Designated Driver Pays Stiff Price for Helping

Ann DuFour did what she thought was right and got a hefty fine for the effort.

Her choice: to act as the designated driver for a friend who was too drunk to drive.

The lesson: You’d better ask an intoxicated would-be driver for insurance papers before wresting the keys from his hand.

“I don’t know if I’d be here today or who else might have been killed if I hadn’t made the choice that I did,” said DuFour, 25, of Buena Park.

That decision, nonetheless, will cost her nearly $1,400.

DuFour’s journey began one Sunday three months ago when she and several friends drove to Black Star Canyon near Orange for a day of hiking and picnicking. Because she and her husband don’t own a car, they rode in their friend’s Ford Ranger truck.

The group spent the day carousing in the woods, with everyone but DuFour drinking beer. When it came time to go home, she recalls, it became clear that the owner of the truck was drunk. “We realized he was swerving,” she said, “so we made him pull over.” The only sober member of the party, DuFour took the wheel.

Here’s where it gets sticky.

Less than a mile down the road the group was pulled over by an Orange police officer because a passenger was riding in the back of the truck. DuFour concedes that was a violation, and she deserved the ticket she got. But in the course of interviewing her, the policeman asked for proof of insurance, as the law requires. There was no such proof because the truck wasn’t insured. So the officer added another count to the citation--failure to show evidence of financial responsibility.

DuFour decided to plead guilty with an explanation. “I had people willing to go with me to court and tell the truth,” she said, that she was driving someone else’s car to avoid an accident. “I have a good driving record. I thought I’d explain that the vehicle was registered to a different person and they’d drop it.”

But she had no such luck. Instead, DuFour said, the judge fined her $1,386 for driving without insurance.

“I was really surprised,” she said. “The judge told me that it was commendable of me to be a designated driver, but that I shouldn’t have gotten myself in that situation.”

John Higley, who oversees traffic enforcement for the Orange Police Department, agrees. While not insensitive to DuFour’s situation, he said she should have been more prudent. “Any time you get behind the wheel of somebody else’s car, you assume certain responsibilities,” he said. “She was taking a chance, and it would not have been imprudent to make some inquiries.”

His advice to anyone driving an unfamiliar vehicle? “Take some steps to assure that the vehicle can be legally operated,” he said. “If you are unsure about it, call a cab, have someone else come and get you or make arrangements for other transportation.”

All of which DuFour finds absurd.

“I didn’t leave the house planning to be a designated driver,” she said, “yet, if I hadn’t been one, I might be dead, and the state doesn’t care--all they want is their money. I’ll never be a designated driver again. I laugh when I see those ads now; not only do you have to pry the keys out of a drunk friend’s hands, you have to get his registration and proof of insurance too.”

DuFour, who earns $7.50 an hour as a customer service representative for a major department store, will send the court $75 a month until the fine is paid. As a result, she said, she may have to delay her dreams of buying a car. “I can’t afford it,” she said, “I’ve got to get insurance.”

Street Smart appears Mondays in The Times Orange County Edition. Readers are invited to submit comments and questions about traffic, commuting and what makes it difficult to get around in Orange County. Include simple sketches if helpful. Letters may be published in upcoming columns. Please write to David Haldane, c/o Street Smart, The Times Orange County Edition, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, send faxes to (714) 966-7711 or e-mail him at David.Haldane@latimes.com. Include your full name, address and day and evening phone numbers. Letters may be edited, and no anonymous letters will be accepted.