California DWI & DUI Laws

• Impaired drivers are a hazard on roadways.report drunk drivers sign (closeup) image by Paul Marcus from Fotolia.com
  
  More than 200,000 people are arrested each year in California for driving under the influence and driving while intoxicated. Blood-alcohol and field sobriety tests are common with these arrests, and failure of these tests is often due to alcohol and drug interactions.
  
  

Suspicion of Driving Under the Influence

• In California, driver's licenses are issued with an implied consent to properly follow traffic laws. Any reasonable suspicion of a driver not following the law is enough for a police office to stop a car and administer a brief sobriety test. California allows police officers to take breath, blood or urine samples to determine whether a driver is under the influence of drugs or alcohol or legally intoxicated. Refusal to allow these tests will result in an immediate suspension of a California driver's license.
  
  Appropriate blood-alcohol levels depend on the age and type of driver's license. For drivers over the age of 21 with no prior alcohol-related incidents, the legal blood-alcohol limit is 0.08 percent. For drivers under the age of 21, the legal blood-alcohol limit is 0.01 percent. For commercial drivers, the limit is 0.04 percent.
  
  With regard to medications, California law does not distinguish between prescription, over-the-counter, or illegal drugs - interactions or overdoses of any type of drug will still trigger DUI convictions.
  
  

Conviction of a DUI or DWI

• California law provides strict penalties for drivers operating vehicles under the influence. On the first conviction, guilty drivers face fines of up to $1,000, up to six months of jail time, a revoked license for up to six months, and up to nine months of alcohol education classes. Other associated penalties may include loss of car insurance, filing fees to reinstate a driver's license, listing in government and insurance databases and even loss of employment.
  
  Subsequent convictions within 10 years include increased fines, mandatory prison time, loss of license for up to four years and installation of an ignition interlock system to disallow an ignition to start the car without a legal blood-alcohol level by the driver.
  
  

Other Considerations for California DUI

• In the event another person is injured or killed while a driver is above the legal blood-alcohol limit, the offense is enough to trigger the "three strikes" law as a major felony with a required 25-year minimum prison term.
  
  If a minor is in the car where a driver is impaired, intoxicated or even carrying a closed container of alcohol, fines and penalties increase drastically unless the minor is accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.