Technically, DUI means driving under the influence of some type drug. That can mean alcohol, prescriptions, or illegal drugs. DWI means simply driving while intoxicated, and in many states, refers to the use of alcohol. The use of the terms can be interchangeable but DWI usually refers more to the severity the drug has metabolized within the offending person’s body.

Wyoming, in its Vehicle statute 31-5-233, adds a little complication to the terms by combining them. Around the legal circles of the state, the acronym DWUI is sometimes used. This term simply means, as described in the statute, “driving or having control of vehicle while under influence of intoxicating liquor or controlled substances.”

Convicted first time offenders can receive jail time, stiff fines, community service, probation along with mandatory attendance of a drug education program, and license suspension. If you get probation, you are not sentenced, and the result does not go on your record if you successfully complete the court mandated education or treatment program. You are allowed probation only one time. A conviction without probation stays on your record permanently.

According to a news article posted in the Casper Star-Tribune on January 20, 2009, the state legislature in Cheyenne has been considering a bill that would adopt ignition interlock devices being placed on the automobiles of first time DUI convicted offenders for one year. The article quoted Representative Debbie Hammons, D-Worland, as saying “the mandatory devices have been shown to be effective in achieving results in the battle against drunk drivers in seven or eight other states.

Every community in the state has problems with drunken driving. This is an aggressive step to do something about it.” Whatever term you refer to drinking and driving or drunk driving, states are clamping down on these type traffic violations. When you face these kinds of charges, it is no time to handle your case all by yourself. You need an attorney who specializes in such cases. Contact us to help you get in contact with a DUI lawyer who can help you understand the subtle differences in the legal jargon of Wyoming law, and who specializes in representing your best interests.

In Texas, Driving While Intoxicated, or DWI, (also known as DUI, or Driving Under the Influence, in other states) is a serious offense.  Regardless of whether you are stopped by a local Police Officer in Houston or San Antonio, or by a County Sheriff in Dallas or Austin or a State Trooper in Fort Worth or El Paso, or one of the thousands of law enforcement officer in any of Texas’ twelve hundred-plus towns, your Field Sobriety Test matters. As a matter of fact, one the District Attorney’s key pieces of evidence when presenting the case against you in court is the same evidence the arresting officer used to assess your sobriety.

The very name, Field Sobriety Test, hints at the many difficulties inherent in it: this assessment is done “in the field,” wherever the officer pulls you over. Even Standardized Tests given by doctors in laboratories can be subject to challenge. So one can just imagine the potential difficulties involved in administering a test roadside in varying conditions.

Before discussing these challenges, first we will review the serious punishments associated with for DWI convictions in Texas (as outlined in the Texas Department of Public Safety’s website at www.txdps.state.tx.us). Texas enacted the Administrative License Revocation (ALR) Program on January 1, 1995 to “suspend the driver licenses of dangerous drivers in a swift and sure manner.” The ALR sets forth two different sets of penalties, based on whether or not the suspect willingly provided the specimen (blood, urine or breath) requested by officers to determine the level of intoxication.

• First DWI Conviction**:
  • Refusal to provide specimen: An automatic driver’s license suspension for one hundred eighty days.
  • Provided a specimen with an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or greater: An automatic driver’s license suspension for ninety days.
• Second and Subsequent DWI Convictions (if prior DWI conviction was in last ten years):
  • Refusal to provide specimen: An automatic driver’s license suspension of two years.
  • Provided a specimen with an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or greater: An automatic driver’s license suspension for one year.

In addition to the above driver’s license suspensions, drivers who receive a DWI conviction for offenses that occur on or after September 1, 2003 are required to pay an annual surcharge for three years from the date of conviction.

• First DWI Conviction: – $1,000 annual surcharge for three years
• Second and Subsequent DWI Convictions - $1,500 annual surcharge for three years
• DWI with Blood Alcohol Content .16 or greater – $2,000 annual surcharge for three years

Each of these above surcharges collected will be remitted to the Texas State Comptroller’s office. The Trauma Center and Texas General Revenue Funds receive ninety-nine percent of the revenue collected, while DPS receives the remaining one percent for the administration of the Driver Responsibility Program.

