Driving whilst under the influence of alcohol is a huge no-no, doing so leaves you in a dangerous position and also presents a danger to other road users and pedestrians. The problem with driving after drinking is that you will be over-confident in your driving abilities whilst having slower reflexes and less focus on what you are doing. There are times though when you may feel that you are not over the limit when you actually are and you could end up getting stopped by police, and hit with a DUI charge.
Should the unfortunate happen to you then there are some steps that you need to take, we spoke with lawyer David Turlington to find out what they are.
Be Honest
The first thing that you need to do when you get stopped is to be completely honest with the police officer, you should tell them exactly what you have drank, where you have been and where you are going. Should you lie about how much you have drank then this will flag up on your breath test and once the officer knows that you are lying to them then you will be in for a much rougher ride with the police. If you get stopped then don’t complicate matters, be honest and take the penalty.
Lawyer Up
Whether you are innocent or guilty as charged it is important that you get a lawyer to help you out during your case. A lawyer won’t be able to get you absolved of your crime but they will be able to ensure that you have a fair trial and ore importantly a sentence that fits the crime. Many lawyers are experts in DUI cases and they will be able to give you support and legal counsel during a difficult time, hiring a lawyer will ensure that you have the fairest possible outcome.
Gather Information
For a lawyer to do their job to the best of their abilities, you should help them in gathering and remembering any piece of information possible about the incident. It will be important to the lawyer that they know where you were, where you were going, what car you were driving, how you were driving, how much you drank, who you were with and how you were stopped by police. Some of the information may not seem important to you, but that doesn’t make it any less important to the lawyer.
Serve the Sentence
Once given your sentence, serve it as required to avoid the risk of any further problems. If this is your first ever offense then you may be banned from driving for a number of years and order to attend driving safety classes. Should you driving whilst banned or avoid going to the classes then you could risk losing your license forever which would be foolish given that you have been given a second chance to drive again. Take it on the chin and serve your sentence in full.
