Apple to stop accepting DUI checkpoint apps

[23536]

It's getting harder for tech-savvy drivers to pinpoint the locations of police drunken-driving checkpoints: Apple will ban from its online store future applications that inform users of checkpoints not publicized by police.

The move comes three months after four Democratic U.S. senators — Charles Schumer of New York, Harry Reid of Nevada, Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and Tom Udall of New Mexico — asked three smartphone manufacturers to quit selling such downloadable apps or to remove the DUI checkpoint function.
Canada-based Research In Motion, maker of BlackBerry smartphones, pulled the apps immediately.

Apple, maker of the iPhone, and Google, which sells Android-based apps, did not.

At a hearing before the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on privacy last month, technology and the law, Schumer pressed Apple and Google executives to restrict sales of such apps.

On Wednesday, Apple updated the review guidelines for its App Store.
"Apps which contain DUI checkpoints that are not published by law enforcement agencies, or encourage and enable drunk driving, will be rejected," the new guidelines say.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2011-06-09-apple-DUI-checkpoints-app_n.htm

 

[purple_cloud]

This seems like a good idea...I have a Blackberry that I rarely ever use any apps on (it's also not my own plan so I can't really download anything that isn't free) but so many people get away with drunk driving that this is probably for the best. The US seems to have more lenient laws than some other places (with zero tolerance policies) and I know I hate when I'm driving home late at night and watching the car(s) in front of me swerving all over the place.

However, these apps would be useful to avoid the checkstops when NOT drinking, because I hate getting asked 20 questions when the officer can't smell any alcohol, I tell him I haven't been drinking, and I'm definitely of age. It's annoying to still tell them where you're coming from, where you're going, why you're out so late, etc...I know you can just stay silent but, I've seen doing that result in having to get out of the car/get patted down/a breathalyzer when it's purely a waste of time. But, the sobriety checkstops are in place for a reason...I remember a couple years ago someone got on the highway going the wrong way (in LI, NY) and ended up killing quite a few.


I know most BLers are gonna shit on my opinion and our senator and just about everyone else who enforces this, but this isn't like a "bath salt" ban or anything...I've almost been hit by people running lights/swerving too many times at this point.

 

[severely etarded]

I've almost been hit by people running lights/swerving too many times at this point.

Isn't cell phone use causing more accidents though nowadays? I think I read that somewhere.. I'd drive better drunk than texting ... 99% of the people who almost hit me recently are using a phone...

 

[skillet]

Hehe, so you have drunk drivers using cellphones to avoid checkpoints! Double the disaster! Maybe it isn't a bad idea to ban it.

 

[His Name Is Frank]

Good. The only people who should fear DUI check points are those who are driving while over the limit and they don't deserve a warning.

Now if there were an app that could warn you when a drunk driver is heading in your direction, that would be great.

 

[AfterGlow]

Good. The only people who should fear DUI check points are those who are driving while over the limit and they don't deserve a warning.

And the only people who should fear police entering and searching your home without a warrant are people who have something to hide. So let's just give up that civil liberty too!

 

[Renz Envy]

And the only people who should fear police entering and searching your home without a warrant are people who have something to hide. So let's just give up that civil liberty too!

Truth right here. When someone is too drunk to drive, it should be blatantly obvious when they get pulled over. Breathalysers are nit-picky. As someone who is stuck in between 18-21, it's not just annoying to get pulled over; it's relatively frightening. Especially on nights when I've had all but 1-2 beers over like 3hrs and I still have alcohol in my system, but not enough to cut the edge of anxiety from getting breathalyzed. Zero-tolerance policies are bullshit.

 

[rincewindrocks]

Honestly, this wont stop much. I still get chain txts telling me where checkpoints are on friday and saturday nights, and send them on myself. people will get around these things. anyways, they are super easy to avoid if you just use a little common sense

"where are the checkpoints tonight? Oh yeah, on the main roads"

take the back roads, dummy

 

[His Name Is Frank]

And the only people who should fear police entering and searching your home without a warrant are people who have something to hide. So let's just give up that civil liberty too!

Really? You're comparing, "Have you had anything to drink tonight?" to an illegal search of your home?

 

[purple_cloud]

Isn't cell phone use causing more accidents though nowadays? I think I read that somewhere.. I'd drive better drunk than texting ... 99% of the people who almost hit me recently are using a phone...

Yes, I've almost been hit by plenty of people on their phones. But the bars in the cities in NY all close at 4am, so if I'm coming home around 3-4amish, I severely doubt the people in a college town driving along a rather main road are just on their cell phones.

Good. The only people who should fear DUI check points are those who are driving while over the limit and they don't deserve a warning.

Now if there were an app that could warn you when a drunk driver is heading in your direction, that would be great.

I agree with you, everyone else is doing what I ALWAYS without fail see happen in this forum. Everyone jumps on the "it's taking away our freedom we can get fucked over" stuff, but severely etarded for example, you can't really deny that there aren't a decent amount of drunk driving arrests/major accidents. I'm not going to find statistics at this point, but they are still there, even if cellphone use is causing more. It seems like people are quick to associate things with politics and throw everyone who agrees with something into the same basket. That's not always true --- I don't feel any "liberty" is being taken away from you if you are going through a sobriety check stop and driving while drunk. We've all gotten wasted before, many of us, me included, have driven home and not remembered it. And we know how unsafe that is, it seems ridiculous that people think they have the right to operate a vehicle when they can barely function.

