Inland Empire DUI

The facts about driving drunk include consideration of consequences: Punishment for Driving Under the Influence (DUI) or Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) or driving drunk, will vary, based on geographic locale and law in that state or county as well as which country you find yourself in. The potential consequences will depend upon whether or not it is the first offense, and whether various punishment enhancements may apply.

Generally, for a first offense DUI or DWI, penalties will include a fine, possible jail time or community service, a driver’s license restriction, and mandatory attendance at an alcohol and drug education program.

Why Drunk Drivers Are Dangerous: Imaging studies of the brain when it is under the influence of alcohol reveal that different areas of the brain are impaired under high and low levels of alcohol, according to a Yale study published in Neuropsychopharmacology.

“What we found is that when people were really intoxicated, they drove like they were really intoxicated and in a real vehicle,” Pearlson said. “They speeded up, especially on corners, where most people slow down, and crashed more often into other vehicles.” When mildly intoxicated, but below the legal alcohol limit, he said, the drivers seemed aware of the fact that they were impaired and corrected for the deficit. The researchers also found that alcohol had a profound effect on some, but not all, brain circuits activated in sober driving.

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The highest blood alcohol level was 0.1 and the lowest was 0.05. Drivers are considered legally drunk when their blood alcohol level is 0.08.

Here are some helpful drunk driving facts:

• One person is killed every half-hour due to drunk driving
• Each year approximately 16,000 are killed in alcohol related crashes
• Alcohol is a factor in almost half of all traffic fatalities
• Every other minute a person is seriously injured in an alcohol related crash

What Are Some Examples of DUI Penalties?
DUI punishment varies from state to state, so you’ll need to check with your lawyer to see what may apply in your particular state. Using California DUI penalties as an example, first offenders who are denied probation can expect the following:

1. 48 hours of jail time minimum.
2. 6 months driver’s license suspension
3. $340 fine

As you can see, DUI penalties are fairly harsh, even for a first offense. There are things that can factor in to a first time offense, depending on your state. Driver’s license suspension may be part of the package, but if you get probation, your state may allow you to keep your license provided you meet certain conditions set by the court. These can include rehab counseling, safe driver classes, and community service. Your lawyer will have more information, but make sure you understand what you are committing yourself to under a probation agreement. Violation of probation is taken quite seriously and can result in automatic driver license suspension and jail time.

Originally published here.

If you operate a vehicle in California, police officers can and will pull a person over anytime they are suspected of driving while intoxicated. This article briefly outlines the type of field and chemical tests that are administered by officers to determine if a person has indeed been drinking and driving.

Field Sobriety Tests

Police officers call Field Sobriety Tests “FSTs” for short. These tests consist of several exercises that measure a person’s coordination, balance and divided attention. These tests consist of exercises such as “walk the line”, saying the alphabet, one-leg-stand, walk-and-turn, horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN) which is following an object with your eyes from side to side, etc.

Blood Alcohol Tests

In DUI cases, you’ll often hear the term “B.A.C.”, which stands for “Blood Alcohol Content”. In the state of California, you can be arrested and charged with drunk driving if your B.A.C. is over 0.08%. To find out a person’s blood alcohol content, police officers use breath analyzing machines. However, you have the option of asking for a second blood test if you want a second opinion. This second test is administered by an independent source and you have to pay for it. Police officers do not have sufficient enough training to do this type of blood test. A hospital staff will have to do the test.

Breath tests only measure alcohol and have often found to be inaccurate by DUI defense lawyers. There are many factors that can affect the result of a breath test including a person’s temperature, breath patterns, and other substances in your breath. There are several types of breath analyzing machines on the market and they must be taken care of properly to be effective. Sometimes these breath analyzing machines are not highly maintained which could bring about an incorrect B.A.C. reading.

Originally published here.