Chicago DUI attorney comments on stopping red-light cameras

This Chicago DUI attorney was frustrated today.  She was behind a truck that stopped at a green light.  No, there wasn’t anything in front of the truck that caused it to stop.  It was a stale green light at a River North intersection that has a red light camera.  Luckily, there was not an accident.  Thankfully, at least some are re-considering whether these cameras are a good idea.

August 30, Chicago, Il:

 Cook County Commissioner Timothy Schneider believes he has seized the initiative to turn back a red-light-camera program with the legal finding that the county can't arbitrarily impose it on municipalities.

County Board President Todd Stroger and Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno, both Chicago Democrats, have pushed the program by insisting that the county could press the responsibility for maintaining an intersection on any municipality that rejected placing a red-light camera there. High maintenance costs would all but force local governments to accept the controversial cameras wherever the county wanted to place them. Both Stroger and Moreno said they had the legal backing of the Cook state's attorney's office on that opinion.

Yet Schneider received a letter earlier this month from Deputy State's Attorney Patrick Driscoll Jr., liaison to the county board, stating that "no such opinion exists."

Schneider hopes the legal opinion stops the proposed county-run red-light cameras in their tracks, though the issue could come up again before the county board as soon as Tuesday.

"The written opinion only restated what we already knew, what I thought to be the case, that it did require a joint decision between the county and the local municipality to either trade roads or give up any roadways," said the Bartlett Republican. "The fact of the matter is, they had no legs to stand on."

Schneider didn't accuse Stroger and Moreno of outright lying on the issue, but he did call it "a reckless decision they came to that had no basis in fact or law."

Anyone else think the red-light cameras are more of a cash cow than a safety net for people throughout the County?

Chicago DUI attorney comments on drinking for a long life

   This Chicago DUI attorney is baffled at the latest research suggesting that heavy drinkers live longer than teetotalers.

From time.com:

 One of the most contentious issues in the vast literature about alcohol consumption has been the consistent finding that those who don't drink actually tend to die sooner than those who do. The standard Alcoholics Anonymous explanation for this finding is that many of those who show up as abstainers in such research are actually former hard-core drunks who had already incurred health problems associated with drinking.

 But a new paper in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research suggests that — for reasons that aren't entirely clear — abstaining from alcohol does actually tend to increase one's risk of dying even when you exclude former drinkers. The most shocking part? Abstainers' mortality rates are higher than those of heavy drinkers.

But why would abstaining from alcohol lead to a shorter life? It's true that those who abstain from alcohol tend to be from lower socioeconomic classes, since drinking can be expensive. And people of lower socioeconomic status have more life stressors — job and child-care worries that might not only keep them from the bottle but also cause stress-related illnesses over long periods. (They also don't get the stress-reducing benefits of a drink or two after work.)

But even after controlling for nearly all imaginable variables — socioeconomic status, level of physical activity, number of close friends, quality of social support and so on — the researchers (a six-member team led by psychologist Charles Holahan of the University of Texas at Austin) found that over a 20-year period, mortality rates were highest for those who had never been drinkers, second-highest for heavy drinkers and lowest for moderate drinkers.

Somehow, I suspect MADD will have a field day with this one.

Chicago DUI attorney comments on the stress of the economic recession on crime

This Chicago DUI attorney knows that economic hardships abound.  Still she hates to see someone probably lose their job and face criminal charges, all stemming from the stress of an economic recession.

From chicagobreakingnews.com:

A 65-year-old store security guard was charged after he allegedly shot at a tow truck as its occupants were about to repossess the man's car, officials said.

 Ike D. Holmes, of the 2100 block of West 119 Street, was charged with felony aggravated discharge of a weapon, misdemeanor criminal damage to property, failing to register a fire arm and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, police said.

If you are having a hard time with your auto lender and need your car for work, please call your lender and try to work out some sort of peaceful arrangement for the arrears.

Chicago DUI attorney comments on yet another celeb's subsequent DUI

This Chicago DUI attorney recently posted here about a police officer who received awards from MADD being charged with a DUI, the DUI was subsequently dropped but he still faces serious criminal charges.

Earlier this week, across the pond, George Michael pled guilty to yet another DUI.  

August 24, London, England:

Singer George Michael pleaded guilty in a British courtroom Tuesday to two drug offences related to a July incident in which he smashed his car into a London camera shop.

In a 15-minute appearance at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court, Michael admitted to driving under the influence of drugs and possessing cannabis at the time of the crash.

Judge Robin McPhee banned the hitmaker behind Faith and Father Figure from driving for six months, and sternly warned he could face a prison sentence.

"It is a serious matter. Your driving was extremely poor and there was an accident," McPhee said, adding that Michael has already had one conviction.

Three years ago, Michael was found slumped over the wheel of his car, which was blocking an intersection.

