Drunk Driving Penalties
The Maryland DUI Attorney and Drunk Driving Penalties Author: Don Washington If you have been charged with driving under the influence, you need all the help you can get - which is where the services of a Maryland DUI attorney can help mitigate the damage. Are you aware of your rights under...
The Maryland DUI Attorney and Drunk Driving Penalties
Author: Don Washington
If you have been charged with driving under the influence, you need all the help you can get - which is where the services of a Maryland DUI attorney can help mitigate the damage.
Are you aware of your rights under the law if charged with driving under the influence?
If This Is Your First Offense . . .
Under new Maryland drunk driving laws that took effect on 1 October 2009, if you are convicted of drunk driving for the first time and your blood alcohol content (BAC) level was over .08, you could be sentenced to a jail term of up to a year and fined as much as 00. If you were transporting a minor at the time of the offense, these penalties can be doubled. In addition, your driving privileges will be suspended for a minimum of six months.
Subsequent Offenses
Fines and jail sentences increase substantially after the first conviction. After a third conviction, the offender faces a 00 fine, three years in jail and loss of driving privileges for a minimum of eighteen months. If however, the offender was transporting a minor at the time, jail terms and fines are increased by one-third (so, 00 and four years). The greater penalties also apply if injury or death is involved - in addition to any criminal or civil penalties.
Stricter Standards
Minors and commercial drivers are held to much stricter standards when it comes to driving and alcohol.
In the state of Maryland, it is illegal for persons under the age of 21 years to possess or consume alcoholic beverages. Therefore, a minor can be charged and convicted for drunk driving if any amount of alcohol is found in the system; a BAC level of .02 carries a 0 fine. In addition, the individual faces minor-in-possession charges.
Because of their responsibility for public safety, commercial drivers are also subject to lower BAC limits; .04 is sufficient to warrant conviction on a drunk driving charge.
Other Things to Know
Although the Constitution states that one is innocent of a crime until proven guilty in a court of law, Maryland's Implied Consent law provides for what amounts to a legal exception when it comes to drunk driving offenses. If stopped on suspicion of drunk driving, you have the right to refuse to submit to testing (blood, breath or urine); however, your driving privileges are automatically revoked for a period of four months for the first refusal and one year for subsequent refusals.
Contacting a Lawyer
DUI and DWI cases are handled on the county level, and procedures vary from one county to the next. It is therefore important to get counsel from a legal professional who is familiar with the courts of the county in question.
A DUI lawyer may be able to get your driving privileges restored under certain conditions; for example, you may be allowed to drive to and from work if you install an interlock (a device that disables a car's ignition if alcohol is present in the driver's system). You may also avoid jail time for a first offense by enrolling in an alcohol treatment program.
Why should the drunk driving penalties be stricter?
Ok, so I am writing a persuasive speech on “Why the drunk driving penalties should be sticter” but I can’t seem to find much information about it, or people’s views about it.
Could you give me some good reasons why the punishments should be worse?….and maybe some website links would be good too. Thanks! =)
For one thing, there are quite a few who won’t hesitate to drink & drive. Call it public ignorance or a complete “society motivated disrespect for the law”. However statistically speaking, when one out of six accidents in the US involve alcohol, then something has gone terribly wrong with our entire judicial system.
We all remember (MAD) (mad mothers against drunk drivers) a little something launched in the early seventies that has now failed us all, in more ways than one. It’s obvious that the average drinker who chooses & is not forced behind that wheel,,, must be held accountable for their actions especially when this particular action involves a tragic car accident with injuries or even a few deaths. It’s obvious that we need some tougher laws that treat any drug-induced impairment motivation to a fatal accident, as a capital crime. The cemeteries are full of innocent car accident victims, who crossed the path of a intoxicated driver & paid the ultimate price… Too much appeasement, special deals in an endless deluge of red tape has made it impossible to prosecute these first second & third offense drunk drivers. Look no further than the average attorney approved Yellow Page ad, and you will find the words (specializing in drunk driving cases) A “shameless attitude on the part of the attorney”
Once again statistically speaking, hundreds of thousands of innocent people die each and every year on our nation’s highways. A direct result of those who obviously don’t care for their attitude is one of selfishness, (I will do what I wanna do) said the average intoxicated driver. At the same time rich shyster lawyers who manipulate those well conceived laws to their own benefit become richer & richer (blood money) by allowing this shameful avenue of escape for any man or woman who is willing to pay a whopping $250 per hour attorney’s fee ,too beat the rap. As long as there is big money as the only true motivation, nothing will change…if people were serious than we would legislate new laws and to do away with this ludicrous 1.2.3 strikes you’re out nonsense.. Thus replacing that failed policy with some very harsh tough penalties for those who would use a car or truck as a deadly weapon of mass disillusionment.. Those who write our laws must look at the terrible ramifications when a drunk driver causes the death of an innocent motorist. The penalty should fit the crime with no plea bargains and no special deals of any kind…
Fantasyland legislation
Too those who wouldn’t hesitate to drink & drive, it’s a free country for now, & you can do what you want (whatever feels good) However, if you’re involved in an accident while intoxicated & somebody dies as a direct result of your driver negligence,you’re going to prison for a hell of a longtime…Buddy
Case closed…
You must remember one thing we have that those countries do not. The Constitution and Bill Of Rights.
