“If you drink, don’t drive. Don’t even putt,” quipped Dean Martin, legendary crooner and actor who forty years ago humorously compared a good golf game to avoiding a DUI. Back in the ‘Rat Pack’ days people were treated with forgiveness and even humor if caught driving under the influence of alcohol. It was almost socially acceptable. “There but for the grace of God go I,” many friends would say. Thirty years ago a DUI was met with a small fine and a promise that should the offender recommit the crime, the State will give him/her a break as long as the crime isn’t committed again within ten years. Times have changed.
Sweeping changes to DUI laws every year affect even the first offender. The first offender is typically a law abiding citizen who may have made a mistake, but certainly isn’t a criminal by household terms. Yet, they will are treated as criminals by law enforcement and the prosecution. In fact, some DUI laws treat first offenders much harsher than many people who are charged with felonies.
Many drivers across the country arrested for DUI or DWI are required to secure a Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Device (BAIID) if they want to drive a vehicle during the period of a statutory summary suspension from a DUI arrest. The length of that suspension is often a minimum of 6 months for a first offender who submits to a breath test and registers .08 blood alcohol or more, and often as high as 12 months for those first offenders who refuse the breath test.
The BAIID is a alcohol detection device which must be installed into an automobile. Its purpose is to detect “any” amount of alcohol in the driver’s system. Drivers are required to blow into the device prior to starting the vehicle and again every 10 to 20 minutes while the vehicle is in operation. If the device detects any amount of alcohol, the vehicle will shut down. It is important to remember that even a strong mouthwash with alcohol in it can shut down a vehicle through the BAIID, as well as residual alcohol from drinking many hours previous to attempting to start the vehicle.
To have a BAIID device installed and maintained in your car will now cost an average of $600 for six months to $1200 for twelve. This does not include the typical DUI fine and costs which average in the thousands of dollars, not to mention insurance rate adjustments and costs of required alcohol counseling for all offenders who plead to the charge. Costs of a DUI can now exceed $8,000 at a minimum, though some estimates are well over $10,000.
If you need a BAIID to drive under a court ordered permit, your local DUI attorney will advise you on the requirements. In fact, some drivers are never required to install the BAIID because their attorneys have challenged the DUI stop in the first place on improper grounds. When the court finds this is true, not only is the suspension wiped away, but so is the entire arrest. Contact a Local Warren County DUI attorney for further information.
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