Image from palmbeachpost.com
Those palm trees and constant heat and sunshine must be lulling people into a drinking mood every day, because Florida has a long standing driving under the influence (DUI) problem. Despite jail time for all offenders and an ignition interlock for first time offenders with a blood alcohol concentration of .15 or higher, people are still wracking up the DUIs in some crazy ways.
Ambulance crasher
Ambulances carry injured people to and from the hospital, and when you see an ambulance on the road with lights flashing, the law indicates you’re to pull over and wait for the vehicle to pass you by. Drinking alcohol must have made one driver in Tampa forget that law, because instead of allowing the ambulance to pass, he plowed straight into it. The ambulance driver and passengers only had minor injuries, and the driver of the vehicle causing the crash has been charged with DUI.
Say goodbye to your mailbox, Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart is known for being a British singer who saw the height of his fame in the 70’s and 80’s, and most people don’t realize he makes his home in Palm Beach, Florida. The drunk man who was weaving all over the road in front of Rod’s house probably didn’t realize he lived there either, and when police spotted him and tried to initiate a traffic stop, he smashed straight into Rod’s mailbox.
The driver appeared glassy eyed and had slurred speech, so the officer asked him to perform field sobriety tests. After failing 5 sobriety tests, he was handcuffed and taken to the Palm Beach County jail. He faces charges of driving under the influence with property damage, and he’ll probably have to pay the $500 to replace Rod’s mailbox.
It always seems that the craziest driving under the influence stories come out of Florida, but hopefully people in the state look at these cases as an example of what not to do and they make the choice to hand the keys over to someone else if they’ve been drinking.
