Upon the Passage of House Bill 1699, the New Hampshire DUI Laws have changed tremendously. Prior to this law, police officers in New Hampshire could arrest for driving while intoxicated by alcohol or driving while being impaired by Narcotic Drugs.
The New Law which goes into as the Ball Drops on New Years Eve extends the law allowing the police to arrest you if you are under the influence of alcohol, narcotic drugs and prescription drugs that are non-narcotic, over the counter drugs like cough syrup and cold medication, or any other chemical substance natural or synthetic, which impairs a person's ability to drive.
The New Legislation applies to people driving cars, Ohrvs and boats!
Why did the Legislature change the law? The legislative intent was obviously to protect the public by making our roadways safer by removing people unfit to drive a motor vehicle.
So what does this mean to you as a licensed driver. First and formost, you cannot operate any vehicle, be it a car, boat, snowmobile, four wheeler or motorcycle on or off road is you are impaired to any degree by any substance natural or synthetic.
What is impairment? Impairment is caused by substances which effect one's ability to control their mind and body. For example, you are feeling sick and take a cold medication such as benedryl, dextromathoraphin which is in products like Nyquil or prescription drugs like Soma or flexeril, you would subject you to be arrested for DUI if these medications impaired you to operate a motor vehicle to any degree. This also includes the synthetic drugs that are on the market which include synthetic marijuana. It also includes huffing which is the inhalation of gas fumes or sniffing glue.
As a driver should you be concerned? The bottom line is if you ingest any substance and it effects your mind making you foggy or buzzed, you should not drive. The same is true if you take a substance which effects your motor skills or you ability to react in an emergency.
Why is this important? The average person reacts to an emergency in a time period of between1.5 to 2.5 seconds in time. In order to react to an emergency, the driver first has to perceive an emergency. This is the time period when you say to yourself, that driver ahead is braking fast or that person is not going to stop at the stop sign. Once the person realizes that an emergency takes place, they then have to reach to it. This is usually in the form of a steering or braking to avoid a collision.
During this reactionary time, a car is still moving forward. To convert miles to hour to feel per second, we multiply the speed by 1.466. For the purpose of this article, we will round that to 1.5.
So at 30 MPH, a car moves a distance of approximately 45 feet every second. This means that depending on your perception, reaction time you car travels between 67.5 feet and 112.5 feet before you brake or steer. Substances which impair your mind or body slow the perception and reaction time, greatly increasing your chances for a crash.
So the best advise we can give is if you take any substance and it makes you feel sleepy, tired or groggy, don't operate a motor vehicle. Doing so could now cost you your license or even worse may cause injury or death if you crash.
The New Law which goes into as the Ball Drops on New Years Eve extends the law allowing the police to arrest you if you are under the influence of alcohol, narcotic drugs and prescription drugs that are non-narcotic, over the counter drugs like cough syrup and cold medication, or any other chemical substance natural or synthetic, which impairs a person's ability to drive.
The New Legislation applies to people driving cars, Ohrvs and boats!
Why did the Legislature change the law? The legislative intent was obviously to protect the public by making our roadways safer by removing people unfit to drive a motor vehicle.
So what does this mean to you as a licensed driver. First and formost, you cannot operate any vehicle, be it a car, boat, snowmobile, four wheeler or motorcycle on or off road is you are impaired to any degree by any substance natural or synthetic.
What is impairment? Impairment is caused by substances which effect one's ability to control their mind and body. For example, you are feeling sick and take a cold medication such as benedryl, dextromathoraphin which is in products like Nyquil or prescription drugs like Soma or flexeril, you would subject you to be arrested for DUI if these medications impaired you to operate a motor vehicle to any degree. This also includes the synthetic drugs that are on the market which include synthetic marijuana. It also includes huffing which is the inhalation of gas fumes or sniffing glue.
As a driver should you be concerned? The bottom line is if you ingest any substance and it effects your mind making you foggy or buzzed, you should not drive. The same is true if you take a substance which effects your motor skills or you ability to react in an emergency.
Why is this important? The average person reacts to an emergency in a time period of between1.5 to 2.5 seconds in time. In order to react to an emergency, the driver first has to perceive an emergency. This is the time period when you say to yourself, that driver ahead is braking fast or that person is not going to stop at the stop sign. Once the person realizes that an emergency takes place, they then have to reach to it. This is usually in the form of a steering or braking to avoid a collision.
During this reactionary time, a car is still moving forward. To convert miles to hour to feel per second, we multiply the speed by 1.466. For the purpose of this article, we will round that to 1.5.
So at 30 MPH, a car moves a distance of approximately 45 feet every second. This means that depending on your perception, reaction time you car travels between 67.5 feet and 112.5 feet before you brake or steer. Substances which impair your mind or body slow the perception and reaction time, greatly increasing your chances for a crash.
So the best advise we can give is if you take any substance and it makes you feel sleepy, tired or groggy, don't operate a motor vehicle. Doing so could now cost you your license or even worse may cause injury or death if you crash.
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