DWI Explained
After you have been charged with a violation related
to alcohol or other drugs, it is important for you to retain representation.
You may represent yourself in court, but it is not recommended as
this kind of violation is complicated. You could find yourself in
jail very quickly if you are unsure of what you are doing. The following
are the drug and alcohol related violations in New York State:
- DWI: Driving While Intoxicated; .08 BAC or higher or
other evidence of intoxication
- DWAI: Driving While Ability Impaired (by alcohol); .05
BAC to .07 BAC, or other evidence of impairment.
- DWAI / Drugs: Driving While Ability Impaired (by a drug
that is not alcohol). .
Zero Tolerance Law: A driver who is less than 21 years of age
and who drives with a .02 BAC to .07 BAC violates the Zero Tolerance
Law.
- Chemical Test Refusal: A driver who refuses to take a
chemical test (normally a test of breath, blood or urine) can
receive a driver license revocation and must pay a $300 civil
penalty ($350 for a driver of commercial vehicles) to apply for
a new driver license. A driver who refuses a chemical test during
the five years after a DWI-related charge will have their driver
license revoked for one year and must pay a $750 civil penalty
to apply for a new driver license
To explain, alcohol concentration is defined as the number of grams
of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood, the number of grams of
alcohol per 210 liters of breath, or the number of grams of alcohol
per 67 milliliters of urine. It should be noted that each of these
three tests is different and conflicting results can occur. This
means that potentially, your urine test could find you innocent
while your breath test could find you intoxicated.
It is important to note that the legal limit of .08 is determined
at the time the test was administered, and usually this is not at
the time of driving. It can be anywhere from 30 to 75 minutes later.
Therefore, a test reading can be off, in relation to whether the
driver was intoxicated while driving, which is the crime. In other
words, if you had two drinks in 30 minutes, then left right away,
chances are your BAC would not register the two drinks if you were
pulled over. It would probably only register one. However, you would
not be given the breath test right there, but instead, at a later
time when your BAC could be higher since your body has had time
to process the alcohol. As a result, you would be charged with a
DWI even though when you were actually driving, your body had not
registered the alcohol yet and you were not influenced by it.
Avoid DWI :
Avoiding a DWI altogether is the best way to steer clear of a serious
criminal matter that can take a long time to resolve and clean off
of your record. Here are a few pointers to avoid that DWI charge:
- Before you even go out, decide who will be the Designated Driver
that night.
- Use a taxi service. You can fit three or four friends at a time
into a cab, just like your own car, only you don't run the risk
of getting stopped for a DWI. Plus, if you all split the cost
of the cab, it may turn out to be substantially less expensive
to take a cab than for anyone to drive their own car considering
gas and the potential for being stopped
- Call a friend or a family member to pick you up. You can pick
up your car in the morning. You may not even get a parking ticket
for overnight parking, but if you do, that fine is much less than
the cost a DWI charge would be.
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