**NOTE: In some states, the terms DWI and DUI may be synonymous. In Texas, this is not the case. DWI refers to drivers age twenty-one and older arrested for driving while intoxicated. When minors (drivers under the age of twenty-one) commit the same offense, Texas refers to it as DUI. The penalties listed above are for DWIs committed by adults; the penalties for minors are identical for those refusing to provide a specimen, and slightly less stringent for those providing a specimen with an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or greater.

If you did not see the importance of consulting with an experienced DWI attorney before reading these penalties, hopefully you do now. If you have been arrested for DWI in Texas, how can you afford not to hire a DWI attorney?  A DWI conviction means thousands of dollars in fines over the next three years plus loss of your license. Rest assured that the State of Texas will have plenty of attorneys at its disposal while preparing its case against you. Shouldn’t you have a DWI attorney preparing your case?

What Happens Before an Officer Makes a DWI Arrest

In all likelihood, a local Police Officer, County Sheriff or Texas state trooper pulled you over because you were driving unsafely.  Perhaps you were you speeding or changing lanes erratically. Perhaps your vehicle was not completely road ready, missing a valid inspection or registration sticker. Perhaps an important a safety feature of your vehicle, like your lights or turn signals, was malfunctioning or not being used properly. Or you could have been part of a routine traffic stop, during which police stop all traffic moving thru a checkpoint.

Once pulled over, if the officer suspected that alcohol or drugs (either prescription or illegal) might have impaired your driving, he probably gave you a Field Sobriety Test. This psychophysical test measures your basic motor and cognitive skills to determine if they have been compromised, either by alcohol or another substance.

From watching movies or television shows, most people know what happens during a Field Sobriety Test. Many states, though, do not have clear, written guidelines mandating that every Field Sobriety Test be administered in exactly the same fashion under controlled conditions.  Texas is one of those states lacking specific controls for the Field Sobriety Test. In fact, here is the treatment of the subject in the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Web site in the

After contact with the individual is initiated, the officer develops probable cause to arrest the person for DWI. Specifically, if the officer has reason to believe that the driver is impaired, a set of field sobriety tests may be administered. If the driver performs poorly, the driver is arrested for DWI and transported to the police station.

Since Texas DPS doesn’t offer clear-cut guidelines for officers administering the test that will determine whether or not you are arrested for DWI, we will review the guidelines established by United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Just remember that a test given by a police officer in Arlington can be very different from a test given by a state trooper in Corpus Christi or from a test given by a county sheriff in Plano.

In any city, the officer may ask the suspect to complete any or all of these three tests:

• Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN): HGN refers to a normal, involuntary jerking of the eyes when looking sharply to side or the other.  Under the influence of alcohol or any drug, HGN can occur when the subject is looking straight ahead or just slightly to the side. During this test, the officer will ask the suspect to visually track a slow moving object (such as the officer’s pen or finger) and while watching for jerking of the eyeballs. Questions about the HGN test are compelling:
  • Results of this test are highly subjective and almost never video taped (if the officer’s squad car has videotaping capabilities, it will not be able to zoom in on the subjects eyes an the object being tracked).
  • Officers frequently administer this test at night, which makes close examination of the suspect’s eyes in poorly lit conditions difficult.

• Walk-and-Turn (WAT): During the WAT, the officer asks the suspect to walk nine paces, heel-to-toe, along an imaginary line. Then the suspect pivots on one foot and repeats the test in the opposite direction. The officer watches for eight possible indicators of alcohol and/or drug influence:
  • taking an incorrect number of steps
  • making an improper turn
  • not touching heel-to-toe,
  • stepping off the line,
  • failure to keep balance during the instructions,
  • starting before the instructions are completed,
  • stopping while walking to steady oneself, or
  • using arms to balance.

