What to do if You are Caught Driving Under the Influence
Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs is one of the most serious motoring offences, and the process of resolving it can be lengthy with many necessary hurdles to jump through. Depending on your circumstances, there may be varying ways of approaching your charge, and it is important to understand these so you have the best chance of reducing your conviction - by a small amount or completely.
In the following guide, we will explore the process of being accused of driving under the influence from the moment you are caught to your defence in court. For more information about the service that JMW can provide on drink or drug driving, visit our respective pages.
What are the Drink and Drug Driving Limits?
Before anything else, you should first understand what the limits for both drink and drugs are, as this will help you to predict what your penalties will be. See the below tables for straightforward breakdowns of each.
Drink Limits
| Sample Type | Limit of Alcohol per 100ml |
|---|---|
| Breath | 35 micrograms |
| Urine | 107 milligrams |
| Blood | 80 milligrams |
Drug Limits
You can be prosecuted for excessive use of both legal and illegal drugs if you are caught while driving under the influence. Depending on the substance, it can take a number of days to exit your system, so you should consider this before planning to drive or use it.
For a comprehensive breakdown of which drugs you can be prosecuted for using and their limits, visit our Drug Driving Solicitors page.
What to Do When You are Pulled Over
When you are confronted by the police, you will be asked to take a roadside test, in which they may use a breathalyser to determine the alcohol levels in your blood. The police can do this whether you have been in an accident or not.
If you take the breath test and fail, you then be taken to the police station for a second test, which will lead to prosecution if you fail. Alternatively, you can refuse to take a test. However, if you do this your penalties will be much more extreme, including up to a six month prison sentence.
What to Do Following Prosecution
If you fail your test and are prosecuted, you will be expected to mount a defence in court. There are a number of ways this can be approached, but it is absolutely essential that you seek advice and representation from a professional motoring offence solicitor.
The approaches that the solicitors at JMW take include the following:
- Police procedure
- Police procedure in hospital
- Police bail
Due to the sensitive nature of the prosecution, there are many parts of the police procedure that can go wrong. For example, the test equipment may not have been set up or calibrated properly, or you may have been mistreated in hospital after sustaining an injury. Our team has extensive experience in finding available angles for defence, and it is not uncommon to succeed due to minor errors in the way the police acted following your detainment.
Additionally, test results for both drug and alcohol levels can make up to eight weeks to return, during which time circumstances can change. Contact your solicitor as soon as possible in the process, and maintain communications throughout so they can build your case.
How to Deal with the Court Proceedings
When you are required to appear in court, you can choose to fight the case or plead guilty and receive a disqualification. In addition, a fine, community order, or even a prison sentence. If you choose to fight the case and subsequently fail it, your sentence will be higher so it is vital that you work with us to plan the best one possible.
When preparing to fight a case, we will need to gather lots of evidence to support your case. The police will usually have scientific evidence showing your alcohol or drug levels, witness statements. . To combat this, we may have to gather rebuttal evidence.
It may be the case that removing all of the charges are impossible, especially if the police have significant evidence on their side. Instead, we may be able to reduce them by arguing your reasons for driving under the influence, resulting in less severe penalties.
In any case, it is essential that you discuss your options with a solicitor before deciding to take any action.
JMW Can Help
The expert motoring offence solicitors at JMW have years of experience and successes in this area of law, and will be able to support you throughout the entire process, providing advice, helping you to gather evidence, and representing you in court.
For more information, call us today on 0345 872 6666, fill out an online contact form, or visit our drink and drug driving pages for further reading on our service.