Michigan DUI laws; 1st offense-up to 93 days in jail, license suspension/restriction for 180 days, up to 500 in fines. 2nd offense-5days to 1 year in jail, 30-90 hours community service, up to 1000 dollar fine, license suspension or revocation for 1 year minimum. 3rd offense-30 days to 5 years in jail. 1000 dollars in fines. Licence suspension/revocation for minimum of a year or loss of licence permanently. For over .08
1 Like
This sounds more like a political rant. The fact is MADD was started for mothers who lost children to drunk drivers, I went to a MADD class, had to pay for it, as well as many other fines fees, lost my DL had the interlock in my car for a year and whiskey plates for the 1st year. I’m really happy I went to the MADD class, it brought me to tears. Driving is a privilege, since we abused it by breaking the law then there are consequences. We pay taxes for a lot of stuff, almosted taxed to walk out the door now days, its all about our attitudes tho, we can’t change things that are out of our control so we need to accept that. There is always a silverlining if you arw willing to look for it, who knows maybe this will bring you in a new direction for a different kind of job? Stay positive 
3 Likes
Most states are moving towards no tolerance. My state is lowering the limit to a .04, or .02 I’ll have to look it up. If you get the interlock it’s very expensive. But gotta do what ya gotta do. It’s a lot of hoops to jump thru I had to do it. It was horrible, but I made that choice. Not judging at all. Hope it works out, if it’s interfering with employment do you have public transportation that is close to get to?
1 Like
MADD has ruined my life. I am a cdl driver in st.louis, i was driving home from watching the game and had aome food and some drinks, nothing crazy. Unbeknownst to me there was a mother’s Against Drunk Driving campaign going on and there were multiple state troopers police officers throughout the city campaigning and giving away tickets that day. I got pulled over during this campaign. I didn’t think nothing of it because I don’t even really drink I’m a social drinker and I only drink if I’m actually out. That day I had two drinks the police officer immediately gave me a breathalyzer test. Anybody that has a CDL if you drink two drinks you’re automatically going to be over the limit. Was I drunk intoxicated endangering the public no I was simply a casualty in the Mothers Against Drunk Driving campaign. This caused me to lose my job my house my car. When I say Mothers Against Drunk Driving is all a political stunt I truly mean it. Their focus isn’t to get drunk drivers off the road it’s to get numbers for the media so that they can say hey we gave away this many tickets. I haven’t got a ticket in over 10 years and all of a sudden I get a DWI for nothing. The state trooper couldn’t even use his reason and moral sense to actually see that I’m not endangering no one. They treated me like I’m some type of criminal and that was not even the case. There’s no way I can fight this at all. They suspended my license for 90 days and I cannot even get my CDL for a year. Mothers Against Drunk Driving is all a political stunt it does not focus on real drunk drivers but only to get numbers. I will forever hate Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Is it that hard to have some food out and have no alcohol with it, when driving? For a ‘non alcoholic’ person, it should be easy to restrain yourself for just an evening…
.
If you are indeed an alcoholic then you probably have committed far more risky behaviours than those ‘couple drinks’ before driving… You don’t get to decide if you are ok or not to drive, that’s for the legality of decided limits and the law makers.
I’ve read this entire thread thru for the first time this morning, and I have little arguement /sympathy against people getting caught over what is determined to be the known and legal limit. I am sorry if you suffered consequences afterwards, but I don’t understand why you would even have one drink when driving?? Why risk it at all?
To say you hate a group that have perhaps lost loved ones is so dismissive and hurtful and just insensitive. Especially because getting caught was completely avoidable by NOT DRINKING EVEN ONE DRINK. It was that simple.
13 Likes
Yeah, seriously @Yellowmellow80 , MADD didn’t ruin your life. You made a decision to drink and drive, you were over the legal limit, broke the law and got caught.
Same laws apply here in Ireland, if you have more than one standard drink it’s likely that you will be over the limit. In fact, if you drink the night before and have a good few , the next day you are likely to be still over the limit even if you have sobered up.
The laws are in place so that people enforcing them don’t have to use their judgement on whether 2 drinks is too much for one person or not too much for the next. It’s a standardized limit (with different categories for different drivers who hold different licences)
I’m sorry you lost your job, house and car, that’s a lot to loose but the decision to drink and drive was your decision to make. You could have as easily chosen not to drink , or had zero alcohol beer or whatever instead.
10 Likes
Were you over the limit?
Were you over the limit?
Were you over the limit?
Were you over the limit?
Were you over the limit?
Were you over the limit?
Were you over the limit?
Stop the blame game, this is no one’s fault, but yours. Oh, and welcome to the TS community, where you get no BS help with all your addiction problems.