Several factors could adversely influence the outcome of this test:

• • The surface of the suspect’s shoes: a suspect’s rubber soles can “grip” the pavement during a turn, also causing him to lose falter. Conversely, slick leather soles can cause the suspect to turn too quickly, causing him to lose balance.
  • Weather conditions can make balance difficult. For example, roadside pavement being slick from rain or snow or oil can create challenges to balance while turning.
  • High heels, whether on a woman’s shoe or a man’s boot, can make heel-to-toe walking difficult in any circumstance.
  • A suspect’s chronic leg or back problems may make balance during a turn difficult, as can obesity.

• One-Leg Stand (OLS). During the OLS, the officer asks the suspect to stand with one foot approximately six inches off the ground and count aloud from one thousand (one thousand one, one thousand two, etc.) until told to stop, usually for about thirty seconds. The officer watches for these four indicators of impairment:
  • swaying while standing on one leg,
  • excessive use of arms to balance,
  • hopping to maintain balance,
  • and lowering the foot before instructed to do so.

As with other elements of the Field Sobriety Test, important complications can arise during the administration of the OLS:

• For a suspect not fluent in English, counting aloud may be difficult under ideal circumstances, especially counting in the thousands.

• • Suspects not guilty of DWI can be extremely jittery when confronted by police officers. Their anxiety may cause them to perform poorly on any type of test administered by an officer.

As familiar as most Texans think they are with the Field Sobriety Test, many are ignorant of some basic facts:

• As noted above from the Texas Department of Public Safety website, once the officer observes you driving unsafely, he may begin to form an opinion about your sobriety before he even asks you for your license and proof of insurance. Although unsafe driving is never tolerable, it may have been caused something other than impairment by alcohol or drugs, like:
  • A driver’s conversation, either with passengers or via a cell phone;
  • A driver being focused on something inside the vehicle, like the music or temperature controls, a map or children in the backseat.

So you may have just been a poor driver prior to being pulled over, not a driver guilty of DWI.

• Field Sobriety Tests are voluntary. No Texan can be forced to participate in one, although officers rarely advise drivers of this.
• Any observations an officer makes before pulling you over, while interacting with you or during the Field Sobriety Test can be admitted in court, even though the officer does not read you your Miranda rights until arresting you.
• For any Texas driver who has difficulty hearing, due to advanced age or a medical condition, complying with an officer’s verbal instructions on the roadside of a busy, noisy highway can be difficult.
• Even something as simple as leaning on or pulling against your car door while exiting the vehicle can be interpreted by the officer as proof of impairment. But what if you needed assistance getting out of the car due to chronic back pain or sore muscles from a strenuous workout the day before?

This is just a brief discussion of why a Field Sobriety Test may not always be an accurate assessment of your sobriety. In a court of law, it will be your word against the arresting officer’s. Make an informed decision by contacting a Texas attorney experienced in Texas DWI law today. Your future could depend on it.

In California, Driving Under the Influence, or DUI, (commonly called DWI, or Driving While Intoxicated, in other states) is a serious offense. You could be stopped by a State Trooper in Los Angeles, San Diego or San Jose; or by a County Sheriff in San Francisco, Long Beach or Fresno; or by a local Police Officer in Sacramento, Oakland or Santa Ana. Regardless of which law enforcement Officer stops you along California’s fourteen thousand miles of public roadways, how you perform on your Field Sobriety Test can be crucial. This often determines whether you continue your scheduled trip or receive a DUI arrest. In court, the District Attorney will ask the arresting Officer to recount every detail of your Field Sobriety Test. Throughout California, law enforcement Officers depend on the Field Sobriety Test to measure a driver’s sobriety or lack thereof.

This Field Sobriety Test, which Officers ask drivers suspected of DUI to perform, is aptly named as it is done “in the field”—wherever your car stops when the Officer pulls you over. Even novices on DUI law can foresee potential obstacles arising from performing such a potentially life-changing test roadside. In court, even Standardized Tests given by medical professionals in controlled environments are often challenged.

