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Drunk Driving Information

Good Advice to Avoid Trouble with DWI OWI DUI Laws
Contributed by Jim

We constantly are exposed to the message: "don't drink and drive" but people routinely drive to and from places where alcoholic beverages are served. The accepted strategy is to limit the drinking and drive normally afterward. We don't know if we are in compliance with the very complex DUI legislation. All we know is that if we don't have the misfortune of being stopped by the police or getting into an accident, we don't expect anyone to challenge whether we are complying with the law. We know that the odds are greatly in our favor. However, the penalties for DUI are severe enough that we need to take serious heed.

In the past, the DUI laws were written for drivers who were really drunk, and drivers who had a glass of wine with dinner were effectively exempt. Now, the DUI laws have been expanded so that we could be charged with DUI even though we are all careful about how much we drink before we drive. In particular, the "presumed" BAC has been reduced from 0.12 to 0.10 and now to 0.08, which does not really represent drunkenness for very many people. Even if you are below the "presumed" BAC level, you can be arrested and convicted of DUI, and you could be arrested even if you had not consumed any alcoholic beverages, but the officer thinks you have.

If your BAC is below the minimum for presumed DUI (0.08), you are, putting things in perspective, based on average statistics, driving less dangerously than a sober person driving while talking on a cell phone. I am not saying that either activity is safe, just comparing the risk. Talking on the cell phone is legal (although some areas require use of a hands-free device) and the penalties for getting into an accident while talking on a cell phone are no more severe than when not talking on a cell phone. However, you do not need to exceed the presumed DUI BAC to be convicted of DUI, and the penalties for a DUI conviction are severe, especially if you get into a serious accident and test positive for some alcohol in your blood.

With that lead in, I would like to present my advice. Since I have never been stopped for suspicion of DUI, the information for how to behave at a traffic stop is based on what I have read. However, the cell phone idea, described later, is my own, resulting from seeing drivers talking on cell phones and weaving like a drunk drivers.

Overview:
The general strategy is to "blend in" as best you can with other traffic and strictly obey the traffic laws, so that traffic cops find nothing specific that would result in picking you out for a traffic stop.

Furthermore, the strategy includes being more careful about following safe driving techniques, to reduce the chance of being involved in an accident.

To accomplish these goals, be aware of the effects of alcohol and take countermeasures.

A) Alcohol increases reaction time and reduces coordination. To counter, drive more conservatively than you do when sober, leaving a "driver's ed" distance between you and the car ahead, for example.

B) Alcohol affects judgment: Counter by planning your route and driving maneuvers ahead of time, while you are sober, and sticking to your plan.

C) Alcohol leaves you vulnerable to arrest and conviction: Counter by blending in as well as possible with other traffic and avoiding breaking the traffic laws, to reduce the chance of a traffic stop.

Detailed Advice:
1) The advice is for when you have consumed alcohol but restricted your drinking so your BAC is under the limit you have set for yourself and, to your best estimate, below the "presumed" legal limit. This advice is not intended to help you conceal drunk driving, although it can be used that way.

2) To avoid a traffic stop for a minor item, such as a burned out license plate light, do the following: On a regular basis, make sure that all lights on your car are working. Be sure all lights are "factory stock" and that no lenses are broken. Make sure registration and other stickers are current. Remove any bumper stickers that might call attention to your car. Your car should "blend in" with other cars as best it can.

3) If you have a choice of cars, drive the one that is easiest to drive and most conservative. For example, choose a sedan with automatic transmission over a sports car with a shift. Slightly uneven shifting may bring a police officer out of hiding.

4) Make sure that your car is in good mechanical condition, to minimize the risk of a stall or breakdown. The brakes should work well, the tires should be in good shape and be inflated properly, windshield wipers work well, and the engine should run smoothly. The exterior should be clean, and the windows offer a clear view. The driver's door window should roll up and down smoothly, to prepare for a possible traffic stop. The interior should be clean and neat as well.

5) When you have been drinking, avoid driving well after midnight, especially on Fridays or Saturdays. Traffic is very light at those hours, and a much higher percentage of drivers have been drinking. Police know that doing a random stop at that hour may very likely yield them a drunk driving conviction.

6) Have your route planned in advance, choosing a route that is easy to drive. This may mean sticking to major paved highways and avoiding short cuts. Also, if you must cross a busy highway, choose a crossing street with a traffic light, rather than a stop sign. Be sure your headlights are turned on if it is night time, especially if you have the type of "daytime running lights" which can leave the tail lights off while the headlights are on. If you drive through an area where police conduct DUI checkpoints, choose a route with good visibility and side streets. Be prepared to smoothly take a detour if you see flashing lights ahead.

7) Drive your route conservatively, obeying speed limits but not driving too slow. Do not try to race through yellow traffic lights before they turn red, and do not make unnecessary lane changes. Make full stops at stop signs, close to but not over the stop line. It is a good idea to practice driving your route conservatively while you are stone sober.

8) When stopping at traffic lights or stop signs, slow down gently and leave a normal distance between you and the car ahead, or the stop line. Do not leave extra distance. However, at normal highway speed, leave the distance taught in driver education between you and the car ahead.