15 Likes
Sorry that your actions have consequences. If you’re looking to get sober I’d say that personal accountability is going to be needed. You ruined your own life. Your actions alone put you in this situation.
I have driven drunk many times and it’s only by the grace of God I didn’t kill anyone. But if I would have ever gotten a DUI I would only have myself to blame.
15 Likes
Driving around pissed up drunk is like running round in public flailing an axe indiscriminately.
“It’s ok! I flailed the axe really carefully and didn’t hit anyone with it, why am I being punished?”
Never mind being punished for what “could have happened” something bad did happen, a dangerous weapon was weilded in a public place. It seems logical to take away the weapon, it seems like a good course of action to me.
10 Likes
I agree with these realistic and honest responses above. After reading some of this thread and the most recent on here I think I’m going to go to two meetings today instead of one. 
Hope everyone has a great day sober. And sober means better choices plus no worries of dui or killing someone. Thank you talking sober!
12 Likes
As someone from outside the states I am not familiar with this group but it seems like MADD also makes people who drink drive and get caught also MADD 
I’d love to say I never got behind the wheel drunk l but that would be a lie, I totally understand why these groups exists and wish them all the best.
No different to any other law, if I choose to only speed a little bit or only pay someone half there invoice I’m still at fault.
9 Likes
Hmm. Having had 2 DWIs myself, the 2nd one being a double felony that cost me $30K easy, I feel like there’s some holes in this story. I see alot of my past self in the way of thinking here. I thought the whole thing was just a huge overreaction and they wanted to get as much money outta me as they could. Maybe, but none of that even mattered bc in the end I still felt like I did nothing wrong.
Tell me something 
You say you only drink socially, when you’re out…so that means you’ve done this before. How many times have you driven like this and thought you were okay? Now, I might be one of those “real drunk drivers” you were talking about, but this is how I got that way. If you think it’s okay to drink and drive at all, you’re going to keep thinking that…even once you’re past the limit. You are not the judge of anything at that point. Now that I’m sober, I can’t believe I was like that. And statistically, there’s no way in hell I was the only one. That’s a scary thought, but even more terrifying is someone driving around a Mack truck after even just one drink, so thanks for unlocking that fear I hadn’t really thought of.
You came here, to a sobriety forum, for a reason. Why is that? Have a read around. You might learn something 
12 Likes
Simce becoming sober, the mantra that I live by is, The person responsible for all of my problems is myself.
It sucks when shit happens and when you feel like the “punishment” doesn’t fit the “crime”, but ultimately, the only person who does these things to us, is us.
As a CDL holder, I am sure you are aware of the zero tolerance policy when it comes to alcohol, and yet you chose to break that policy. Just because you got caught breaking this policy through no circumstances of your own making, doesn’t make the offense any less valid.
As hard as it is, this is one of those moments where you should accept that the person responsible for this is you,. Doing so will release any resentment that you are hanging on to and will set you free, allowing you to move on.
Welcome to talikng sober, sometimes it gets real here.
10 Likes
The OP and the truck driver are talking from a place where they still seem to want to defend drinking somehow. I wish them the best of luck if they choose to stop drinking altogether. Sobriety has been the hardest thing I have ever done, but it is worth it, more importantly I approach problems and problem solving much differently. I have had more severe problems than both of those people, before after and during my recovery, but that is neither here nor there. I am sure there are people on this app who have had and are still having a harder time than me right now. This is the only form of social media I use because I try to avoid the riff raff, but it happens lol. As addicts/ alcoholics, we have the ability to speak eloquently when defending ourselves or a cause, but in my opinion the only “cause” we should be defending is trying to stay sober. Sobriety definitely is not the cure all, but this particular thread is borderline political. I feel like it’s toeing the line but, I do appreciate the fact that it strengthens my resolve, at least for today. I hope this helps someone
3 Likes
Hear hear! 
2 Likes
Ok folks… the point is made. No need to repeat ourselves here.
I’m not stating my opinion because… the point was made with the first reply, and repeated many times. The OP has been back (2 hours ago) and has seen everyone’s replies, and has not responded. That is the OP’s right.
What is not our right is to belabour this point and pile on. The point is made folks. Let’s let this one rest and move on.
3 Likes
… is just your opinion, which is noted.
Where I live the rules are simple: Don’t drink and drive. Fines are high, you loose your licence for minimum 3 months (1st time, slightly over limit) up to forever. You can get it back, after training, psychology and medical tests, sometimes you have to do the test again.
Drugs and driving is a dangerous no go, so what’s the point in whining when you got caught?
I certainly did a lot of drunk bullshit but I never drove.
2 Likes
The title of this thread is misleading:
MADD does not ruin lives, people that drink and drive do.
3 Likes
This thread is Gold…So much to learn from…
6 Likes