Before going into detail about the variety of issues that can go awry as Officers conduct the Field Sobriety Test, first let us examine the penalties for California DUI convictions (as outlined in the California Highway Safety Office’s website).

DUI in California is defined by a BAC result of 0.08% or higher; exceptions to this include:

• 0.04% if driving a commercial vehicle;
• 0.01% for drivers under age twenty-one; and
• 0.01 for drivers already on DUI Probation.

Drivers should note that you could be arrested and convicted for DUI solely based on impaired driving skills, even if your BAC is less than 0.08%.

Once arrested for a DUI offense, your driver’s license will be immediately confiscated. You will be issued a temporary license, which you may use for thirty days only. You have ten days to request an administrative hearing, at which you may try to refute the DUI charge. At the end of your suspension period (see below), you must pay $125 and show proof of financial responsibility (i.e. liability automobile insurance) to have your license re-issued

• Refusal to take a BAC test (Adults): If you were 21 years or older at the time of arrest and you refused or failed to complete a blood or breath test, or (if applicable) a urine test:
  • A first offense will result in a 1-year suspension.
  • A second offense within 10 years will result in a 2-year revocation.
  • A third or subsequent offense within 10 years will result in a 3-year revocation.
• Refusal to take a BAC test (Minors): If you were under 21 years of age at the time of being detained or arrested and you refused or failed to complete a BAC test or other chemical test:
  • A first offense will result in a 1-year suspension.
  • A second offense within 10 years will result in a 2-year revocation.
  • A third or subsequent offense within 10 years will result in a 3-year revocation.
• First DUI Conviction (Non-Injury–Misdemeanor)
  • Fines ranging from $390 to $1,000, plus possible additional punitive charges
  • A jail sentence of at least forty-eight hours, but not to exceed six months
  • License suspension for four months (which may be shortened to thirty days if you can prove hardship)
  • Possible impounding of motor vehicle
  • Completion of a State-licensed Drug and Alcohol Education and Counseling Program lasting thirty hours over three-months. (If the BAC is 0.20% or higher, the program will last sixty hours over nine months.) The convicted offender pays for these programs.
  • Probation for three to five years: you do not meet with a Probation Officer during this time, but the court will not be lenient if you are charged with an alcohol-related offense during this time
  • Possible court-ordered installation of a certified ignition InterLock system on any vehicle driven by the convicted offender. Fees to operate an InterLock system for one year, including installation, can easily exceed one thousand dollars and are paid by the convicted offender.  (The Interlock system requires a breath sample before starting the vehicle and at random points while driving the vehicle. If the sample is below the allowed BAC limit (usually 0.02% to 0.04%), the car will operate. If the sample is above the allowed BAC limit, the car will not start or will cease to operate.
• Second DUI Conviction within Ten Years of a Prior DUI Conviction (Non-Injury–Misdemeanor)
  • Fines ranging from $390 to $1,000, plus possible additional punitive charges
  • A jail sentence of at least ninety days, but not to exceed one year
  • License suspension for one year
  • Possible impounding of motor vehicle
  • Completion of a State-licensed Drug and Alcohol Education and Counseling Program lasting seventy hours over twelve months. The convicted offender pays for these programs.
  • For Second DUI Conviction: Probation for three to five years: you do not meet with a Probation Officer during this time, but the court will not be lenient if you are charged with an alcohol-related offense during this time.
• Third and Subsequent DUI Conviction within Ten Years of a Prior DUI Conviction (Non-Injury–Misdemeanor)
  • Fines ranging from $1,015 to $5,000, plus possible additional punitive charges
  • A jail sentence of two, three or four years
  • License revocation
  • Possible impounding of motor vehicle
  • Completion of a State-licensed Drug and Alcohol Education and Counseling Program spanning twelve months. The convicted offender pays for these programs.
  • Probation for three to five years, during which you will meet regularly with a Probation Officer.
• DUIs with Enhanced Penalties: Certain aggravating conditions can result in any of the above listed penalties and/or fines being increased
  • Driving with a child under the age of fourteen in the vehicle
  • Driving twenty miles or more above the posted speed limit
  • Driving with a BAC of .015% or more
  • License revocation for life
  • Additional fees which may total $200
  • Possible loss of motor vehicle
• Felony DUI Conviction This typically refers to the Fourth DUI Conviction within ten years and/or any DUI Conviction resulting in property damage, injury to a person or death. The penalties for Felony DUI convictions vary widely depending on the individual circumstances of the case, but most always involve significant jail time in addition to the above listed penalties for Misdemeanor DUI Convictions.

