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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