The Power of the Typo

[gnomi]

According to this article, the new drunk driving law in New York has a typo that makes it far more stringent than any other drunk driving law in the US.

Lawmakers approved a bill that sets the standard for driving while intoxicated at 0.18 grams of alcohol in a person's blood. But a person's body can produce that much alcohol naturally, according to Rochester DWI lawyer Ed Fiandach.

Instead of using grams, the law should have used blood alcohol content as a measure...

The law was supposed to go into effect this week, but prosecutors said they won't be able to enforce it until legislators fix the typo.

Moral of the story? Always check your work.

Comments

[caryabend.livejournal.com]

I thought that it wouldn't be a typo unless the decimal point is in the wrong location. And even then, it's still bad legislation.

It looks like the original intent of the law was to prevent plea bargaining to lesser infractions if when a person's BAC (measured in %) was above 0.18 at the time of the occurrence. I can support this law. Too bad I don't live in NY.