Are you now convinced that a California DUI Arrest is a serious matter? You have the right to an attorney, and, if you have not already done so, you should contact an experienced DUI Attorney immediately. California District Attorneys regard DUI Arrests as serious matters and prosecute them accordingly. If you have been arrested for DUI in California, your next telephone call should be to a DUI attorney experienced in California DUI laws. A California DUI conviction results in significant fines, ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars, jail time, suspension of your driver’s license, and potentially a felony conviction. Rest assured that the California District Attorney assigned to your court has sufficient resources to successfully convict you of DUI. Shouldn’t you have someone in court on your side? Contact an attorney experienced in California’s DUI laws today.

What prompts an Officer in California to make a DUI arrest?

The California State Trooper, local Police Officer, or County Sheriff who pulled you over probably took note of you driving unlawfully. Any number of unsafe driving behaviors could have brought you to the Officer’s attention, such as:

• Failure to operate your vehicle’s safety features correctly (i.e. driving without your headlights at night or without your windshield wipers during a rainstorm);
• Stopping your vehicle without proper cause;
• Driving above or below the posted speed limit; or
• Failure to stay in your own lane.

Or you could have been one of many cars stopped by an Officer during a traffic checkpoint.

After reviewing your driver’s license and vehicle registration, if the Officer suspected you’re your driving skills were impaired by alcohol or drugs, he probably asked you to exit your vehicle and take a Field Sobriety Test. This psychophysical test measures impairment of your basic motor and cognitive skills by alcohol or other substances.

Most Californians can describe with reasonable accuracy what a Field Sobriety Test looks like, either from seeing one depicted on television or in movies or perhaps even from personal experience. Many states, though, lack written instructions dictating that each Field Sobriety Test be administered in exactly the same fashion under controlled conditions. Regrettably, California is one of those states lacking such specific guidelines for the Field Sobriety Test.

The United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) created its own standards for Field Sobriety Tests, which many Officers nationwide use as general guideline for conducting their own roadside assessments. Keep in mind that a Field Sobriety Text conducted by a Police Officer in Los Angeles, however, can be very different from a test conducted by a County Sheriff in Anaheim or from a test conducted by State Trooper in Oakland.

The Officer may conduct any or all of these three tests:

• Walk-and-Turn (WAT): During the WAT, the Officer instructs the suspect to take nine steps, heel-to-toe, along a straight line. The Officer then instructs the suspect to pivot 180 degrees on the ball of one foot and take another nine steps, still heel-to-toe, in the opposite direction. During the WAT, the Officer watches for many indicators of potential alcohol and/or drug impairment, including

1. Inability to stand still and maintain balance as the Officer explains the WAT,
2. Starting the test before the Officer completes the instructions,
3. Walking with the feet side-by-side instead of walking heel-to-toe,
4. Taking more or less than the required nine steps,
5. Failure to walk in a straight line,
6. Failure to pivot turn on the ball of the foot,
7. Waving or flapping the arms for balance, and
8. Stopping during the WAT for any reason before completing the test.

