Driving Under Influences Laws

Every day twenty-seven people die as a result of drunk driving which equates to approximately 10,000 people a year. Driving under the influence is a crime when a person’s blood level of alcohol exceeds the legal limit of 0.08%. Standard penalties against first time offenders include: having their driver’s licenses revoked and paying a fine ranging from $500-$2,000. All drunk drivers should be imprisoned for eight or more months because they are likely to repeat the offense, they cause most automobile fatalities/injuries, and drivers can participate in rehabilitation programs while incarcerated.

There are two types of deterrence: individual or specific deterrence, and general deterrence. Individual or specific deterrence seeks to deter the offender from re-offending. General deterrence seeks to deter the public from criminal behavior through the punishment of offenders. “Deterrence is based on the perceived certainty, severity, and celerity of detection and sanction” (Vingilis 645). People who support legal measures are calling for harsher laws and tougher punishments. Some of the proposed measures are: 1. Anyone convicted of drunk driving will be required to pay large fines (starting at $5,000 for a first offense). 2. Anyone convicted of drunk driving will be required to spend at least some time in jail or prison. 3. All convicted drivers will be required to have yellow license plates on their cars so that other people will know who they are and what they have done. 4. Anyone convicted will automatically lose their driver’s license for one year. 5. Surprise roadblocks will be set up and police will stop all drivers and test them for drunk driving. 6. All convicted drivers who are alcoholics will be required to have psychological treatment. 7. An ignition interlock system will be installed in convicted driver’s vehicles. 8. The possible seizure and sale of a repeat offender’s vehicle, and 9. Lowering the blood alcohol level from .10% to .08%, since a person can still be drunk at .08%.

Drunk driving is an issue that effects many people across our nation. People do not realize the affects alcohol can have on the body and mind that slow decision making while driving. This issue begins in the home. Children see their parents, or other adults figures, have a beer or a cocktail and get in the car. Thus, making it seem like it is acceptable to drink and drive. “One in three people will be involved in an alcohol-related crash in their lifetime” (MADD).

Driving under the influence (DUI) is a serious criminal offense in Georgia. While most offenses are considered a misdemeanor, drivers can still face serious consequences. This is why it is always a good idea to contact a DUI lawyer immediately after being arrested.

First and foremost, the legal blood alcohol content while driving in the U.S. is currently at .08%. This is relatively high compared to many countries. A research article on Science Daily reports that “More than 100 countries around the world have limits set at BAC 0.05 percent or below”. Some may argue that this limit of .08% needs to be reduced, while some see it the other way around and they agree with this amount. In reality, blood alcohol content is very sensitive in the fact that just being a small margin above or below .08% can really make a difference regarding the level of impairment for the drinker. Studies at the University of California conclude that they “find no safe combination of drinking and driving -- no point at which it is harmless to consume alcohol and get behind the wheel of a car”. Their data from experimentation with intoxicated drivers also suggests and supports the idea of reducing the legal BAC in

You would think that if a person gets pulled over, arrested, gets his/her license suspended and gets court ordered to pay 250+ dollars in fines, that they would never get behind the wheel under the influence again and endanger someone else’s life. Wrong. According to a 2007 AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety study over half of drivers arrested for drunk driving in the nation are repeat offenders. All states have adopted 21 as the legal drinking age. Two-thirds of the states have now passed Administrative License Revocation (ALR) laws, which allow the arresting officer to take the license of drivers who fail or refuse to take a breath test. All states have now lowered the legal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit from .10 to .08 percent for adults, and all states have passed Zero Tolerance laws which prohibit drivers under twenty-one from having any amount of alcohol in their blood system. The penalties have increased for drinking and driving, yet the repeated offenders percentages haven’t decreased. Thus proving, what the laws are doing now is not working and they need to be raised. Going back to the purpose of punishment, if people keep doing the same thing, than the consequences before did not faze them and need to be stricter.

