What Are the Penalties for Underage DUI?
Drinking and driving do not mix. Some drivers simply take more risks than others. While some drivers allocate a designated driver when planning to drink alcohol, other drivers are willing to take risks, and no age group takes more risks than that of teenagers and young adults, even when driving. Drivers under the age of 21 simply do not have the maturity or experience to always make the right decisions, especially when it comes to the newly found thrill of driving a car. Unfortunately, too many drivers under the age of 21 learn the hard way.
In a report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), nearly 2,400 teenage drivers lost their lives while driving in 2019. According to another report by the NHTSA, more than 2,000 drivers in the same year were killed in car accidents involving a teenage driver between 15-18 years of age.
For numerous underage drinkers who are fortunate enough to be pulled over by a police officer rather than suffer a serious car accident, the consequences of their actions could be major. All states have serious penalties for drinking and driving, and Georgia is no different. Drinking and driving is a dangerous proposition despite the age of the driver, but because underage drinking and driving is potentially more dangerous than for any other age group, and because people under the age of 21 should not be drinking at all, the threshold for what is considered driving under the influence (DUI) is considerably lower for drivers under the age of 21 than for drivers 21 years and older.
How Do States Establish What Determines Drunk Driving?
The only sure way for the law to outright prove drunk driving is to do it scientifically. Every legal system when it comes to establishing what defines drunk driving uses what is called blood alcohol content (BAC), also called blood alcohol concentration or blood alcohol level.
BAC is the amount of alcohol that is in your blood, or rather, it is the ratio of alcohol in your blood. The ratio is based on the amount of alcohol present per 100 milliliters (ml) of blood. For example, a BAC of .10% is one part alcohol per 1,000 parts of blood. To place it into perspective, if you have a BAC of .08%, you have 80 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood in your body.
What Is the Legal Limit for Drinking and Driving?
The legal limit for drivers 21 years of age and older in the state of Georgia is a BAC of .08%. That means that it is illegal for you to drive if your BAC is .08% or over. For drivers under the age of 21, which is the minimum age you can be to legally drink alcohol, the legal limit is .02%. That means that one alcoholic beverage could place you in danger of exceeding the legal limit.
How Can You Tell If You Have Had Too Much to Drink?
Tracking your drinking depends on your knowledge of alcohol and other factors. First, you should understand what defines a standard alcoholic beverage. This can be used to determine what your liver can process without you exceeding the legal limit. The liver, on average, can process one standard drink per hour.
The standard drink is 12 ounces of beer, five ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of liquor. Remember that the alcohol content for beer and wine differs accordingly. Next, you need to factor in the variables. These include the amount of alcohol you are consuming, the time span in which you are consuming your drinks, the amount of food you have eaten, your age, your gender, and your weight.
In practical terms, a 165-pound man who has consumed four standard beers in one hour has a BAC of approximately 0.082%. A 130-pound female who has consumed the same amount in the same amount of time has a BAC of about 0.123%.
Remember that alcohol is absorbed through muscle tissue, not fat. Thus, the more fat in your body, the higher your alcohol content will be. This is helpful because people who are in good physical condition will tend to have less body fat; thus, they will have a lower BAC.
It is important to remember that men and women have different body types. Women, on average, have a fat percentage of between 18% and 20%, whereas men, on average, have a fat percentage of between 10% to 15%. In general, men’s bodies contain more body water, enabling them to dilute more alcohol.
What Are the Penalties for a DUI If You Are Underage?
It is first important to remember that if you are under the age of 21 and are caught driving drunk, you may be charged with more than one offense. These include driving under the influence, underage DUI, and illegal possession of alcohol.
For a first offense, an underage DUI carries with it a mandatory license suspension of 30 days; in some cases, it could be as high as six to 12 months, depending on your BAC. You will pay in fines anywhere from $300 to $1,000. You will serve at least 24 hours in jail and will be sentenced to probation or community service.
You will have to be on probation for a period of 12 months, which means that you will have to report to probation once a month and be subjected to random drug and alcohol screenings. The judge will also order you to complete an alcohol treatment program of some sort.
The worst part of being convicted with a DUI is that you will be charged with a misdemeanor, which means a criminal record. This could be damaging when looking for a good job. Your insurance rates are also sure to go up.
For subsequent offenses, the penalties for a drunk driving conviction are relevant to that of someone who is 21 years of age or older. If you are a multiple offender, you could lose your license anywhere from 18 months to five years.
A second offense within a 10-year period is a misdemeanor that carries a minimum of a $600 fine, 72 hours to 12 months in jail, and a minimum of 30 days of community service.
A third offense within a 10-year period is a high and aggravated misdemeanor, with a fine of $1,000 to $5,0000, 15 days to 22 months in jail, and a minimum of 30 days community service.
Do You Have to Submit to a Breathalyzer Test?
A police officer is going to read to you an implied consent notice. This is to inform you that if you refuse to take a blood test, it will be used against you in a court of law. What this means is that the state will assume that you would have failed the test had you taken it. This, however, could leave your lawyer some options.
What Is a Defense Against a DUI?
A DUI is a serious charge. Georgia is a zero-tolerance state, which means that it does not forgive you under any circumstances if you are caught drunk driving. A DUI charge, however, is not unbeatable. For a DUI charge to stick, a prosecutor must prove guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
A defense lawyer will set out to question how the breathalyzer test was administered and the reason you were pulled over. It could be found that the traffic stop was illegal, and that would make any evidence thereafter inadmissible.
Also, breathalyzers are not accurate to a scientific certainty. If you are asked to take a breathalyzer test on the road, do not take it; you are going to get charged anyway for refusing, but if you fail the test, your chances of winning just deceased.
You should also refuse a roadside sobriety test, which is in reality considered completely unscientific and ludicrous. Remember that a breathalyzer test has a .02 margin of error, which is the reason that Georgia has a zero-tolerance policy.
The Savannah Criminal Defense Lawyers at Kicklighter Law Represent Those Charged with Underage Drinking and Driving
If you have been charged with a DUI and are under the age of 21, you need to hire a lawyer immediately. Our experienced Savannah criminal defense lawyers at Kicklighter Law will fight hard to get you the best possible outcome. Call us at 912-754-6003 or contact us online. Located in Springfield, Georgia, we serve clients in Effingham County, Savannah, and the surrounding areas.