The bottom line is that dwi and dui refer to the offense of drinking and driving in excess of the BAC limit in the state in question.
Virginia DUI Penalties
You may need to refer to the home page of this site to understand the different definitions that I refer to hereafter.(See page drink driving penalties)
The Per Se BAC level in Virginia is .08;
The zero tolerance BAC level is .02;
The enhanced penalty BAC level is .2 and there is an “implied consent” law in Virginia.
For an administrative licence suspension or revocation you are looking at 1 year for a 1st offence and 3 years for a 2nd and 3rd offence.
Vehicle confiscation is possible in the Commonwealth of Virginia and there is both mandatory alcohol education and treatment.
The use of the ignition interlock device on your vehicle is also a possibility.
These penalties outlined above do not take into account the discretionary penalties that a Judge can impose upon you depending on the circumstances.
Community service, fines and jail time are all possibilities if you are a repeat offender or if you have caused damage to other people or property.
Virginia Implied Consent Law
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Virginia DUI Laws | Drink Driving Penalties
Friday, December 31, 2010
Drink Driving Penalties
Drink driving is a serious offense and even though there may be slight differences between California dui laws and dwi in Texas or Florida dui laws there is a common approach to drink driving penalties which we set out below. We start by taking a look at Virginia dui laws and will cover other states in due course including Texas, California and Florida dwi.
Many new dui laws have been passed in the last 20/30 years due to the activity of the Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) group.
Administrative License Revocation Law (ALR)
The legal drinking age in the United States is common between all states at 21 and about 66% of states have adopted the Administrative Licence Revocation (ALR) law which allows the suspension or revocation of your driving licence if your BAC (blood alcohol level) is above the state limit.
Implied Consent Laws
If you refuse to provide a BAC sample then your licence can be revoked or suspended by the administrative authority such as the Department of Motor Vehicles in your state. This is the “implied consent laws” adopted by most states which holds that you give implied consent to submit to some form of testing to establish your bac level such as through a blood, urine or breath sample.