What State Has the Harshest DUI Laws?

There’s a simple reason that nearly every state has such harsh DUI rules: DUIs take lives.

Driving under the influence is one of the most common causes of car accidents resulting in fatalities. State governments have a powerful interest in protecting the lives of their citizens.

To that end, many states also add enhancements to manslaughter or murder convictions when the actor was driving drunk. These enhancements usually result in additional mandatory years of prison time added to the minimum sentence for the corresponding crime.

If you’re convicted of a DUI, the consequences can potentially haunt you for the rest of your life. You want to avoid this fate at all costs, particularly if you’re innocent of the crime.

If you’ve been arrested for a DUI, the first thing you should do is hire a criminal defense lawyer with experience handling these types of cases. Even if you’re guilty, your attorney may be able to negotiate lesser charges or lower penalties if it’s your first offense and nobody was hurt.

Hiring an attorney is even more important if you didn’t commit the crime or there are extenuating circumstances at play.

Your attorney must act quickly to collect evidence proving your innocence. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to collect evidence, and the more likely it becomes that you’ll be punished for something you didn’t do.

All automobile accidents are scary, but accidents with drunk drivers are more frightening than most. When somebody is under the influence of alcohol, their reflexes become stunted and their reaction time slows. Consequently, there’s a good chance the accident will be more serious than a similar collision with a sober driver.

For these reasons, the first thing you should do after an accident with an intoxicated driver is call 911 and request emergency medical attention and police assistance. You want to get evaluated for injuries as quickly as possible while also establishing an official record that the other driver was intoxicated.

The next call you make should be to Morgan and Morgan. You’ll likely have a stack of medical bills, repair quotes, and other expenses shortly after your accident. You weren’t the person who was driving under the influence, so you shouldn’t be responsible for paying those bills out of your own pocket.

Our attorneys will help you collect the compensation you deserve after a car accident with a drunk driver. We’ll start by investigating the accident scene and documenting evidence that proves the other driver was at fault. A DUI conviction will help your case, but it could take quite a while and isn’t necessary to support your claim.

With evidence of the fault in hand, we’ll help you file a claim with the appropriate insurance company (based on the fault rules of the state in which the accident occurred). That evidence should be enough for the insurance company to approve your claim.

After your claim has been approved, we’ll negotiate for a fair settlement that covers all expenses and bills resulting from the accident. We understand that your recovery depends on getting every dollar you need to cover your various expenses, so we never accept lowball offers.

If difficulties in your case require us to go to trial, you can feel confident knowing that you’re being represented by a successful firm with copious courtroom experience that’s recovered more than $13 billion for its clients since its formation. Our attorneys have an excellent track record at trial and are prepared to fight fiercely to protect your interests.

According to WalletHub, Arizona has the harshest DUI laws in the country. However, this is a combined rating of all penalties. Individually, each of the penalties the state applies to convicted felons is high but rarely the highest in that category.

There is some correlation between harsh DUI laws and reductions in drunk driving, but strict laws alone don’t always lead to lower rates. DUI penalties, social programs, and awareness campaigns all combine to help decrease incidents of driving under the influence.

In most states, minors are guilty of a DUI if they have almost any amount of alcohol in their system. The majority of states limit minors to 0.02 BAC, while a small number don’t allow minors to have any detectable amount of alcohol in their blood.

Not necessarily. If somebody’s BAC is high enough to be guilty of a DUI, they’re at least partially at fault if they get into a car accident. However, if they have a lower BAC, fault is usually determined without taking alcohol consumption into account.

Furthermore, many states have liability rules that make fault more or less irrelevant. If you get into an accident in one of these states, it might not matter that the other driver was intoxicated.

Your attorney can explain those laws to you and ensure you get fair compensation from whatever party is responsible.

At Morgan and Morgan, we take all cases on a contingency basis. This means that we only get paid if we succeed in winning compensation in your personal injury case. Since our pay is always a percentage of what we secure for you, we’ll always work hard to get you the most money possible.

harshest DUI laws in the country, those laws can’t help you if you’ve suffered an injury in a car accident with a drunk driver. You need assistance from an experienced DUI lawyer at Morgan & Morgan.

Our caring and capable attorneys will help you acquire the resources you need to recover quickly from your injuries. Contact us today to schedule a no-cost consultation and case review if you’ve been hurt in a car accident with a drunk driver.