When someone says, “Don’t drink and drive” or you see an ad on television or in a magazine telling you not to drink and drive or explaining the effects of drinking and driving. It got me to thinking, that saying is completely inaccurate.

Using a term like “drinking and driving” is really saying, “Hey when you are driving down the road, don’t open a beer and start drinking”, hence “drinking and driving”. Shouldn’t it really be something like this: “Don’t drink then drive”?

I’m sure there are a number of people that actually crack open beers while they’re physically driving their vehicle, but the majority of people who get arrested for DUI were actually out drinking at a bar, social event or dinner and then were driving home or wherever they happen to be going when the DUI stopped occurred.

I know I’m being nit picky, but shouldn’t it really be “drinking then driving” or “don’t drink then drive?” Food for thought.

After a typical DUI arrest, a person will end up paying upwards of $5,000 for a first time DUI conviction. A lot of people that find themselves in this situation don’t really think about their future, meaning 3 or 5 years down the road. They are completely focused on the now, lets get this over with and let me get back to my life.

A lot of these people don’t even hire a DUI lawyer to represent them, they figure that they can handle this situation and save themselves a few thousand bucks, but thinking about their situation in this manor is completely wrong.

You will be required to file an SR22 with the DMV in order to reinstate your driver’s license and keep the SR22 insurance coverage for a period of three years. The unfortunate thing that people don’t think about is that even after the 3 years of SR22 filing requirement, their insurance rates are going to remain high for a further 10 or so years.

The reason their rates remain high is because the DUI conviction will continue to show up on their driving record and when their insurance provider checks their driving record, what do you think they are going to see?

So the original thought process of not hiring a DUI lawyer is not a sound decision. It is well worth the fees that a DUI lawyer will charge in order to have a chance at having the DUI arrest dismissed or reduced.

Getting a DUI case dismissed will save a person thousands of dollars, far more than an experienced DUI lawyer is going to cost them. So if you are reading this blog post and find yourself in this situation, I would strongly recommend that you reconsider your decision of not hiring a DUI lawyer.

As long as police have been arresting people for drunk driving and making them take a Breathalyzer test to establish their BAC level, people have been asking the question “How Can I Beat A Breathalyzer Test”?

I am a fan of the show MythBusters, and they recently had an episode where Jamie and Adam (these are the shows hosts, if you have never seen the show) were testing various myths on how a person could defeat the dreaded Breathalyzer Test.

They tested every possible option from having a copper penny in your mouth while blowing into the breathalyzer, which by the way an electrician in Britain recently tried this and found out that it doesn’t work, to trying to mask the alcohol odor by using mouthwash.

In the end every one of these mythical remedies for defeating the Breathalyzer were defeated beyond a shadow of a doubt. So the only answer to the question of “How to beat a Breathalyzer” is not to put yourself in the position of having to submit to a Breathalyzer test.

One of the best things you can do if you are going to drink and drive, is to carry a small portable Breathalyzer with you in your car. Before you drive, just check your BAC level to make sure you are well below the legal limit.

When a person gets arrested on a DUI charge one of the first things they start thinking about after all of the confusion subsides from being arrested and going through the booking process at the police station is how much is this going to end up costing me?

They more than likely start by doing some research on the Internet to find out their states DUI laws and add up the associated fines they will incur along with how much a DUI lawyer costs and how much the dreaded SR22 insurance is going to costs.

They end up being overwhelmed by the dollar figure and start thinking about how they can cut some of these costs.

“Ok lets see, I can’t do much about the fines, they are what they are (sorry I had to throw in a cliché) and I really need to be able to drive, so I guess I have to get the SR22 insurance. Man it’s going to cost me anywhere from $2,000 to $4,000 plus to hire a DUI lawyer to represent me in court. I’m a smart person, I can represent myself in court and save a few thousand bucks, and how hard can it be it’s not like this is a murder case.”

Well I am here to tell you that this is one of the biggest mistakes people can make when they are facing a DUI charge. So if you are reading this and you have just been arrested on a DUI charge and are waiting for your day in court and you are thinking about this exact scenario, STOP thinking about trying to represent yourself in court, YOU WILL LOSE badly.

DUI law is extremely complex and there is no way that you are going to be able to become an expert DUI lawyer in a matter of a couple of months or however far out your court date is. DUI lawyers live and breath DUI law on a daily basis, do you? I didn’t think so!

Facing a DUI charge in court is not like going to court to fight a traffic ticket. When a judge sees that he or she has a DUI case on the docket for the day and notices that the person does not have a lawyer representing them in their defense, they immediately start think “if this person doesn’t care enough about their own future to hire a DUI lawyer to represent them, then why should I cut them any slack?”

Doubt me on this? Find a judge, buy them a few drinks at the bar and ask them. You would be surprised at some of the things you might hear and their viewpoints on defendants who try to represent themselves in a criminal case like DUI.

The truth of the matter is, that going it alone and not hiring a DUI lawyer will more than likely end up costing the average DUI defendant more in the way of fines, penalties and jail time then if they had hired a DUI lawyer.

Monday police in Gwinnett County arrested Atlanta Falcons star safety Lawyer Milloy for drunk driving early Monday morning. Apparently Milloy had been out drinking after the Falcons loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.

Milloy (age 34) is old enough to know better than to drink and drive, but it goes to show you that no one is immune to the long arm of the law when it comes to drunk driving. Of course Milloy obviously has the financial means to higher an aggressive DUI attorney in Georgia to represent him in his pending DUI case.

