DWI
Get Answers
- What happens to your North Carolina Driver’s License after you are charged with DWI?
- DWI – In Depth
- Driving After Consuming-Less Than 21
- Q&A: I blew over a .08 on the breath test. Can a lawyer really do anything for me?
- What can you expect if you are convicted as a first time offender of the lowest level of DWI?
What is a DUI?
DUI. stands for “driving under the influence,” a misdemeanor that carries with it a maximum sentence of 2 years in prison and a $4,000 fine. There is also a mandatory loss of your N.C. driving privilege ranging from 1 year to permanent, depending upon your record. In addition, it is possible that your personal automobile insurance rates could increase up to 800% for 3 years following a DUI / DWI conviction.
In North Carolina, there is no difference between a DWI and a DUI.
There are several elements to the crime of DUI.
1) A “driver” or “operator” is someone who is in actual physical control of a vehicle that is in motion or has the engine running.
2) A “vehicle” includes every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, except for devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon fixed rails or tracks. “Vehicle” does not include a horse, but after December 1, 2006 does include a bicycle or lawnmower (so now you can get a DUI while driving a bike or lawnmower). “Vehicle” does not include an electric personal assistive mobility device, or any device which is designed for and intended to be used as a means of transportation for a person with a mobility impairment, or who uses the device for mobility enhancement, is suitable for use both inside and outside a building, including on sidewalks, and is limited by design to 15 miles per hour when the device is being operated by a person with a mobility impairment, or who uses the device for mobility enhancement.
3) Driving can occur on any “highway, street or public vehicular area. “Highway” or “street” includes the entire width between property or right-of-way lines of every way or place of whatever nature of which any part is open to the use of the public as a matter of right for the purposes of vehicular traffic. “Public vehicular area” generally means any area open to and used by the public for vehicular traffic at most universities, schools, businesses, neighborhoods, federal property, beach driving areas, within or leading to a subdivision, private property designated as a public vehicular area, and other places that don’t exactly meet the definition of a “street” or “highway”.
4) “Impairment” means either a) “under the influence” of an “impairing substance,” or b) having consumed sufficient alcohol to have, at any relevant time after the driving, an alcohol concentration of .08 or more. An “impairing substance” can be alcohol, illegal drugs, cough syrup and/or prescription medications. A person is “under the influence” if his/her physical and/or mental faculties are appreciably impaired. Chemical analysis of blood-alcohol levels, by either breath tests or blood tests, measure alcohol concentration. Both breath tests or blood tests must be administered in accordance with specific state laws and regulations,
A driver’s refusal to take a valid breath or blood DUI / DWI test will normally result in a 1-year license revocation with no limited driving privilege available except in certain situations.
