Drunk and drugged driving are serious traffic violations that can lead to jail time in some cases and expensive fines and surcharges in all cases. Even for a first-time drunk driving arrest with no crash and no one getting hurt, you could face upwards of $4,000 in fines and charges.
Our lawyers help defendants in all kinds of criminal and traffic cases fight the charges against them, keep their licenses, and keep their freedom. We can challenge the evidence in your case and seek to argue down or plea down DUI/DWI charges.
For help with your case, call the DUI/DWI attorneys at Lombardo Law Group by dialing (609) 418-4537.
Driving Under the Influence (DUI) vs. Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) in Bargaintown, NJ
The distinction between the terms “driving under the influence” (DUI) and “driving while intoxicated” (DWI) are generally casual distinctions rather than technical distinctions. In the statute, N.J.S.A. § 39:4-50, the NJ legislature went with the heading “driving while intoxicated” but described the illegal conduct as operating a car when you are “under the influence.”
Often, DWI is the preferred term, but applying the word “intoxication” to drug use is not always preferred, so sometimes DUI will be used for drugged driving and DWI for drunk driving. In any case, there is no tiered system like in some nearby states where “under the influence” is a lower level of intoxication and “while intoxicated” refers to definitive drunkenness.
For our purposes, we will use the terms interchangeably and be precise as to when we are referring to drunk vs. drugged driving, as these distinctions do create tiers of penalties.
Levels of DUI/DWI in Bargaintown, NJ
Another important distinction between different types of DUI/DWI is that there are different levels of offense depending on what exactly was in your system and how much of it. Generally, these charges all still come under the same code section and are classified as the same level of offense, but the penalties can be affected by your level of intoxication or whether there were drugs in your system.
“General intoxication” drunk driving refers to driving with alcohol in your system to a high enough degree that it affects your driving, but without definitive proof that you were over the “legal limit.” We usually use breath testing in New Jersey to gauge a driver’s “blood-alcohol concentration” (BAC), a measure of the level of alcohol in their system. We call .08% the “legal limit” because a BAC over that level is definitely drunk driving – known as a per se DUI/DWI. If your BAC was below this level and you were still too drunk to drive safely, it would be a “general intoxication” DUI/DWI. Alternatively, this “general intoxication” charge is applied if you refused to undergo a BAC test; the police are not barred from charging you just because they do not have a BAC test.
The penalties for general intoxication and a per se DWI with a BAC over .08% are the same as long as your BAC was under .10%. Otherwise, there are different penalties that you can face for driving with a BAC of .10% and longer license suspensions if your BAC was .15% or higher.
Drug DUIs generally have the same penalty as drunk driving in the .10% tier, but drug DUIs do not get an ignition interlock installed. These are used for most drunk driving offenses to prevent drivers from being able to start their car without giving a “clean” breath sample, but they are useless when it comes to detecting drugs or stopping drugged driving.
How Do Police Identify Drunk and Drugged Driving in Bargaintown, NJ?
Police often have training and experience in identifying and catching drunk and drugged driving. Some of the signs are what you might expect, but other detection tools are less well-known. In many cases, our DUI/DWI lawyers will challenge the officer’s observations and evidence to try to get traffic stops, arrests, and specific pieces of evidence thrown out.
Driving Issues
Police first look for dangerous driving to pull someone over. Drunk drivers will often speed up or slow down irregularly, swerve, drift out of their lane, drive off the road, or otherwise drive as one might expect of a drunk driver. Police can also look for independent traffic violations like speeding, running a red light, or failing to use a turn signal as an excuse to pull you over, then begin a DUI/DWI investigation after they see you and the state you are in.
Observations
While talking to you, police can look for the odor of alcohol on your breath, beer cans in your driver’s area, bloodshot eyes, and other evidence of intoxication like slurred speech to peg you as drunk. They can look for evidence that you are high, such as delayed or lethargic movements, red eyes, pinpoint pupils, jitteriness, and more.
In some cases, officers who have not had proper training in identifying these signs should not be able to testify that they were signs of intoxication or drug use, and we can challenge their testimony and arrest.
Testing
As mentioned, NJ police often use breath tests. There is an initial “presumptive” breath test (PBT) that is often used after the pullover but before the arrest. This is not scientific or accurate enough in most cases to supply evidence for trial, but it can help the officer determine whether there is alcohol in your system.
After arresting you, they use a stronger, more accurate testing machine that can output a BAC number to use in charging you and proving the case against you. They can also use a blood test, which is often the case for drugged driving because breath tests only detect alcohol.
Testing must be done properly with a properly calibrated machine, or else the test should be thrown out as tainted.
Field Sobriety Tests
Police often use three standard field sobriety tests to see whether you can walk a straight line, balance, and respond to eye movement prompts. If your balance is bad or your eyes tremble and go off target, they will say the tests indicated that you were intoxicated.
However, these tests are not particularly scientific, and police should not testify that you “failed” them. Additionally, they must administer them properly or else the results should be thrown out as tainted.
Call Our DUI/DWI Lawyers in Bargaintown, NJ Today
If you were pulled over for drunk/drugged driving, call (609) 418-4537 for a free case assessment with Lombardo Law Group’s DUI/DWI lawyers.
