Posts Tagged ‘DWI’

In Illinois, the minimum legal drinking age is 21 years. If you are under age 21 and convicted of DWI, the office of the Secretary of State will immediately revoke your driving privileges for a minimum of two years. If you are convicted for the second time, your license will be suspended for a minimum of five years or until you reach age 21, whichever is longer. Likewise, a third DWI conviction which is considered a Class 4 felony will result in a minimum ten year license revocation. A fourth DUI conviction will result in a lifetime revocation. Your license will also be suspended for conviction of illegal possession of alcohol.

When charged with a DWI in Illinois, the office of the Secretary of State will also issue a restricted license after one year. However, it will not be issued if you are under the age of 16 and will be applicable for one year. You will also have to pay a fine of up to $2,500 and given a jail sentence of up to one year along with participating in a Youthful Intoxicated Driver’s Visitation Program.


The first time offense, your child will not have jail time. However, they face 48 hours of jail if it is a second offense. This can be changed to community service for ten days. The third offense will not get any kind of lenience as it will be treated as felony with severe consequences. They will face jail time up to three years and fines as high as $25,000. It will take up to 10 years to get the driver’s license again. Fourth offenses will result in permanent revocation of the license.

Underage DWI

If your child is under 21 and are arrested for having traces of alcohol in their system while operating a motor vehicle, their driving privileges will be suspended for three months. If they refuse to submit to testing when stopped for DWI, their license will be immediately suspended for six months. The license will be suspended from the 46th day from the notice date and will not be terminated until the reinstatement fee is paid and your record is updated.


If your child is under 18, they need to complete a driver remedial education course to make the driving privileges valid again. They will have to go through a complete examination for the license to be re-issued.

Alternatives to Jail

There are many alternatives for jail time if your child is arrested and convicted for a DWI. You need to seek the help of a criminal defense attorney to properly determine the best alternative to choose for the specific case. Alternatives to jail include alcohol and drug rehabilitation and stopping drinking, electronic monitoring and not allowing the minor to go out for parties and other places where there are chances of getting alcohol or you can consider community service. Since it is not possible to serve the jail time for your child yourself (and really, how many parents would really do that?), it is better to opt for one of these alternatives to rehabilitate your child and avoid future DWI problems.

The first thing you need to do after DWI in Arizona is install an interlock device in your vehicle. All the costs associated with installation will be borne by you because you are at fault for the DWI. The state of Arizona is working overtime to come up with stricter rules and regulations so that cases of DWI will continue to decrease. There are a number of things that you need to be aware of and schedule after DWI in Arizona. The following is a list of things you need to know and do:

Civil and Criminal Proceedings - When arrested for DWI in Arizona, you face civil and criminal proceedings. Since these two proceedings have no connection to each other, you can win your civil case but lose the criminal one, lose both or win both. The criminal proceedings deal with evaluation, probation, fines and jail time.

Role of the Officer - If you are suspected of a DWI in the state of Arizona, the officer can request urine, blood and breathalyzer tests. You are given the legal right to refuse these tests but, if you do so, there is a strong possibility that your driving license is going to be automatically suspended for a period of one year. If you give them a hard time, the officer can easily get a search warrant for the tests anyway.

If the tests come to the conclusion that your Blood Alcohol Concentration level was .08% or more, your license will be seized on the spot. If you are not a resident of Arizona, the officer cannot seize your driving license.

Requesting a Hearing - To request a hearing in the state of Arizona, you need to write directly to the Motor Vehicles Department. For the hearing, you need to submit the pink copy of your driving license suspension form. Make sure that you fill out all the details correctly and send it directly to the Arizona Department of Transportation.

If you are found guilty in the criminal case, you will be punished on the basis of Arizona DWI sentencing guidelines. After getting the verdict notification, the state will suspend your driving license for at least three months. However, if it is your first DWI offense and you have given full cooperation to the officer in conducting various tests, your driving license may not be suspended.

Arraignment - the arraignment is basically a ticket date, about one to two months after your arrest. You do not need to appear in the court if you are not on bond and have an attorney. Talk to an attorney in order to understand arraignment.

Pre-trial Conference - It is the responsibility of your attorney to discuss your case with the district attorney and come up with the best possible negotiating deal. The pre-trial conference will take place one month after arraignment. Normally, you need to participate in three or four pre trial hearings.

Suppression Hearing - If your legal rights have been violated, the court can suppress some of the evidence against you. For that to happen, your attorney needs to file the proper motions. The suppression hearing will take place three months after the initial pre-trial conference.

The number of accidents caused by drivers who were driving under the influence of alcohol has decreased. This is due by and large to the public awareness of the dangers of driving while being intoxicated. However, despite all the public awareness campaigns, educational programs and other drunk driving warnings, many people are still choosing to get behind the wheel of their vehicle while intoxicated. During weekends and holidays, drunk driving fatalities are on the rise. If you plan to drink, do not drive. Rather assign a designated driver or call a taxi or relative to pick you up. Play it Safe!

Ignoring the Warnings

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, motor vehicle wrecks are the leading cause of death in the United States; an alarming 40 percent or more are due to alcohol related. Law enforcement agencies across the nation are now issuing stiffer penalties to drunk driving violators, in the hope that this will deter people from driving while intoxicated.

How Dangerous is Drinking and Driving

You do not have to be totally drunk for your reflexes to be impaired. A buzz is all it takes to impair your reaction time. So to be safe rather than sorry, it is recommended that you don’t operate a vehicle while your driving is impaired. A driver with the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.10 or greater is more likely to be involved in a fatal motor vehicle accident than a driver who has not consumed any alcohol. The higher the blood alcohol concentration level is, the greater the risk of being in a fatal motor vehicle accident.

Legal Level

A person with a blood alcohol level of .08 is considered to be legally intoxicated. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “A motor vehicle crash is considered to be alcohol-related if at least one driver or non-occupant (such as a pedestrian or pedal cyclist) involved in the crash is determined to have had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .01 gram per deciliter (g/dl) or higher.”


All 50 states and Puerto Rico have now implemented the two statutory offenses to driving while under the influence of alcohol. The first offense is driving under the influence (DUI), operating a motor vehicle while impaired or intoxicated (OWI), or driving while intoxicated or impaired (DWI). The outcome is determined by a police officer’s observations based on slurred speech, unusual driving behavior or the sobriety test.
The second statutory offense is called “illegal per se”. Illegal per se is driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08 percent or higher

A few facts about driving under the influence of alcohol

• The National Survey on Drug Use and Health reports, in 2002 and 2003, 21 percent of persons aged 16 to 20 reported that they had driven in the past year while under the influence of alcohol or illicit drugs.
• And in 2003, approximately 4 percent of persons who reported driving under the influence (DUI) in the past year had been arrested and booked for DUI in the past year.
• In 2004 approximately 17,000 people in the United States died of alcohol-related auto accidents.
• In the United States, around 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.