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Proving Impairment in Virginia Beach DUIs

Proving impairment in Virginia Beach is the first part in the process of being charged with a DUI. It is very important to remember that the officer is going to be looking for probable cause to arrest you for a DUI during a stop.

Anyone who blows below a 0.08 can still be charged with a DUI and any amount of alcohol in your system when you blow into the preliminary breath test could be cause for a DUI arrest as long as there is other evidence to suggest that you are too impaired to drive.

The less evidence that you can provide to the officer the better off you are going to be. Below are some common myths regarding impairment that an experienced Virginia Beach DUI lawyer can help you navigate, should you find yourself charged with a DUI.

Justification for a DUI Arrest in Virginia Beach

Officers need to have reasonable probable cause that you are too impaired to drive when making an arrest for a DUI in Virginia Beach. The officers do not have to be correct in this cause. They just have to be reasonable in it. The standard is not very high, so even if you are only mildly buzzed, you could be reasonably arrested.

Someone who drinks a lot could be slightly buzzed at a BAC that would incapacitate someone who rarely drinks. Whether this arrest turns into a conviction later is dependent on if the evidence is determined to be enough.

Getting a DUI While on Private Property

You can absolutely be arrested for a DUI on private property, including on your driveway or in your garage. The arrest is dependent on what happened beforehand and what the officer saw. If the officer witnessed you driving home and into your garage or driveway, then they can already say that they knew you were driving.

They need reasonable suspicion that criminal activity is afoot, that they also witness, in order to justify the stop. If they saw you swerve into your driveway, that is enough for reasonable suspicion. They need probable cause for the DUI arrest based on their finding at the scene, just as they would anywhere else that was not in your driveway.

Reliability of Breathalyzer Tests and BAC

Blood alcohol content can only be measured by a blood test. What the breathalyzer is doing is attempting to estimate what the possible blood alcohol content could be by measuring what is present in the driver’s breath. The breath test does get fairly close, but there are still a lot of factors that could cause it to be incorrect.

Blood alcohol content as a consistent indicator of impairment depends on who the person in question is. Regular drinkers tend to be less impaired at the same blood alcohol content as someone who is not a frequent drinker would be. It could be a consistent number across the board, but it is going to affect people differently.

Virginia Beach DUI Myths

Myths about DUIs in Virginia Beach include people believing that honesty is the best policy. Officers often will ask people how much they have had to drink. Often, individuals think that if they are cooperating and honest with the officer regarding how much they have had to drink, the officer is going to appreciate their honesty and let them go. This does not happen.

Anything you say or do is going to be used against you, which is exactly the point of the stop, field sobriety tests, and questions. The officer is not trying to be your friend. The officer is trying to do his job in getting impaired drivers off the road. The second you admit that  you have had one or two beers, you have admitted that you had been drinking and then got behind the wheel.

Along the same line, people believe they do not have a choice but to submit to the tests. It is human nature to comply when someone asks you to do something. When a police officer tells you to do something, most people do not want to aggravate the officer any further and will acquiesce.

In cases like this, most people will just take the tests. You do, however, have a choice not to take the roadside portable breath test. If you are stopped, you should choose not to take the test and say nothing.

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