DUI/DWI Terms and Definitions

Administrative License Revocation (ALR)
Simply put, the DMV automatically revokes your license when you are arrested for DUI as part of its duty to regulate drivers’ licenses. (The court may also take your license, and may also fine or jail you.)

Legal State Limits
Laws for DWI and DUI vary from state-to-state. There is a chart listing state blood alcohol limits, license suspension, ignition interlock and forfeiture penalties.

Drunk driving penalties
penalties the court could impose are: (1) 6 months in the county jail: (2) $1,000 fine plus up to an additional 1,950 in penalty assessments; (3) 6 months driver's license suspension; (4) Your car impounded for 30 days. Second, third and fourth offenses within 7 years are punished by increasingly more harsh penalties.

Zero Tolerance Policy
Prohibition of drinking for those under the age of 21

OUI
OUI is operating or attempting to operate a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants. "Intoxicants" are any substance, including alcohol and both illegal and prescription drugs. A person is "under the influence" if their mental or physical faculties are impaired to the slightest degree, regardless of whether it affects the a actual operation of the vehicle.

Child endangerment
Most states now have some kind of child endangerment statute. Currently, 27 states have statutes that create special sanctions for cases of driving under the influence while the offender is transporting a child at the time of the offense.

Failed Sobriety Test
A sobriety test is a method of determining whether a person is intoxicated. Among the common sobriety tests are coordination tests and the use of mechanical devices to measure the blood alcohol content of a person’s breath sample.

Ignition Interlock Devices
The courts may require first and repeat DUI offenders to use Ignition Interlock Devices. To start the vehicle, the driver must blow into the device. The vehicle will not start if the driver's blood alcohol content exceeds 0.05%.

Field Sobriety Tests
Field Sobriety Tests sometimes referred to by the acronym FSTs, are tests administered by the police to purportedly assess intoxication.

DWI
Driving while intoxicated is the offense of operating a motor vehicle in a physically or mentally impaired condition after consuming enough to raise one’s blood alcohol content above the statutory limit, or after consuming drugs. Penalties for this offense vary widely.