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Laws have been made by legislators and the government to ensure that the rights of each of its citizens are protected. In the hopes of protecting everybody’s rights, there are also laws that prosecute and punish wrongdoers. Perhaps the most dangerous thing you can do in life that poses a lot of risk on others as well as yourself is driving under the influence. Because road accidents and DUI accidents are the leading cause of damage to property, injury to people as well as death, states have enacted DUI laws with the harshest of punishments and the most expensive of fines.
Out of all the states that have set DUI laws, California is one state that punishes offenders the harshest. From the first offense alone, you can be looking at six months in jail and $1600 worth of fines. License suspension also happens and it goes on for six months and you have to complete various programs for DUI and alcoholism or drug use together with that. You might also be ordered to install an ignition interlock device on your vehicle. There is however an alcohol limit for being charged and convicted for DUI and for the state of California, it’s 0.08%.
What this means is if you’re driving and you’ve consumed alcohol a few hours before but your blood alcohol content level or BAC doesn’t go over 0.08, you’re in the clear. It has been found that alcohol has a great effect on a person’s ability and if you go past that limit, you won’t be able to do two things at once like for example, steering and braking or steering while watching everything that goes on in the road. If your BAC is higher than 0.08, you’ll have a great difficulty with maneuvering your vehicle in the road.
When you’re pulled over by the police for suspicion of driving under the influence, you have to subject yourself to some field tests. One of these would be the breathalyzer. You breathe into the device and it will make the determination on the exact BAC level you have. Further testing might be asked of you where samples of your urine or blood will be taken for testing. When it’s been established that your BAC level is higher than 0.08%, your license will be suspended immediately. In the hopes of reducing the incidence of DUI, stricter laws on DUI have been implemented and harsher punishments for people driving with a BAC over 0.08 are given.
