Effects Of Drunk & Drive

By Author: Augustine Joseph
Total Articles: 16
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Drunk & drive is an act of operating or driving a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs to the degree that mental and motor skills are impaired. It is illegal in all jurisdictions within the United States, though enforcement varies widely between and within states/territories. The specific criminal offense is usually called “Driving Under the Influence (DUI)”, and in some states “Driving While Intoxicated (DWI)”, also known as “Operating While Impaired (OWI)”, or “Operating a Vehicle Under the Influence (OVI)”. Today let’s see what will all happen if you get caught in Drunk & Drive, & how to prevent it.
BAC:
Blood alcohol content (BAC), is also called blood alcohol concentration, blood ethanol concentration, or blood alcohol level, which is most commonly used as a metric of alcohol intoxication for legal or medical purposes.
Blood alcohol content is usually expressed as a percentage of alcohol i.e. generally in the sense of ethanol in the blood. For instance, BAC of 0.10 means that 0.10% of a person’s blood, by volume usually, is alcohol.
Usually all states ...
... in the U.S. designate breath alcohol level as the threshold point for an independent criminal offense. The amount of alcohol intake to reach a BAC of 0.08% may vary with the individual’s body composition and state of health.
Breathalyzers:
The key inquiry focuses will be whether the driver’s faculties were impaired by the substance that was consumed. For this purpose breathalyzers have been developed to administer roadside or laboratory tests that can detect the actual level of all controlled substance in an individual’s body.
Physician’s Reporting:
Six states require physicians to report patients who drive while impaired. Another 25 states permit physicians to violate doctor-patient confidentiality to report impaired drivers, if they so choose.
Booking & Charging:
In cases, if it is not proved after the arrest that the person’s BAC is not at or above the legal limit of 0.08%, they will probably be released without any charges. But one may, however, still be charged with driving under the influence of alcohol on the basis of driving symptoms, like
*Observed impairment,
*Admissions or performance on the field sobriety tests.
*Suspicion of drug usage, which can be proved by a blood or urine test, is likely, or at least the testimony of a specially-trained officer called a Drug Recognition Expert (DRE).

Assuming sufficient evidence of impaired driving from drugs, the arrested person may face charges of driving under the influence of drugs or the combined influence of alcohol and drugs.
In such cases most of the time, the driver will either be kept in a holding cell which is sometimes referred to as the drunk tank, until they are deemed sober enough to be released on bail or on his/her own recognizance (O.R.).
Then a date will be given to appear in the court for an arraignment. If they cannot make bail or is not granted O.R., then they will be kept in jail to wait for the arraignment on remand.
Penalties:
Many jurisdictions require more such as jail time, larger fines, longer DUI programs, the installation of ignition interlock devices in cases where the driver’s BAC is over 0.20%, or 0.15% in some places.
Additional sanctions are an attempt to deter and punish the operation of a vehicle at extremely high BAC levels and the concomitant danger posed to the safety of persons and property by heavily impaired drivers.
Restricting of Licenses:
Most states do allow certain DUI offenders usually for the first-time to obtain a restricted or hardship license while on suspension. This license permits them to drive to and from work or school can’t drive out for any other purposes usually. Currently only
*Alabama,
*Kansas,
*New Hampshire,
*New Jersey and
*Vermont. Do not allow for this type of license.
To prevent Drunk & Drive:
There are proven ways to prevent people from drinking and driving.

*At sobriety checkpoints, police have beginning to stop & check drivers to judge if they are driving under the influence of alcohol. Because of this, frequent use of checkpoints, it has saved up to1, 500 to 3,000 lives on the road each year. This has being a very good effort, which has given an impressive report.
*The law of minimum legal drinking age laws prohibits selling alcohol to people under age of 21 in all 50 states including the District of Columbia is brought to act. This helps keeping and enforcing young & inexperienced drivers from drinking and driving.
* Interlocks are effective in reducing re-arrest rates from drinking and driving by about two-thirds while the device is on the vehicle. This ignition interlocks prevent drivers who were convicted of alcohol- from operating their vehicles if they have been drinking. This really works out well.