Ralph Buss:
TOO MUCH HOLIDAY
CHEER?
New Drunk Driving Laws May Dampen
Your Spirits
By Ralph Buss
With the Holiday
Season upon us, it's not unusual to be invited to a Thanksgiving family
dinner, Christmas party or New Year's Eve office get-together where alcohol
will be present, and often even promoted. While I would never advocate
driving or riding under the influence of alcohol or drugs, it's a situation
most of us have found ourselves in at one time or another. My best advice is
to "Just Say NO," or at least drink responsibly -- eat plenty of food to
help absorb the alcohol, or pace yourself and avoid letting the alcohol
build up in your system.
It's a common
misconception that it's against the law to drink and drive, but it's
actually only illegal if your blood alcohol level (BAC) is above legal
limits (DWI - Driving While Intoxicated, or OVI – Operating a Vehicle under
the Influence), or if the alcohol in your system interferes with your
ability to operate a motor vehicle (DUI - Driving Under the Influence).
Having a couple of beers or drinking some wine with dinner, and then driving
home, is legal unless you have one too many.
So, what do you
do if you find yourself at a party, feeling tipsy, with no place to go but
home and no way to get there except your car or motorcycle? Again, my best
advice is to wait, eat, call a cab, ride home with a friend, or otherwise
stay out from behind the wheel of your car or off your bike. But reality is
much different, and reality is often blurred by that point.
If you feel that
you must operate a motor vehicle, the best way to avoid a DUI or DWI
conviction and all the nastiness that comes with it is to avoid being a
target for the police. Determine a route home that is not a main
thoroughfare or through a known bar area, where police are likely to be
watching for drunk drivers. Check your timing, and don't leave at
"beer-thirty", just before or after closing time. Before you go out on the
town, make sure your car or bike is in perfect working condition; no lights
out, no broken tail lights, nothing to draw attention to your vehicle. Know
where your license is, as well as your registration and proof of insurance,
so that if you're pulled over you won’t have to fumble around for anything.
Mind all traffic
signals; red means stop, green means go. Be aware of your driving and avoid
making any sudden movements across lanes, swerving, over-correcting, or
going too wide around turns...all tale-tell signs of someone who shouldn't
be on the road. Double-check to make sure your lights are on! Signal all
your turns. Watch your speed. It's also best to stay in the slow lane. Don't
give the police a reason to stop you!
It would also be
advisable to roll down your rear windows a crack and turn up the fans in
your vehicle to move the air around and remove that party atmosphere. Chew
some gum, take a breath mint, gargle with some mouthwash, or even smoke a
cigar or cigarette to eliminate the smell of alcohol on your breath. The
number one reason police give for arresting someone for drunk driving is the
smell of alcohol in the car or on your breath. A couple of drops of Visine
would also help to "Get the Red Out."
If you do see
flashing lights in your rear-view mirror, don't panic and by all means do
not try to outrun the police or crash a road block! Signal and pull over
smoothly to the side of the road. Stay in your car or on your bike, and keep
your hands in plain sight. Be polite at all times, but be sure to assert
your rights. If nothing else, it will give your attorney something to work
with.
"Where are you
coming from?", will probably be the first question you hear. Think twice
before volunteering that you just left the local bar. Working late or having
dinner with a friend sounds much less incriminating. If you are stopped
while pulling out from a bar, you might consider telling the officer that
you were waiting for a friend who didn't show up, or the prices were too
high, or it was too crowded and you decided to go home.
The officer will
invariably ask you if you've had anything to drink. It might be best to
answer "no, sir" than to admit to it and then face the litany of follow-up
questions: “How much, where at, how long ago?”
At this point it
would be advisable to ask the officer if you are under arrest or free to go.
If he or she says that you are under arrest or being detained, your
conversation should end with the statement that you want your attorney.
Police officers
are trained to get you to admit guilt, and can be very tricky in getting a
confession out of you. Therefore you should tell them that under advice from
your lawyer you wish to make no further statements.
If you are
placed under arrest:
* Do not speak
with or be interviewed by the police.
* Do not submit
to any roadside sobriety tests, as they are subjective and not required by
law (not to be confused with a Breathalyzer test: see below).
* Do not consent
to any searches.
* Do not waive
any of your rights.
* Do not resist,
and be polite at all times.
* Do request to
leave the scene.
* Do request to
contact a lawyer.
Should you
consent to a Breathalyzer or blood test? While the answer to this may vary
depending upon you and your legal situation, you need to know that the law
in Ohio changed recently and it is now a separate crime for you to refuse to
take a chemical sobriety test if you are placed under arrest for operating a
vehicle while intoxicated and you have a prior conviction within the past
six years, or two convictions within the past 20 years. It’s no longer just
a matter of automatically losing your license if you refuse to take the
test, as the new law subjects repeat offenders who refuse to take a blood,
breath or urine test to the same penalties as if they had tested a blood
alcohol content (BAC) level of .17 or above, and constitutes an additional
criminal act with penalties ranging up to a year in jail.
As evidence of the
legislature’s zeal for reducing drunk driving, the law also now allows the
prosecution of an attorney who advises a client to not take a chemical
sobriety test for complicity or obstruction of official business and may
charge them as a codefendant in the case.
On June 24, 2004,
Ohio Governor Bob Taft signed
House Bill
163 into law, which also increases the penalties
and jail time for repeat offenders who drive while intoxicated. This new law
took effect on September 22, 2004, and not only increases the mandatory
penalties for persons with prior convictions, but also extends the look-back
period from six years to twenty years – meaning that the courts can now look
into your past criminal history for up to twenty years to check for prior
DUI convictions.
The new law calls for
keeping DUI offenders off the roads for longer periods by adding a mandatory
one-to-five-year prison term for persons convicted of five or more prior DUI
offenses in the past twenty years, whereas previously mandatory sentencing
for repeat offenders could not exceed 120 days.
If you are charged with a
drunken driving offense, it is important that you contact an attorney
immediately. Don't wait until the day before you are to appear in court!
This is a serious offense that may cost you jail time, loss of license,
fines and a dramatic increase or cancellation of your insurance.
Alcohol-related crashes
result in more than 300 deaths and more than 14,000 injuries each year in
Ohio, according
to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, and there are
more than 300,000 repeat drunk driving offenders in
Ohio;
28,000 of which have five or more drunk driving convictions.
Before you have your next drink, ask yourself if it’s really worth it.
The above is not
intended as legal advice, and is certainly not advocating driving drunk.