In Part 2 of Drunk Driving Laws in America we are going to talk about the punishments and sanctions a person faces when convicted of drunk driving.

Yes, a drunk driving conviction is like a double whammy. The punishment or criminal penalties like jail time and fines and then there is the civil sanction or suspension of an individual’s driver’s license.

Both the criminal and civil penalties will increase with each recurring drunk driving offense someone receives and any additional circumstances that lead to the drunk driving charge, such as property damage, bodily injury or death.

Minors who are arrested for drunk driving often face much tougher penalties. The criminal punishments a minor faces are in most cases the same punishments an adult will face, but the civil sanction for a minor most of the time will be tougher because of a lower allowable BAC level for minors and longer driver license suspensions.

The severity of the criminal punishment one faces will depend on whether or not that person had been previously convicted of drunk driving. If the person has a previous drunk driving conviction, the criminal punishments will be based on the number of years between convictions.

So basically a person facing a second drunk driving conviction just one or two years after their first conviction will face much stiffer criminal penalties than a person facing a second drunk driving conviction that occurred 10 or 15 years after their first drunk driving conviction.

When it comes to driver’s license sanctions, most states base their motor vehicle laws on the premise that driving is a privilege and not a fundamental right. So any driver’s license sanctions are remedial, not punitive.

Also note that the criminal charges are separate from the driver license sanctions; they do not go hand in hand. The driver license sanctions are imposed by the department of motor vehicles or DMV. While the criminal charges are imposed by the courts.

So even if an individual is acquitted of a drunk driving charge in court, the DMV is a separate entity and is allowed to suspend a driver’s license for a drunk driving offense even though the criminal charges were acquitted.

In Part 3 of this series we will go into greater detail with regards to the criminal charges someone faces when convicted of drunk driving.

State lawmakers tend to make a lot of assumptions and one of the biggest assumptions they make over and over again is that motorists in this country do not realize the dangers of drinking and driving.

So the state lawmakers enact new drunk driving laws in their attempt to protect us from ourselves, since we really don’t understand that drinking and driving is dangerous. Drinking and driving in America is not a crime, unless you are under the age of 21. Drunk driving laws only apply when an individual is at or above the legal blood alcohol content of .08% BAC.

When it comes to drunk driving laws in America, state lawmakers have figured out that it is basically political suicide for them if they resist voting in favor of tougher drunk driving laws.

Each and every year in every state across America, state legislature continues to increase the criminal penalties, fines and driver license sanctions placed on someone who has been convicted of drunk driving.

In part 2 we will discuss the punishments and sanctions a driver faces when convicted of drunk driving in America.

Wow, what is our country coming to when big brother starts trying to pass laws that restrict a DUI lawyer’s ability to advertise his or her services? Just because a lawyer specializes in DUI cases doesn’t mean that the government should try and restrict his or her ability to make a living.

News flash, if you are in business and don’t advertise your services to your potential clients, you won’t be in business for long.

Lawmakers are also trying to tack on legislation that would create an online list of repeat DUI offenders that anyone could search. So in essence what lawmakers are really saying with this additional legislation is that a person who gets arrested for DUI is going to be treated like a child molester where anyone can do a search online to see if a child molester lives in their neighborhood.

I for one would never hire a lawyer who kind of dabbles in every area of the law and doesn’t “specialize” in any particular area. If convicted of a DUI, I want a DUI lawyer, period!

  What are these lawmakers thinking? Do they believe that a DUI lawyer who advertises his or her services is promoting drunk driving? Wouldn’t that be the same as Wal-mart advertising their everyday low prices some how promotes poverty and poor people should shop Wal-mart?

The consequences of a DUI arrest and/or conviction can reach a lot further than just the immediate ‘inconvenience’ of not being able to drive and the excess costs required through legal fees, DUI lawyer fees, court costs, fines, penalties, SR22 insurance, DMV fees, cab rides, towing fees, etc, etc…

The DUI conviction will remain with you for the rest of your life leaving a mark on your permanent criminal record.  This can cause undue frustration for years and years… and ultimately what most refer to as the ultimate consequence of getting a DUI.

So What Can Be Done?

There’s a few options you can look into.  The first being expungement of your DUI record (depends on state of conviction and eligibility) which must be petitioned through the courts. 

The second option is simply to learn the DUI process which teaches you how to effectively minimize the effects of a DUI conviction.  How to minimize the damage by cleaning up your criminal record as much as possible given your situation, learning how to save money on costly DUI insurance policies (SR22 insurance) — basically how to get through everything with as little money and frustration possible.

DUI Process has recently completed compiling our network of aggressive DUI lawyers from across the entire country.  We only list and affiliate with the best DUI lawyers who fight and win DUI cases.  The most common problem in DUI defense (from the offender’s viewpoint-which is all we care about) is that the majority of DUI lawyers will simply take your money and then plead guilty for you.  Not the lawyers associated with us.

Our affiliation requires that these DUI lawyers do everything possible for your DUI charges.  If there is any way possible to beat your charges, these DUI lawyers will do it.  They’re aggressive, and they care.

To find the most aggressive DUI lawyer closest to you simply visit our page:  http://www.duiprocess.com/dui-lawyers.php  then select your state and either fill out the form or call the Toll Free number.