DUI In California

Reader’s Question:

Is it true that having even just a glass of wine or a bottle of beer and then driving afterward can already have you arrested for DUI in California?

Mill

Concord, CA

It depends in if you are a minor and under what state you are in. In your case there in Concord, California the answer is yes, it is possible for you to be convicted of DUI even if you have consumed (in your opinion) a small amount of alcohol. It all depends on the result of the Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) test and the level of suspicion of the police officer who have pulled you over. California has one of the strictest laws in the nation governing underage drinking, so anyone caught under 21 and has had a BAC result of 0.01% or greater will face a DUI charge. If you resulted with a 0.05% or greater then you can be arrested and be subjected to two charges, one for underage and a regular DUI charges as well.

To put things in perspective, for most people drinking a 12-ounce beer or one 4-ounce glass of wine or one 1.25-ounce of liquor will already tip your BAC result to over 0.01% to near 0.05%. If this happens to you, you are looking at a one year driver’s license suspension and any subsequent violations and convictions will lead to even more sever punishments, including fines up to the thousands and even jail time. Similarly, individuals who refuse to be tested will mean an automatic suspension of his or her license as well. In some cases, however, if you are 18 or over and have had no prior convictions, you may be able to just attend a 12-hour class regarding safety and alcohol or drug abuse.

Reader’s Question:

How many drinks does it take to have a 0.080 alcohol concentration and what must I do to avoid a DWI in California?

Payton

Bakersfield, CA

How many drinks do you need to have a 0.08 alcohol level in your blood? Well Payton, to tell you frankly, the response to your question is not pretty as clear cut as you may imagine. Alcohol is a very toxic substance. The moment you place alcohol into your bodily system, your body will begin to get rid of it. Alcohol levels will only go up when you drink further alcohol or at a more rapidly rate than your body can do away with it.

The most excellent response is by exemplar. If a common one hundred fifty pound man drinks four typical beers in sixty minutes, his alcohol level at the end of the sixty minutes would be 0.080. This is the identical whether the drink is a twelve ounce beer, four ounce of wine or one ounce of 80 proof whiskey. This evaluation will differ from person to person and has many other factors that have an effect on it.

For your next question on how to avoid DWI in California, the best advice I can give you is not to drink and drive. If you are planning to drink, drink sensibly or plan a ride if you are not. If you will border your drinking to one drink per hour, you ought to be fine.