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If for any reason you find yourself arrested for driving under the influence or driving while intoxicated, you should arm yourself with a DUI lawyer.
These are usually grave matters, and facing the judge alone can be brutal; plus, you need a lawyer to negotiate the suspension terms for your license if possible.
You must get a lawyer who deals explicitly with DUI matters and understands the court system’s intricacies in the state that you’re arrested.
Will You Lose Your License for a DUI/DWI/OUI?
Typically, if you are found guilty of driving under the influence (DUI), there’s no way to evade getting your license suspended.
Most of the country’s states have license suspension as a required outcome of a DUI conviction. Nonetheless, there are occasionally paths to reducing the duration that you will not drive a vehicle.
There are two categories of suspensions for your license when you’re convicted of a DUI offense.
Your license suspensions can be based on the original criminal conviction or an administrative DMV suspension.
The latter is usually initiated by a DUI arrest involving the driver failing a chemical test or refusing to participate in one when the arresting officer requested it.
Nonetheless, in most circumstances, where a driver amasses two different suspensions, they can run concurrently.
That means you won’t have to complete a suspension and begin another.
Duration of License Suspension For DUI Convictions
In most states, your license can be suspended between three months and a year on your first DUI charge.
An example is Colorado, where the first DUI offense is an automatic license suspension for nine months. The mandatory breaks increase in duration based on the number of prior convictions.
In a few states, like South Dakota and Pennsylvania, a first DUI conviction or even a second in Dakota’s case, doesn’t lead to mandatory license suspension.
Administrative Suspensions for DUI Arrests
Implicit consent laws instruct all drivers who are legally apprehended for driving under the influence to participate in a breathalyzer or blood test when requested by a law enforcement officer.
Commonly, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) will administratively rescind the license of an individual who unlawfully rejects being tested or is arrested for driving with a blood-alcohol level that reaches or exceeds (BAC) of .08%.
Keep in mind that if you were arrested for a DUI and was acquitted, you might still be slapped with an administrative license suspension.
Based on the state you’re in, the two types of suspension periods for a DUI/DWI could be similar or different.
Connecticut is one of the states with both the conviction suspension and administrative suspension duration as the same 45 days.
Meanwhile, down in New Mexico, one is a year and the other six months, but they run concurrently, which means you won’t go beyond a year to get back your license.
It is better to take the test. Still, if you didn’t, you should acquire the services of a DUI lawyer, especially since most administrative suspensions are longer for drivers who decline the chemical test than for those who failed.
Reducing the Effect of a DUI License Suspension
Your DUI lawyer can request a hardship license, which is sometimes granted in a few states to allow the DUI convict to travel to nearby places like school, work, and church, while their support remains suspended.
Commonly, a motorist is compelled to finalize about a month or more of suspension before receiving a hardship license. It’s also common for state laws to require the driver to install an ignition interlock device (IID) to obtain a hardship license.
Overall, it is always best to get an attorney when you face a DUI charge, especially if you had refused to get the chemical test.
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