One of the major causes of vehicular accidents is drunk driving or driving under the influence of alcohol. Arizona’s government and law forming councils found a way of minimizing these accidents by creating a law against drunk driving. They have created sanctions for those who do the act and collect fines from them. They also suspend of those drivers who drive while drunk. The fines and the suspension of license varies depending on the offense the severity of the case. To know more about Arizona’s law against DUI, an overview of it is here for you. If you are a resident of Arizona who does not know about this DUI Law or a tourist who wants to know about this law, read further and learn.

Why You Need to Hire an Attorney who specializes in DUI Law

Chances are if this is your first offense you are unaware how much trouble you are in and how serious this matter really is.  A Scottsdale DUI Lawyer can help you fight and beat a DUI charge in Arizona.  They know the ins and outs of the Law and can find chinks in the prosecutions armor to help win or at a minimum decrease the fines and sentence against you.  Before you do anything else make sure you contact a good DUI lawyer in Arizona first

Penalties

Like every other law made, there is a corresponding punishment of DUI. Its penalties varies according to the number of offense. During the first offense of DUI, the driver will be put to jail with a minimum of 24 hours to 10 days, his/her license on the other hand will be suspended for 90 to 360 days and his/her fine will start at $250. On the second offense, the driver will be put to jail for a minimum of 30 days up to 90 days, his/her license suspension will be 1 year and the base fine will start at $500.

 

The third offense has more severe penalty, the driver will be put to jail for a minimum of 10 months, the license will be suspended for 1 year and a base fine of $750. Aside from the penalties for the different degrees of offense, there is also another set of penalties for extreme DUI.

 

This extreme DUI is issued if the driver’s blood alcohol content is 0.15 or greater and the driver will be convicted to criminal misdemeanor, which means he/she will have a permanent police record. In some cases, the driver accused of DUI will refuse to have his blood tested. In that case, there is also a corresponding penalty since this can obstruct the law. The driver who will refuse against the blood alcohol content testing will be ask for fine and his/her license will be suspended automatically.

 

Blood Alcohol Content

There is a corresponding blood alcohol content before you ate declared to have act against the law of DUI. For those drivers under 21 years old, the BAC (blood alcohol content) is 0.00% meaning they should not be driving when drinking even a small amount of alcohol. For the ages 21 and above, the BAC is 0.08% and for commercial drivers the BAC is 0.04%. While if you get tested and your BAC is 0.15% and above, then you will be declared as a case of extreme DUI.

 

Look Back Period

The level of offense varies depending on how many times you have been issued to be DUI within 7 years time. So, if you had a DUI in the last 8 years, the next DUI will be the first offense.

 

The data presented here is according to the latest law of Arizona but know that the DUI penalties and offense may vary depending on what county you are in.