform well on field sobriety tests, so despite no hard proof he was impaired, he was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.
Davis had to spend the night in jail, hire an attorney, and spent a year waiting as his case went through court. It was dismissed, as have been others who have been arrested under Take No Chances.
Take No Chances may seem as though it’s only good for arresting innocent people, but if you look at from the police perspective, it’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to drunk driving. Although the driver in this case didn’t have alcohol in his system, they could have suspected him of driving under the influence of drugs. Both drugs and alcohol have the power to affect your motor skills, and if someone isn’t driving sober, he or she could cause a crash that could injure or kill someone.
Take No Chances might be a controversial law, but every life is a life worth saving. Just like you might not be 100% sure when you call in a drunk driver, if you do you could save a life, and that’s exactly what police in Texas are trying to do.