The fol­low­ing post is from a guest author, and does not nec­es­sar­ily reflect the opin­ions of Forensics Guy, Inc.

How to reduce your chances of a DUI arrest?

Any per­son who has even been remotely involved in a DUI case as either a law enforcer, a DUI offender or a vic­tim or even a lawyer would all advise you that the best way to avoid a DUI con­vic­tion is to stay away from alco­hol when you plan to drive. It may seem like the hard­est thing to do espe­cially if you have an unwanted habit of hav­ing a few drinks with friends or vis­it­ing a bar reg­u­larly, but as many peo­ple would say from expe­ri­ence, that get­ting charged with DUI can be a har­row­ing expe­ri­ence. Unfortunately, alco­hol affects your brain and it affects it very badly; you can­not make proper deci­sions and your reflexes are low­ered. Also, many peo­ple drive drunk many times with­out get­ting caught which boosts their con­fi­dence that their chances of get­ting caught are low and so worth the risk. But DUI is all the States of the coun­try is a seri­ous offense and is charged with seri­ous penal­ties. Fines, jail-time, license sus­pen­sion, com­mu­nity ser­vice; all of these and more can haunt you for days or months, and espe­cially if you don’t have a good DUI attor­ney to rep­re­sent you.

Now hav­ing one or two alco­holic drinks is fine as long as your Blood Alcohol Concentration is well below the limit but the prob­lem is, how would you be able to keep track of your BAC through­out the evening? One of the most effec­tive ways of keep­ing track of your BAC is to pur­chase and use a breath test­ing device or a breath­a­lyzer; some peo­ple would even say that this can be an invest­ment. When you drink, make sure you test your breath at reg­u­lar inter­vals through­out the night to keep your BAC in con­trol, espe­cially if you want to drive back home. Make sure that before you decide to drive, your BAC should be well below 0.08% because you can run the risk of get­ting pulled over even if your BAC is less than 0.08. A breath­a­lyzer may be avail­able at var­i­ous stores and even from your local police depart­ment but you should be aware of the effec­tive life of the breath­a­lyzer. One of the draw­backs of this device can be the fact that its effec­tive life can be short, only a few months, after which it will start giv­ing you inac­cu­rate results and can prove dan­ger­ous for you. If your BAC is well under con­trol, you may be able to drive and if it is not then you know for sure that you are not able to and you should not drive at all.

If you plan to party hard and drink as much as you like, you should make plans for your trip home well before hand. Designate the respon­si­bil­ity of get­ting you home to a sober friend before you start drink­ing but alco­hol can impair your judg­ment abil­i­ties as well. Remember, that drink­ing respon­si­bly is cru­cial for you as a respon­si­ble cit­i­zen of the coun­try. When you drink and drive, you put the lives of mul­ti­ple peo­ple at risk. So if you wish to enjoy and drink, don’t hes­i­tate to take a cab home or ask for a ride. Another impor­tant thing you should know before you can call your­self a care­ful dri­ver are your rights as a cit­i­zen; know the grounds upon which the police offi­cer can stop you or arrest you, know all the DUI laws in your county or region, know some­thing about the court pro­ce­dures and reg­u­la­tions, know the penal­ties you’ll have to face if you get con­victed. Being edu­cated on these sim­ple mat­ters can make you more aware and increase the pos­si­bil­ity of you not get­ting involved in a DUI arrest at all.

For a DUI arrest, you should also know your Miranda rights mean­ing that you are not required to pass any state­ment at all and if the police offi­cer does not read these rights to you, your DUI lawyer can use this against the pros­e­cu­tion. Also, you can refuse a Field Sobriety Test but are required to give a breath test if you are asked to. It is also prob­a­bly a good idea to com­ply with the police offi­cer, to be polite and appro­pri­ately coöper­a­tive. Don’t for­get, your care­less­ness can lead you to get con­victed with a DUI offense that gets up in your per­ma­nent crim­i­nal record and that can impair your life so drive safe and avoid any chances of drunk driving.

For fur­ther infor­ma­tion, please con­tact the author at www.myduiattorney.org.