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If you have been charged with driving under the influence, you need all the help you can get – which is where the services of a Maryland DUI attorney can help mitigate the damage.

Are you aware of your rights under the law if charged with driving under the influence?

If This Is Your First Offense . . .

Under new Maryland drunk driving laws that took effect on 1 October 2009, if you are convicted of drunk driving for the first time and your blood alcohol content (BAC) level was over .08, you could be sentenced to a jail term of up to a year and fined as much as $1000. If you were transporting a minor at the time of the offense, these penalties can be doubled. In addition, your driving privileges will be suspended for a minimum of six months.

Subsequent Offenses

Fines and jail sentences increase substantially after the first conviction. After a third conviction, the offender faces a $3000 fine, three years in jail and loss of driving privileges for a minimum of eighteen months. If however, the offender was transporting a minor at the time, jail terms and fines are increased by one-third (so, $4000 and four years). The greater penalties also apply if injury or death is involved – in addition to any criminal or civil penalties.

Stricter Standards

Minors and commercial drivers are held to much stricter standards when it comes to driving and alcohol.

In the state of Maryland, it is illegal for persons under the age of 21 years to possess or consume alcoholic beverages. Therefore, a minor can be charged and convicted for drunk driving if any amount of alcohol is found in the system; a BAC level of .02 carries a $500 fine. In addition, the individual faces minor-in-possession charges.

Because of their responsibility for public safety, commercial drivers are also subject to lower BAC limits; .04 is sufficient to warrant conviction on a drunk driving charge.

Other Things to Know

Although the Constitution states that one is innocent of a crime until proven guilty in a court of law, Maryland’s Implied Consent law provides for what amounts to a legal exception when it comes to drunk driving offenses. If stopped on suspicion of drunk driving, you have the right to refuse to submit to testing (blood, breath or urine); however, your driving privileges are automatically revoked for a period of four months for the first refusal and one year for subsequent refusals.

Contacting a Lawyer

DUI and DWI cases are handled on the county level, and procedures vary from one county to the next. It is therefore important to get counsel from a legal professional who is familiar with the courts of the county in question.

A DUI lawyer may be able to get your driving privileges restored under certain conditions; for example, you may be allowed to drive to and from work if you install an interlock (a device that disables a car’s ignition if alcohol is present in the driver’s system). You may also avoid jail time for a first offense by enrolling in an alcohol treatment program.

What is the name of that song that involves a high school girl and a drunk driving accident?

What is the song that shows a high school girl getting into a car crash because of drunk driving. It is raining and she ends up dying… Does anyone know?

Untitled(How Could This Happen To Me)_Simple Plan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQOBoA8g3RI

What’s more dangerous, driving high (on weed), or drunk?

I don’t want stats, just personal experience.
And i’m talking wasted, not like 2 beers or a puff of a joint.

on weed. cause you see things pop out of now where and you try to hit um cause you think their gunna kill you.

does drunk driving arrests get published anywhere?

My car was hit last night by a drunk driver while it was parked. The driver was taken away after she failed a field sobriety test. I’m just curious is there somewhere I can read about the arrest I guess like a police blotter? Are there websites that publish that information? I live in Baltimore county MD.

The newspapers publish arrests and you can look up your newspaper on line.

The road offensive: what readers said
A full list of readers’ responses to the question of whether road carnage among young drivers be stopped or are youth beyond the reach of road safety messages?

how many people die each year from drinking and driving?

if you found the results on a site please tell me which site it was.

This figure would not be totally accurate. Because many crashes are caused by alcohol but never reported as such. Ask your local Law Enforcement and see what they say. They will have some statistics. And many times alcohol and drugs are lumped together.
Drinking and driving is a disaster waiting to happen.

TRUE teenage drunk driving stories.. 10 POINTS!!!!! PLEASE HELP!!! Where can i find them 10 POINTS!!!!!!!?

I was wondering where I can get some teenage drunk driving stories!!?? Its for a project and I would like one really good story to scare some kids in my class to show them how real its is and how much it can mess up your life… I would like this to be a true story.. Just give me a few websites where I can find some PLEASE HELP!!!

google
yahoo
msn
http://allfordmustangs.com/forums/mustang-lounge/11777-sad-but-true-story-drunk-driving-incident.html (that ones sad )
i tried google and got over 11,000,000.

What is worse – driving drunk and running over a child or being sober and running over a child?

I think it’s a heck of a lot worse if a sober person kills someone or causes an accident.

If you’re planning on doing it – don’t! This is premeditated murder and the prosecutors will figure it out.

But if you’re just wondering, or too lazy to do your criminal law homework, then it depends on the intent.

If the guy is sober, and intentionally runs over a child, that’s straight-up murder. He will be raped by cellmates, beaten to a pulp, and get the needle in 20 years.

If the guy was only distracted – talking/arguing on the cell, looking at map, officiating fights of his own kids in the backseat, attacked by his Chihuahua, shot by Dick Cheney, etc., then we’re talking about lesser degrees of murder. Probably vehicular manslaughter and about 10 years or less.

Now, if the guy is drunk and runs over a kid, he’s up for drunk driving and vehicular manslaughter. In some states, there are special laws that make the sentence especially harsh. This is because being drunk actually takes away the “intentional” part of the murder, but people decided that drunk driving and killing people is no less culpable.

So…

1) DON’T DO IT!
2) Let me know if your law professor liked the answer; or
3) Still wanna be a lawyer?

On the Books
DRUNK DRIVING Shane Runnells, 38, of 420 S. Dakota, was charged Dec. 31 with his fifth DUI offense. The case has been turned over to justice court.

How hard is it for a first tie DUI offender to get a restricted license?

I am being charged with a DUI which I regret and have learned from. I hope to retain some rights to drive to and from work. I live in California. Is there a need to acquire attorney services to ensure I get this? I would like to just pay the fine, do my classes, serve the penalties and get on with life (and never drink and drive again.)

you can get a restrictede license, but it is much easier to do with the assistance from a lawyer.