California has done its part by enacting most of the known effective DUI countermeasures. However, there is still much to be done and applying other countermeasures implemented in other states, such as the lower per se BAC level for repeat offenders, might be of benefit to California. The study of this report shows that the California Zero Tolerance Law has had a small marginal effect on the number of underage drinking drivers in fatal crashes. After the implementation of the law, a reduction in driving after drinking and alcohol-related crashes has been evident. However, a question remains as to whether a stronger enforcement can produce more substantial results. Nonetheless, there is evidence to suggest that legal changes have produced declines

On November 11, 2015 David Smith had been convicted of his fourth Driving Under Influence charge since July 4, 2009. He was out on bond and had been scheduled to start his three year sentence on December 15, 2015. Smith and his current girlfriend were out celebrating his birthday on November 22nd with a few drinks. He was aware of his struggles with alcohol so he decided to take it light that night. Smith decided after his fourth shot of 1800 Tequila that he was finished for the evening. That was truly a light night for Smith, because he would typically celebrate his birthday with the number drinks matching his age. This was the testimony of a bartender that worked at one of his favorite bars. Smith’s girlfriend Joanne Riley began to get extremely

At first this solution may sound ridiculous but hear us out. If my husband is out drinking, and he drives home hammered, he’s probably going to get cheesed by a cop and get sent to jail for committing a DUI. Even if everyone started driving home completely drunk/drugged they would still go to jail for the crime. However if the behavior becomes a routine then usual cop would get use to the amount of DUIs. The cops being use to the usual suspects may let some of the drivers off the hook because it has become such a normal thing now.

Drinking and Driving has long been frowned upon, however many still engage in it despite advances in transportation that could save them from doing it. The federal government has been attempting to change it since the 80s due to immense pressure from insurance

DUI charges have come with harsher punishments in recent years. What was once a minor traffic violation is now often a criminal felony. While it is irresponsible and negligent to operate any vehicle on any road under the influence of drugs or alcohol, the law is not always right when it comes to deciding each case. At www.needaninjuryattorneykansas.com, we have seen countless cases of a driver being charged with a DUI who was not over the legal limit and was given a false positive by the breathalyzer. A single DUI charge can impede on someone’s life. It carries large court fees and the impound fees for retrieving one’s vehicle can exceed a thousand dollars. To think that a first offense DUI charge will come with a reduced sentence is naive. Many judges are looking to make an example

There is a possible connection between the decline in the number of arrests for DUI and the emergence of shared-ride services like Uber. Uber is definitely supporting public safety by connecting sober drivers with intoxicated people. In the U.S, the average age of DUIs is between 21 to 35 years. Young adults (16-34) are taking the most rides with Uber. The company has already published an article titled “Rates of arrests for drunk driving decline in cities where Uber is present”. The article explains that every drunk driver who is replaced by a safe, professional and sober driver on the Uber platform represents a significant contribution to the well-being of a city. The article also claims a 10% decrease in the number of arrests for drunk

If you choose to drive while under the influence of alcohol, you put yourself and others at risk. Such a decision is not only irresponsible but the cause of thousands of deaths and injury per year in the United States. To be exact, quoting the NHTSA, "In 2012, more than 10,000 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes - one every 51 minutes." As the subjects in MADD's documentary "Lives Affected" all state, losing someone they love to drunk driving changes their lives completely. In many cases the drunk drivers who caused the accident abandoned the scene. You are required by law to assist those you have come in contact with in an accident. This should go without saying, especially if you were the one who caused it.

Some states and counties are taking a different type of approach to the problem, including putting offenders face to face with drunk driver victims and having them listen to their stories of pain and suffering because of a drunk driver. Other times they will have the drunk driver face the remaining family of someone who they killed or injured in a drunk driving accident. Some are even taking it to the street, by having the offender wear or carry a poster that states they are a drunk driver and what their crime was along city streets and highways. Each punishment is meant to personalize the pain that drinking and driving can cause others and their families, in the hopes that it might make the offender stop and think before getting behind the wheel.

The more a person drinks, the more their ability to make important decisions erode and becomes impaired. After even just one drink a person can lose the ability to operate a vehicle. At certain parts in the state of intoxication, it becomes illegal to drive a car and if you get caught it can possible lead to fines, or even imprisonment. The legal limit of alcohol you can consume changes from state to state, but the penalty of driving under the influence is always severe. Getting arrested and maybe being forced to sleep in a drunk tank is just some of the problems you also have to carry the humiliation and the shame of being caught and that person might just end up with their name written up in the local news paper. Alcoholism is a disease and it can make you do some things you would not want to and to repeat your past mistakes. More than one-third of drives arrested for intoxication are repeat offenders. Drivers with a prior DUI offense have a much higher likelihood to be in a fatal crash. (National Commission Against Drunk Driving, 2003). Repeat offenders also face the risk of ruining their own lives. They have the risk of possibility losing their license and that could also result in the losing of their jobs if their employer finds out about the conviction.