It is even possible to be charged with and convicted of drunk driving when your blood alcohol content was below the legal limit.
A quick pub crawl can lead to DUI charges if you get behind the wheel after drinking. The DUI defense attorneys in Orlando at The Alers Law Firm can fight for you to achieve the best possible outcome if you have been charged with DUI.
Florida law makes it illegal for motorists to operate a vehicle when they are impaired by alcohol or controlled substances. Impairment is something that could be completely independent of the driver’s actual blood alcohol content. They may reach this level far more easily than they think.
If you have been charged with DUI in Florida, get immediate legal help from an experienced Orlando criminal defense attorney at The Alers Law Firm. We can review the circumstances of your case and determine whether you have any defenses to the charges against you.
Florida Law Criminalizes Impaired Driving
You may be surprised to learn that you could be charged with drunk driving in Florida under far more circumstances than you thought. It doesn’t take much to exceed the legal blood alcohol content limit or to feel the effects of alcohol. You could even find yourself charged with DUI after having “only” a couple of drinks at happy hour or a pub crawl with your friends.
Note that under Florida law, .08 is the blood alcohol content that creates a presumption that you were under the influence. This law is the same in every state because Congress passed a law that required states to set the BAC limit at this level or face the loss of federal highway funding.
Even if you do not think that you were intoxicated from a few drinks, if you blow a .08 on the breathalyzer test, you would be considered intoxicated for purposes of the law. It does not matter how you felt at the time. If you are unable to successfully challenge the traffic stop or the Breathalyzer test results, you may be convicted of DUI, regardless of how you were actually driving at the time or whether you believed you were drunk.
You Could Be Impaired Regardless of Your BAC
Alcohol affects people differently. Some may consume large amounts of alcohol, and they may not be overly affected by it. Others may experience effects after only one drink. Those who consider themselves to have a “high tolerance” are at risk of DUI charges if they are stopped by police. Those who may be impacted by one drink could also be at risk of DUI charges, no matter what their BAC was at the time of arrest.
How much alcohol it takes for a driver to reach a .08 BAC depends on many factors, including:
- Their body weight
- How long they took to consume the alcohol
- Whether they had food in their stomach at the time they drank
Studies show that a driver may be affected by consuming alcohol even when BAC is below .08. They may even begin to experience a decrease in their ability to safely drive after as little as one drink. When the BAC is around .05 (which can be two drinks for the average person), the motorist may notice effects in their coordination and ability to perceive events around them on the road. Here, one may be characterized as being “buzzed.” Nonetheless, buzzed driving is drunk driving under the definition laid out in Florida law.
You Could Be Charged with Drunk Driving with a BAC Under .08
It is even possible to be charged with and convicted of drunk driving when your blood alcohol content was below the legal limit. According to Florida law, driving under the influence is defined as “The person is under the influence of alcoholic beverages…..[or]….The person has a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or more grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood.” In other words, you can be impaired even if your BAC is less than .08.
Here, much depends on the judgment of the individual officer and what they observed at the time that they made the traffic stop. If the officer claims to have witnessed you driving erratically, and you had some alcohol in your system (or you admit to having been drinking, which is a mistake that you should never make at a traffic stop), you could still be prosecuted under the law.
Contact a Florida Criminal Defense Law Firm Today
You can take control of your legal destiny by scheduling a free initial consultation with the experienced Florida criminal defense attorneys at The Alers Faw Firm. You can schedule an appointment to speak with a criminal defense lawyer by messaging us online or by calling us today at (407) 930-4888.
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