What You Should Do If You Get A DUI

Posted On February 13, 2017 Firm News

DUI Numbers Increasing

The numbers of DUI and DWI convictions over the past 10 years has skyrocketed, and that is because law enforcement agencies across the United States have literally been cracking down hard on drinking and driving, and the results have meant a dramatic increases in arrests.

Emotionally DUI arrests can be pretty bad, partly because you’ve been drinking and then were arrested, but also because getting this kind of charge has a lot of repercussions that go along with it. When it comes down to it, you should definitely understand that there are many aspects and outcomes of getting a DUI that will change your life, so you’ll need to be ready for these changes.

What You Need to Know

You are much more likely to get a DUI than you were in the year 2010, and that was just seven years ago! So let’s get right into some of the things that everyone who gets a DUI or DWI needs to know about!

The first thing you should know after getting arrested for DUI is that your insurance is about to increase, and that is not something to be too excited about, but of course it is something that should be expected. You become labeled as a high-risk driver and that makes you put under all these statutes of limitations and can create much higher prices for insurance. This is not always the case, though, and if you had a good driving record up to your DUI arrest you may be with an insurance company that only raises your rates a little bit.

Of course, the major notion that everyone has with DUI and DWI is with alcohol, but these charges are for literally anything, so you should definitely know that just avoiding alcohol consumption does not get you off any hooks with the law at all, and can even lead to more serious charges depending on what a urine test shows up with after your arrest at the police station. This is not the situation you want to get yourself in.

Also, a lot of people are scared to be a registered felon after getting a DUI, but if it is your first DUI then it is more than likely going to be a misdemeanor. But this is not always the case of course because many times a DUI recipient also hurt or even killed another person in a crash, and that leads to a felony no matter what.

Be sure to handle your arraignment and then get yourself an experienced lawyer for everything else. What’s important here is that when you are in your arraignment you are going to get in the situation in which you are presented in front of the court typically after a night in jail and then you are asked to plead guilty, not guilty or to ask for a plea bargain of some sorts or even a jury trial. A lot of times people think that lawyers should help out in this situation and they actually really can. If you have a lawyer to help you out with your plea bargain, especially if it’s your first criminal offense, then you have a really good opportunity at getting the charges reduced dramatically.

You are going to lose your license for a good amount of time, typically around a year, but maybe anywhere from 3 to 12 months depending on where you live. What you are going to want to do right away is make sure your arresting officer gives you a temporary license when he takes your regular license away. This temporary will have a date on it that corresponds with a DMV hearing that you’ll have to go to in order to get your license back. You can plead your case in many circumstances, but if you fail to plead your case you are looking at not having a license.

The best and fastest way to get your license back is through a treatment program. By doing this program you typically will be able to get your license back, but it does take some time.

The main thing you should know though is that it is going to follow you awhile, and that is just something that you can’t avoid in these situations, which is exactly why you need to know your rights and make all of the right decisions from the very beginning of the arrest to your new license and freedom back on the road!