How would you like to have this guy drive your bus?


From Rueters

CANBERRA, Australia - A bus driver who was 13 times over the legal alcohol limit while driving a bus load of schoolchildren had a simple request for police who arrested him for drunken driving, an Australian court heard on Wednesday.

"Can I finish my run, at least to drop these kids off?"

A country court in New South Wales state was told 50-year old David Stack had a blood alcohol level of 0.26, which is 13 times the legal limit for a bus driver, when he was stopped on Nov. 7.

The court was told two adult passengers had alerted police after Stack's bus was speeding and swerving across the road.

Stack, who pleaded guilty to the drink-driving charge, said he regretted his actions and had apologized to the children on the bus at the time.

Now unemployed, Stack will be sentenced in February.

is it just me are are the stories regarding just how intoxicated drivers are are getting more extreme, three times, four times . . . thirteen times the legal limit? how drunk do you have to be before you slip into a coma?

.02 is the legal limit for a bus driver of kids in Australia? I'm not quite sure how to react that ANY alcohol when you're driving a school bus is ok.

no rules, just right.

Alcohol poisoning happens. Not a coma, but equally bad stuff. If you really want to know this is a cool launching place.

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/outreach/SafeSobr/15qp/web/idalc.html

Well, ok, I think we can all agree he had too much to drink to be driving a school bus load of kids, or for that matter, driving anything faster than a wheelbarrow. But you got to hand it to the guy: he was dedicated to his job. So many people now adays, upon being arrested in these circumstances, would have said to the cops: "these kids are your problem now. I'm out of here, Jack!"

As for David Newell's question. I believe it is DPS policy to take any one who blows .30 or better to the E.R. This is just a precautionary rule. When I prosecuted in Farmington N. Mex., I saw BAC's over .30 on a weekly basis, and all of these fellows were alive in court a few days after their arrest. The average BAC on the Farmington P.D. Intoxilyzer was 0.23, and I was told the Gallup P.D.'s average was 0.24. Alcoholism is an extraordinarily serious problem on the Indian reservations, and both towns are very close to the Navajo and other reservations.

A long time ago the Army used to allow drivers to have one beer at lunch and drive a truck or bus. Drivers applied the rule strictly in Korea drinking the "COMBAT OB" wich maybe the sieze of a 40 oz + or -. Yes a bus or two did strike the bus stop, at least there were no kids on base there.

I still shudder at the tought of being the Officer of the Day on the "Drunk Bus" the 2A.M. last bus whith 40-50 raving drunks on the bus.

The other side of the "Combat OB" problem was that not all OB's were created equal. (Same problem with the San Miguel in the PI, although not as bad.) So one day you could drink six with no effect and the next day one, was half a bottle too much. (Okay, six is a lot, because the bottles are/were big.)

What no one realizes is that the driver neglected to tell the cops that the reason he was so dedicated was that he had told his mates back at the bar that he could get all the kiddos delivered and be back at the bar within a specific period of time (the last one he was downing would still be cool to the touch) - If he did, he won a free beer.