Kansas DUI laws changed today, July 1, 2010, but only a little. As of today, a person convicted of a second time DUI in Kansas, who also blew under a .150, can petition to have his one year driver’s license suspension set aside in favor of an ignition interlock device after 45 days. But, this only applies to a person who has been CONVICTED and not someone who has been suspended administratively. Sound confusing? It is. This would only come into play if beat the administrative hearing somehow and then you were convicted in the criminal case, and if you took the breath test and the result was less than a .15. If that was the case and you got suspended for one year followed by one year of ignition interlock for the second time conviction, you could file a petition with the Kansas Department of Revenue to have the suspension lifted after 45 days. If granted, you could drive with an ignition interlock device.
Certainly, this will help some people to be able to live, work and take care of their family, but not that many. Of course, it doesn’t help the people who get suspended as a result of the administrative hearing on a second occurrence. Also, it is odd that a person who is charged with a Kansas DUI for the first time, but refused a breath test or blew a .150, gets suspended for an entire year and cannot petition to get this “hardship” license. Yet, a second time offender can, and just because the magic breath alcohol estimator says so? Well, don’t ever confuse justice with the law.
Another interesting thing is that this law is supposed to be retroactive. That means that it applies to cases which occurred before July 1, 2010. So, this law may help some people who were arrested before it ever existed. The Kansas Department of Revenue will apparently have proposed petitions and orders for this hardship license in the near future. However, it would be best to have a Kansas DUI attorney handle this petition to increase the chance that the petition will be granted and processed quickly.
Another change in the Kansas law that took effect today is that it is illegal to text while driving. Police officers are only supposed to issue warnings for the first 6 months. I don’t know how this law will be enforced other than driver’s coughing up confessions and consenting to searches when stopped. If the police pull someone over because they think they are texting, what proof are they going to have that he or she actually was unless they search the phone and can find the text? That would require a search warrant unless the driver consents to a search of his or her telephone (not recommended) or confesses (also not recommended). Also, how does an officer know that a driver wasn’t looking at his or her calendar on the phone, photographs, a map or something else? Texting while driving is dangerous, and has found to be as dangerous or more dangerous than drunk driving, so texting while driving is also not recommended. But, do we need a law for everything? At least for now, it is still legal to do the following while driving: change the radio, play with your GPS, smoke, have a dog on your lap, adjust the climate control, search your iPod for songs, make and receive telephone calls, eat Taco Bell, drink 64 oz. sodas, fight with your significant other, make out with your significant other, backhand unruly children in the backseat, read a map or even a book, and lots of other things that can distract a driver and used to be called inattentive driving.
The law that allows police officers in Kansas to stop people are write a ticket for not having a seatbelt on also has gone into effect. It used to be that the police had to have some other reason to pull you over before they could cite you for not having a seatbelt, but the police power in this respect has been expanded to help protect people from their own stupidity in not wearing a seatbelt.
Finally, just to continue the theme that government is getting too big, that there are too many laws on the books and that we are becoming a “Nanny State”, it is now illegal to smoke in Kansas in all public places, including bars and restaurants, EXCEPT you can smoke in the government monopoly casinos because the government wouldn’t dare make a law that effected their money. Now more people who would like to smoke at the same time that they drink will be less likely to go to the bar owned by their regular little guy neighbor, and more likely to drive out to the casino, so that might help the state get even more money for things like creating more laws and hiring more police to enforce them.
This weekend is Independence Day, in which we remember our forefathers’ rejection of governmental tyranny and claim to freedom as Americans. As long as you do it when you are told, where you are told and with approved firecrackers, you are still allowed to celebrate that.