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Penalties and Cost of Drunk Driving in Arizona

June 1, 2010
Author: Chris M. Alexander

If you feel like having a drink and hopping behind the wheel, don’t do it in Arizona. Arizona has one of the harshest DUI laws in the country for first time offenders. Lawmakers are trying to decrease the drunk driving fatalities with the ‘Super Extreme’ DUI law. In 2006, Arizona ranked sixth in the nation for drinking and driving related traffic fatalities.

Penalties and Conditions

Starting in 2007, being arrested and receiving a drunk driving conviction in Arizona includes additional penalties and conditions. Lawmakers passed a tough new law that requires ignition interlock devices for first time offenders and created a new ‘super extreme’ classification of drunk driver. The ignition interlock penalty is modeled after New Mexico law where officials cite a reduction in alcohol related fatalities since the car disabling device was made mandatory for everyone convicted of drunk driving.

‘Super extreme’ DWI offenders are those who have a blood alcohol content of 0.20% or higher on the breathalyzer test. The new penalties for drivers who reach this threshold include higher fines and a minimum of 45 days in jail. Previously, a judge could suspend part of a jail sentence if the defendant completed a court-sponsored drug or alcohol program.

Deterrent to Drunk Driving

The lawmaker’s intent was to provide a strong deterrent to drunk driving, though Arizona DUI defense attorneys said the strict new laws would clog the court system with those challenging their drunk driving arrests in Arizona. They also cited many hardships, especially for those charged with their first DUI. The Arizona Motor Vehicle Division charged more than 17,000 motorists with a first-time drunk driving offense in 2008. The DUI law will require every one of them to pass a breathalyzer test $100 and it costs $80 per month to maintain it. Most offenders are required to have the device in their vehicles for 12 months, and the cost of the interlock is in addition to court fines of $1,000 or more.

Solutions to DUI

Statistics show that the majority of those arrested for DUI will not be repeat offenders, leading critics to say the penalties cast a wide net while failing to offer long-term solutions for chronic, repeat drunk drivers. Arizona’s DUI legislation was signed into law by Governor Janet Napolitano in May of 2007. Since then Illinois and Louisiana have enacted similar ignition-interlock requirements for first-time DUI offenders.

In Arizona, DUI penalties depend on the level of the charge, and on your criminal record. A previous DUI conviction counts against you as a prior if the arrest date occurred within 7 years (84 months) of the current arrest date.

Tags: Drunk Driving Laws, DUI, DWI

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 at 4:08 am and is filed under DUI, DWI, Drunk Driving . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.