9) Minimize distractions by turning off the radio and the mobile phone. If you have passengers, keep the conversation light. Avoid arguing or discussing heated topics like politics.

10) Don't roll down windows on a cool evening. Open the dashboard vents or turn on the air conditioner to provide cool, fresh air. Police look for open windows on cool evenings.

11) If you see a police car, don't do anything differently than you would with any other car. If you must pull alongside a police car* at a traffic light, look straight ahead so the officer can't observe your facial expressions. (It is also good to look ahead no matter who is driving the car alongside.)

*Don't make a last minute lane change to avoid pulling along side; that might be noticed and result in a traffic stop.

12) Traffic stops can happen anyway, so do your best to be prepared. Have peanuts with you. Chew the peanuts before driving, to reduce the smell of alcohol in case you are stopped. Also, have your driver's license, registration and insurance card handy. Fumbling for them could be taken as sign of drunkenness. Where it is legal to talk on a cell phone while driving, have your cell phone handy, but turned off.

13) If you are stopped by a police officer, behave normally. Assume that the cop has stopped you for something other than DUI. Before the cop gets to your car, turn off the air conditioner if the outside air is cool.

Behaving normally is especially important if you must pass through a DUI checkpoint. In that case, you haven't been singled out for anything, so just act normal and they should let you proceed.

For other traffic stops, as best you can so the cop doesn't notice you do it, place the cell phone to your ear and pretend to carry on a conversation. Roll down the window only part way before the cop walks up to it. When the cop is at the window, pretend to "hang up" the phone, and hand him your registration, driver's license and insurance card. Hopefully, the peanuts have masked the alcohol breath and the cop will attribute some erratic move or violation you made to talking on the cell phone and driving, not alcohol.

14) Don't ask, but wait for the cop to inform you why he or she has stopped you. If the stop is for a traffic violation, you shouldn't be asked to leave your car. Don't get out voluntarily. Hopefully, the cop will just write up the ticket and leave.

15) The cop may not suspect you of DUI but may ask, anyway, if you have consumed alcoholic beverages. I won't suggest that you lie to the cop. According to DUI attorneys, admitting to having one drink is safe, but admitting to more than one drink is asking for trouble.

16) If you are asked to perform a field sobriety test (FST), be sure to decline, no matter how confident you feel that you will pass the test. You are not required by law to perform the FST, only to submit to the BAC test if asked. The naïve approach is to think that you will pass and the cop will let you go. However, some officers use the FST as an opportunity to find fault with whatever you do. Many people will fail the FST even when sober. Also, decline any request for a breath screening test at the traffic stop, saying that you will consent to a BAC test by a trained person only at a police station or medical facility. Again, you may think the reading will be low and the cop will let you go, but the cop may be planning to haul you in if the test shows any alcohol. Any postponement on the BAC test also helps; each hour delay allows your body to metabolize about 0.02. Also, Furthermore, once it becomes apparent that you are under suspicion of DUI, don't answer any questions about how much you have had to drink or where you were, and close your eyes or look away if the cop shines a light into them. Only answer questions that you are required by law to answer.

17) The implied consent law requires that you submit to a BAC test if requested. You can select which test. Here, it is best to do research ahead of time. Usually, a blood, breath or urine test are allowed. In many states, the percentage of alcohol in the blood is what matters. The breath and urine tests measure percentage of alcohol in breath or urine, not blood, and the measurements need to be correlated. The correlation varies from person to person and reduces the measurement accuracy. Remember that .10 +/- .03 means that the actual BAC could have been as low as 0.07 or as high as 0.13. The fact that the actual BAC could have been 0.07 should leave a "reasonable doubt" for the jury. However, it takes a good lawyer to explain that to a jury.

Texas law specifies a maximum for each of the allowed tests. You might have an actual BAC below 0.08 but choose the breath test, read high, and be convicted.

For social drinkers, the choice of test is Russian Roulette. If all 3 tests were given, you may pass one and fail the others. Someone else might pass a different test, but fail the one you chose. So, choosing the test is like spinning the chamber in the gun. For drunks, they are going to fail no matter which test they choose.

18) Before the test is administered, they may be required to explain the choices to you and have you sign an "implied consent" form. Here is where some advance research may be invaluable. It is in your best interests to delay the test as long as possible. It would be a good idea to obtain copies of the forms for your state and have a bunch of difficult questions prepared in advance. Also, you may be entitled to have the procedure explained to you in your primary language, claiming that English is your second language. It might take several hours to locate a person who speaks that language, especially if the language isn't a common one. In the meantime, your body may have metabolized the alcohol fully.

If you tell the cops that Dutch is your primary language, and they take several hours to locate someone who can speak Dutch who finds out that you don't speak Dutch, then your BAC may be down to 0.0 and you face a lesser charge about lying about the language.

19) Choice of test: The blood test is most accurate. If you are confident that you are below 0.08, and I sure hope you aren't driving if you aren't below 0.08, choose the blood test. Be sure to demand a second sample of blood to be drawn for your attorney to send to an independent lab if necessary. If you knew you were over 0.08, you might choose the breath or urine test, which are less accurate and gives you a chance of reading low, but also a risk of reading high.

The cops may try to coerce you into a breath test, which is faster. You may think that you will pass and be allowed to leave sooner. Again, turn them down.