We in America are afforded due process and are not subject to Cruel and Unusual Punishment.
While DUI is a problem and many people are killed or injured in crashes, I do not think that execution is a valid deterrent. Execution is for capitol crimes and is punishment and retribution for the victims. It is not an effective deterrent.
And just so you know. It is not taken lightly in the USA. A first offense is going to literally cost you several thousand dollars. Your license is suspended from 6 months to a year. Your insurance will double. You have to pay fees and file SR22′s every year for at least three years. And the conviction goes on your criminal record.
what do people think about the drunk driving penalties in other countries below?
Drunk Driving Penalties in other Countries
Australia:
The names of the drivers are sent to the local newspapers and are printed under the heading “He’s Drunk and in Jail”.
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Malaysia:
The Driver is jailed and if married, his wife is jailed too.
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South Africa
A 10 year prison sentence and the equivalent of a $10,000.00 fine
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Turkey
Drunk drivers are taken 20 miles outside of town by police and are forced to walk back under escort
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Norway
Three weeks in jail at hard labor, one year loss of license. Second offense within five years, license revoked for life.
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Finland & Sweden
Automatic jail for one year of hard labor
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Costa Rica
Police remove plates fron car
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Russia
License revoked for life
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England
One year suspension and a $250.00 fine and jail for one year
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France
Three year loss of license, one year in jail and a $1000.00 fine
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Poland
Jail, fine and forced to attend political lectures
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Bulgaria
A second conviction results in execution
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El Salvador
Your first offense is your last—execution by firing squad
I bet they don’t get alot of dui’s in any of these countries!
I’m not saying that the US doesn’t take drunk driving seriously. I just wanted to hear people’s opinions on what other countries do. I don’t agree with them personally…
It was a handout I received at a drug/alcohol class I attended.
The limit of .08 is not based on anecdotal evidence. It is based on the results of many studies with thousands of test subjects. There is a very specific reason that .08 is the cutoff. That is because at a .08, the effects impact driving. It doesn’t matter if ‘some guy we know’ can drink a six-pack and do parkour without faceplanting. That’s anecdotal. For the mass majority of humans, .08 is too high for driving.
As for tiering the penalties, that sort of takes care of itself. Most people who blow 3 times the legal limit at 11am get arrested for more than just weaving. Usually, they have hit somebody or something. Sometimes they will fight with the arresting officer. Lack of cooperation tends to kick in at these higher BAC rates.
That said, there *is* some tiering in some states. Ever heard of an “aggravated DUI”? Blowing twice the legal limit in many states WILL yield stiffer penalties.
Should there be tiered penalties for drunk driving?
Like instead of treating the person who had a beer or two too many and blows a point .09 on the way home from a party the same as some drunk who blows three times the legal limit at 11am, you would instead have staggered penalties that got progressively worse.
Judge not and you will not be judged; do not condemn and pronounce guilty, and you will not be condemned and pronounced guilty; acquit and forgive and you will be acquitted and forgiven.
Drunk driving penalties in Virginia?
My best friend was killed yesterday by a drunk driver in Warrenton, VA.
What are the penalties for this?
What r the penalties for drunk driving (1st and 2nd offenses in 5 other countries 10 points first best answer?
about how much total money will a person be convicted of a 1st time DUI spend in penalties/fees/etc.
I need the penalties of drunk driving in 5 other countries.
Either Manslaughter, or straight jail for
DUI, involving the death of another person.
He will definitely be sentenced to a long
time in prison, I am sorry to hear of your
friend’s death.