 

[Oxycondone]

An Australian model to garner ideas and spark debate:

In Australia we have very strict drink driving laws, over the limit you loose your licence, no questions asked. Too far over the limit and you can end up in the slammer (I think anyway, have to be 5x the limit or something). Every police car has a breathalyser which they use first up (no questions or sobriety checks).

While a few of my friends have lost their licences due to these laws, and the older rural generation often still drink drive; on the whole it works tremendously. Drink driving has been stigmatised in Australia and I can safely and confidently drive in the wee hours of the morning knowing I'm most likely not going to get killed by some drunkard behind a wheel.

Asking someone to blow into a machine isn't hard and isn't a problematic breach of privacy. Unlike taking drugs, driving while drunk isn't a victimless crime, innocents wind up dead from accidents every year. Unlike most laws which are moving the US and Australia towards more draconian standards, I don't think this is one.

 

[LSDMDMA&AMP]

^i agree with this diggity
except i'm not in aus
but i hate seeing DUI rates as a reason for the age being 21 (me being 21 makes me rather angry about the limit being 21...)
IMO DUI shouldnt be the slap on the wrist that it is, it seems its far more acceptable to have a DUI than even a marijuana possession charge.
the fact that some people get to 3+ DUI CHARGES should say something about the current system, they shouldn't have the PRIVILEGE to drive when they consistently prove they are unable to do such in a manner that isn't incredibly reckless and dangerous to themselves and those around them.

 

[Juvenile]

Good. The only people who should fear DUI check points are those who are driving while over the limit and they don't deserve a warning.

Now if there were an app that could warn you when a drunk driver is heading in your direction, that would be great.

Well, if one dev made 2 apps you could do this:

App 1 can be the type that warns people about the DUI check points (ie the kind they are banning) but make this app also report the locations of its active users back to a server. (Assuming that active users of this are likely drunk)

App 2 would take these locations from app 1 and put them on a map so the sober people could see where the active users of app 1 (drunks) are.

Not sure if you can do this with iOS, but you certainly could with Android. People would how ever work out what you were doing fairly quickly though. Including cops, who could use app 2 to target possible drunks...

 

[slimvictor]

Here in Japan there is a zero tolerance policy.
Until around 5 years ago, people just kinda smiled at drunk drivers, until there were a couple tragedies caused by drunk drivers that became news.

I often cross a bridge where one of the tragedies occurred.
Three children fell to their deaths when a drunk driver hit their car.
Their parents watched from the bridge as their car went into the water.

I prefer it with zero tolerance, personally, though it is not very convenient at times, since I do enjoy a beer or some sake now and then.
Still, being hit by a drunk driver is far, far less convenient.

So (back to the OP) I support this choice.

I support having checkpoints ready to catch drunk drivers.
Take them straight to jail, I say. Maybe 1 year mandatory for a first offense, 5 years for a second.
Keep them the hell out of my world.

(That said, the prisons are disgraceful, and need major reform in order to even approach being places of rehabilitation, rather than places of punishment. If I ever had the authority to make laws about drunk driving, I would first reform the prisons! and the drug laws...)

 

[AfterGlow]

Really? You're comparing, "Have you had anything to drink tonight?" to an illegal search of your home?

No. I'm comparing an illegal search of my home to: "Stop your vehicle now. Where are you coming from? Where are you going? Well sir, this is out of your way. That sounds suspicious to me. Please get out of your vehicle for your safety and mine. Oh... what's that in your back seat? No sir, you are not free to leave. We are conducting an investigation here."

The point is... if they want to patrol and they see somebody driving recklessly, I support pulling the driver over to see if they are impaired. I do NOT support putting up a "roadblock" and stopping everybody even though they are not doing anything wrong. I should be free to move about without having to explain myself to a LEO for no reason other than the fact that somebody out there may be breaking a law. I have no desire to live in a police state where I am forced to prove my innocence when I've committed no crime. And I find it outrageous that YOU want to give up MY rights for me. If you want to submit to police checks, do so. But please don't advocate for others having to give up their rights because you do not value your own.

 

[Juvenile]

I do NOT support putting up a "roadblock" and stopping everybody even though they are not doing anything wrong. I should be free to move about without having to explain myself to a LEO for no reason other than the fact that somebody out there may be breaking a law.

WTF is with cops in your country... Here in Aus RBT (random breath tests) are really no big deal. They set up a bus and several officers on the road. You drive in, put your window down, blow in a tube, less than 20 seconds later you are off again. Unless you have been drinking in which case you are busted obviously.

 

[purple_cloud]

WTF is with cops in your country... Here in Aus RBT (random breath tests) are really no big deal. They set up a bus and several officers on the road. You drive in, put your window down, blow in a tube, less than 20 seconds later you are off again. Unless you have been drinking in which case you are busted obviously.

What country are you in exactly? I'm in the US with our nutty laws of course.

 

[GRINCH3369]

well that riduclous its gone before i even knew one existed

 

[Captain.Heroin]

I would want to avoid DUI check points to save time, and for no other reason. I do not drink, at all.

Nonetheless, if you are drunk and are trying to use a cell phone while driving, you're very likely to have an accident, so then it's almost pointless as the cops will just come to where you are.

 

[purple_cloud]

I would want to avoid DUI check points to save time, and for no other reason.

This is the only thing I was thinking at first as to how it could be beneficial. It's annoying when I really have to pee/am running late and have nowhere to go/haven't even seen alcohol for the night at any point and am totally and completely sober from everything. It's an inconvenience but I'd rather it there for my overall safety...the benefits outweight the annoyances I suppose