While the large number of celebrities, cops, politicians, and every day people from all walks of life charged with DUI continues to increase, she still believes it’s time to address the root causes of DUI.  Let’s start with your thoughts on these questions.

Why did this happen?  

What lessons can we learn from this DUI?  

How can we avoid this happening to others?  

What happened?

I always tell my clients I hope to never see them again.  I also share with them ways to avoid a subsequent DUI arrest.  I always tell them to share that information with their friends and family.

Chicago DUI attorney comments on paying the consequences of a DUI when the company isn't charged with a DUI

This Chicago DUI attorney has posted on Diamonds Gentleman’s Clubs Dram Shop DUI woes here and here.

You may recall that this Gentleman’s Club serves no alcohol.  It does serve cups, ice, and mixers for alcoholic beverages.  In this particular case, a patron was kicked out of the club and after being given the keys to his car was in a tragic accident that left others dead.  The families of the deceased sued.  They sued the driver, but of greater import they sued the club the driver was last at prior to the accident.

From chicagobreakingnews.com:

A lawsuit against a West Chicago strip club, filed after two men left the establishment and then got into a drunken driving crash that killed one of them along with a pregnant woman and her unborn child, has been settled for $1 million, court records show.

Diamond's Gentlemen's Club paid $800,000 to the husband of April Simmons. The 27-year-old woman was eight months pregnant when a vehicle driven by John Homatas ran head-on into her SUV on Illinois Route 25 near South Elgin in January 2006.

The rest of the settlement went to the family of John Chiariello, 25, of St. Charles, who was riding in Homatas' car. 

Homatas and Chiariello had gotten drunk at the club and were ejected by bouncers when Homatas was found vomiting in a bathroom, the suit alleged. Diamond's employees then put Homatas in his car, and he and Chiariello drove off, running into the Yorkville woman's car about 15 minutes later.

The club does not serve alcohol, but patrons are allowed to bring in liquor. Because of those circumstances, Diamond's argued that it was not responsible for Homatas' actions. But the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in March that the club bore some accountability for the accident.

Do you think this decision will be limited to clubs that don’t serve alcohol?

Chicago DUI attorney comments on the traffic jam that has not broken records

This Chicago DUI attorney admits that there can be an awful lot of bad news in Traffic Law, even when there is a small crime, but still this traffic jam is insane.

From nytimes.com:

 After 10 days of bumper-to-bumper stop-and-start congestion, a 60-mile-long, 10,000-vehicle traffic jam on a major freeway west of Beijing has been broken up, Chinese traffic authorities said on Tuesday.

The state television network CCTV said traffic had returned to normal on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou freeway, which stretches from the capital’s northwest suburbs to inner Mongolia. But traffic authorities in Zhangjiakou, about 90 miles northwest of Beijing, said the road remained crowded and that a long line of trucks was waiting at the Mongolia border for permission to enter the highway.

News reports said some drivers were trapped in the jam for days, and roadside residents, weaving on bicycles amid the stalled vehicles, made a killing by selling them food.

“The sellers come offering to sell water at crazy prices, but if you said ‘no’ or complained about the price they threaten to break your shields,” one drivertold The Telegraph.

 Thank goodness we live in America, so much for complaining about the traffic jams on the expressways here.

Chicago DUI attorney comments on DUI charges being dismissed in fatal accident

This Chicago DUI attorney posted here about the Indiana former Top DUI cop being charged with a DUI in a tragic fatal accident.  She can admit to being surprised that the charges have now been dismissed against this police officer.

August 21, Indianapolis, IN:

Why were DUI charges brought against him and then dropped?

State law requires a blood test of drivers involved in every accident involving a serious injury. Bisard took the test about two hours after the crash, a period that police and lawyers said is normal after an accident.

According to an IMPD report, investigators went to Methodist Occupational Health Facility, 1001 S. Eastern Ave., where Bisard was being treated for minor injuries to his arms and to the top of his head, to get a blood draw about 1 p.m. When that sample was later tested, the reading was 0.19. Under Indiana law, a motorist is legally drunk at 0.08.

Police officers who had been at the scene of the accident and in close proximity to Bisard said they had not smelled alcohol on him, nor did he seem drunk. Experts said it would have taken 10 drinks or more to reach a 0.19 level.

Based on the blood test, Bisard was charged with multiple felony counts of DUI and DUI resulting in a death. He was roundly condemned and faced significant prison time. 

But then the charges were suddenly dropped. Prosecutors had learned that the lab tech who drew Bisard's blood sample was not certified under Indiana's DUI laws to do such work for a criminal case. Therefore the test results would almost certainly be inadmissible in court.

It may very well be that the blood draw was faulty.  I doubt that Bisard’s colleagues would have let him respond to an emergency siren if they smelled alcohol or thought he was acting drunk.  Bisard still faces charges of reckless homicide.