Operating While Under the Influence: DUI

Knowingly operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs or alcohol is one of the most irresponsible and reckless things you can do. Unfortunately, if you have one drink and then two or maybe three, you begin to lose your ability to make rational decisions. So three drinks turns into four turns into five. Now, you are in no shape to decide you should not drive – so what do you do? You get behind the wheel. If you injure someone – or worse – while operating under the influence, the consequences can be enormous. Forget about the financial penalty and even loss of license. How do you fix someone who you have severely injured or even killed? 

Consider what alcohol does to you:

• Depending on your body makeup, you can become drowsy or dizzy. Your reflexes will suffer and your vision may become blurry. How do you safely operate a vehicle like that?
• Alcohol takes away your ability to make sound decisions – a critical skill needed when you are out on the roads. You may also find it more difficult to operate foot pedals or hand activated devices.
• You can become overly depressed, or worse, overly confident.
• Don’t fall for the myths about black coffee. Alcohol can remain in your system for several hours, especially if you have had a number of drinks.

Driving while under the influence does not necessarily mean you are drunk. You are considered impaired if your performance is negatively impacted in any way because of alcohol consumption.
There are also specifics you need to know:

• Again, if alcohol has affected your performance in any way, you are impaired. This is known as “buzzed”.
• Understand the concept of blood alcohol content or BAC. This is the percentage of alcohol in your body.
• If your blood contains a minimum of 0.08% alcohol content you should not get behind the wheel. That number is 0.04% for commercial drivers.
• If you are under age 21, your blood alcohol content only needs to hit 0.02%. On top of that, you may face penalties for under age drinking and/or possession.
• That same 0.02% number pertains to day care and school bus drivers. 
• A first conviction for DUI may result in a fine between $600 and $2100, up to a year in jail, or both. You will also lose your driving privileges (suspension) for 90 days. 
• With a second conviction within 5 years of the first, the fine grows to $1100 to $5100. The jail sentence remains at up to a year. Again, you could get both. 
• After a second conviction, you also get a mandatory 48 days in jail plus 20 hours of community service. Second and subsequent convictions also result in your losing your license (revocation) for a year. 
• Fines and jail time are flexible based on your BAC, whether you caused an accident with injuries, or if you had children in the vehicle when you were stopped. 
• Refusal to submit to a test under the Implied Consent Law will cause you to lose driving privileges for 90 days.