Many legitimate issues could result in failing the WAT test, including:

• • Medical conditions, such as inner ear problems or chronic leg or back pain, can make balance difficult.  Obesity can also adversely impact balance.
  • Weather conditions, such as ice, rain, snow or even spilled motor oil, can make the roadside surface slippery, causing challenges.
  • The suspect’s shoes can have a dramatic impact on the WAT test. For instance, leather soles can be slippery and result in turning too quickly, causing a loss of balance. Conversely, rubber soles can “grip” the roadside, also causing a loss of balance. And high heels, whether on a woman’s shoe or a man’s boot, can make heel-to-toe walking difficult.

• Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN): HGN refers to the normal, uncontrollable twitching or jerking of the eyes when one looks sharply to the left or right.  Under the influence of alcohol or any drug (over-the-counter, prescription or illegal), this twitching or jerking can occur even when the suspect is focused straight ahead or just slightly to one side. During the HGN test, the Officer instructs the suspect to focus on a slow moving object (such as the Officer’s pen or finger) while the Officer watches carefully for any jerking or twitching of the eyeballs. Issues with the HGN test can include:
  • Officers ask suspects to perform this test in every imaginable climate condition, ranging from rain, dense fog, snow or high winds. Thorough examination of the suspect’s eyes during any of these weather conditions, or even at night, can be difficult.
  • Results of this test are highly subjective and impossible to videotape roadside for examination later in court. Even if the Officer’s squad car had videotaping capabilities, the video would not be able to focus in on the suspect’s eyes and the object being tracked.

• One-Leg Stand (OLS). During the OLS requires, the Officer instructs the suspect to stand on one leg with the other raised six inches off the ground. While in this position, the suspect must count aloud, starting at one thousand, and continue counting until told to stop (usually for thirty seconds). The Officer watches for these possible indicators of the suspect’s impairment during the OLS:

• 1. Falling over during the test;
  2. Waving the arms for balance;
  3. Hopping to maintain balance;
  4. Failure to count upwards from one thousand accurately; and
  5. Placing the leg back on the pavement before the test ends.

As with other elements of the Field Sobriety Test, multiple factors can adversely impact the outcome of the OLS:

• • If the suspect does not speak English well, counting in the thousands could be impossible even when not impaired.
  • If the suspect is nervous around Officers, he may not perform well on any such test. A variety of legitimate factors can create nervousness in a suspect when stopped by a police Officer.

Here are some additional factors to consider about Field Sobriety Tests:

• An Officer begins to form an opinion about a driver’s sobriety (or lack thereof) from the moment he first observes his driving, before even attempting to pull him over. While no excuse should ever be made for unsafe driving, it is not always the result of alcohol and/or drug impairment. What if:
  • A driver’s speeding is due to focusing on a conversation, either with passengers or via a cell phone, instead of on the posted speed limits?
  • A driver’s weaving between lanes is due to changing a compact disc, reading a map, or engaging with children in the backseat?

The Officer may assume a driver is under the influence, even though his crime really is driving distractedly.

• Anything an Officer observes about a driver, while speaking with him or during the Field Sobriety Test, can be admitted in court, even though the Officer has not yet the driver his Miranda rights.
• For any Californian with a hearing problem, whether due to advanced age or a medical condition, hearing and following an Officer’s verbal instructions on the side of a noisy roadway can be difficult.
• What if the driver leans on or pulls against his car door while exiting?  This may prejudice the Officer about the driver’s sobriety or lack thereof. But such action could be simply the result of chronic back pain or sore muscles from a challenging workout the day before, not impairment by alcohol and/or drugs.

Although many Law Enforcement Officers and District Attorneys might attempt to argue otherwise, a Field Sobriety Test is not always the best assessment of a driver’s sobriety. In court, though, it will be your testimony versus the arresting Officer’s. Make a smart decision today, and contact a California lawyer experienced in California’s DUI laws. If you have been arrested for DUI, your future is uncertain. Make sure you have an experienced California DUI lawyer on your side, calling the shots on your defense.

