It was bound to happen!

[seamusTX]

They used to teach this in school, but here you go. http://www.tlc.state.tx.us/gtli/legproc/diagram.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thank you for your amazingly informative response. Back in the Bronze Age, when I attended school, we didn't have to learn this kind of thing.

Let me ask the question another way: Why does the legislature, every session, add to the 300 or so traffic offenses that a LEO can use as probable cause for a stop? Don't they have enough already?

I remember several years ago they added "obscured license plates." A woman I worked with was stopped on something like January 2 (a day after the law went into effect) because the license plate frame that the dealer put on the car "obscured" her license plate. The ticket was a couple of hundred dollars, and she couldn't get out of it by just taking off the frame. (It was in one of those forgettable towns south of Houston, like Missouri city.)

- Jim

[OldCurlyWolf]

A very few people may have a medical emergency—not related to alcohol or drug abuse—while driving. Most of those people would would stop and look for help.

I used to work with a guy who was a type 1 diabetic, back in the 1970s. He had an insulin crisis that mimicked intoxication while driving. He was arrested in Phoenix (Maricopa County, Arizona, which is noted for its very humane and sophisticated police). They arrested him and threw him in the drunk tank. He got medical help when one of the inmates observed that he was critically ill.

When he got out of the hospital he sued the police. He had a letter of apology signed by the police chief, framed in his office. Supposedly they added medical screening of arrestees to their practices after that.

However, if you look at some of these dashcam videos, the people are belligerent, or they pull that garbage like "I just had one beer," "Do you know who I am?" or "I pay your salary," which every cop can tell you about. Some offer bribes. People who are ill don't do those things.

I'll guess without looking it up that more than 90% of the people who have non-consent blood draws are messed up through their own intentional, voluntary actions—and if they are taken to an ER for the blood draw, they are going to be screened by medical personnel (i.e., triaged).

As for the probable cause for a traffic stop, I see someone every 55 seconds that could be pulled over for erratic driving, failing to signal a turn, speeding, "rolling stops," unrestrained infants, obscured license plates, etc. You don't even need to make an effort to look. Philosophically I don't like this, but it is the way things are now.

- Jim

One of the first thing we were taught to look for on a DWI OR DIP arrest was the Fruity smell of the breath, which indicates Ketosis and a diabetic in trouble. Time to get them to the ER.

BTW, If they are driving they could still be legally charged with driving while impaired.

[PSTL*PAKR]

Sure.

And drive the speed limit. And make sure your registration and inspection are up-to-date. And make sure your brake lights, turn signals, and license plate lights work. And your seat belt is buckled. And all of your passengers. And you don't look like a doper or illegal immigrant.

Did I leave out anything?

- Jim

What does an illegal immigrant look like???

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GOOD ONE