Summer has come to an end in Jersey City.  Temperatures have started to drop and soon the leaves will fall.  Students are back in class and Friday nights are filled with teams and touchdowns.  But even as the seasons change one thing will remain the same on the highways and byways of New Jersey, and that is the dedication that local law enforcement agencies feel toward their goal of eliminating drunk driving in their area.

Drunk driving is a serious crime in New Jersey, and the penalties for a DWI conviction have been steadily increasing in severity for the past several years.  If you have been arrested for a drunk driving offense in the Jersey City area, the worst thing you can do is to doubt the serious nature of the situation you are in.  You need to take immediate action to ensure the best outcome in your case.  The legal procedures involved in a DWI defense are complex and can be overwhelming for those without extensive legal training.  Your best response is to secure the services of an experienced DWI attorney as soon as possible.  Because these legal professionals specialize in cases just like yours they will be able to quickly evaluate your case and recommend the course of action that is right for you.

A driver can be charged with DWI in the state of New Jersey if their blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is .08% or greater or if they exhibit signs of intoxication as a result of the use of alcohol or drugs.  A driver’s BAC is determined based on a chemical test of their blood or breath.  At the time of your arrest, this sample was requested from you.

If you did not comply and provide the sample as requested, your license will be suspended for at least 7 months.  This is based on the laws of implied consent that are on the books in New Jersey.  These laws state that based on a driver’s choice to drive in the state of New Jersey, they have already agreed to submit to a chemical test whenever it is requested.  A license suspension for a driver’s refusal to submit to a chemical test is completely separate from a license suspension in the case of a DWI conviction.

A DWI is neither a misdemeanor nor a felony.  Instead, it is considered a traffic offense and as such this crime does not qualify for a jury trial.  If you are convicted of a DWI in New Jersey, the penalties that are assigned will be determined based on your BAC at the time of the arrest and whether drugs were involved in your case.  Drivers with a BAC of between .08 and .10% can expect fines of up to $400, a license suspension of 3 months and jail time of up to 30 days.  If the driver’s BAC was .10 or greater or if drugs were involved, all of the same penalties will apply but the fines will increase to a maximum of $500 and the length of license suspension will increase to a maximum of 12 months.

All of the penalties for a DWI conviction will have a long-term impact on both the driver and their family.  This is not a situation you should handle alone.  Take action now to ensure that your rights are protected by contacting a qualified DWI lawyer.

Driving under the influence (DUI), the legal term most commonly used to describe the offense of drunk driving, has been attributed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of causing 15,387 of the 41,059 deaths by automobile accidents occurring in 2007. The figure represents 37 percent of the total fatal traffic accidents throughout the United States.

The NHTSA says, “A motor vehicle crash is considered to be alcohol-related if at least one driver involved in the crash is determined to have had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .01 gram per deciliter (g/dL) or higher. Thus, any fatality that occurs in an alcohol-related crash is considered an alcohol-related fatality.”

Non-fatal DUI caused accident statistics are even more startling than the fatality statistics, and they include numerous disabling injuries that have occurred all across our land including places like Monmouth, Ocean City, and Atlantic City, New Jersey.

It is true what some say, it does not pay to drink and drive. With these startling statistics, is there any wonder states are cracking down on the people who drive while drinking? Across the nation, depending on the severity of the traffic violation and including the consideration of a fatality, convictions for drinking and driving can be considered a misdemeanor or a felony, and they can bring a multitude of harsh punishments. With a conviction, a person’s record could permanently brand him or her as a life time criminal. The record is often made public to employers and insurance companies.

Traffic laws have been made to protect the innocent because there usually is an innocent party in most traffic accidents. So, if you are facing a DUI related accident in (state) and have been hurt, disabled, or had a fatality of one of your family members as a result, and you feel like you are the innocent party involved, these types of accidents are too serious and complicated for the average layman to handle by themselves. You will need a legal professional to help advise you on what to do and how to protect yourself. Contact us right now at DUIAttorneyHome.com, and we will help you find a DUI attorney in the area where you live that is experienced at handling a DUI case.