California's 0.08% BAC Limit and Administrative License Suspension Laws
California laws lowering the legal definition of DUI impairment to 0.08% BAC and requiring the immediate license suspension of persons violating that law have proven to be effective in reducing the incidence of alcohol-involved accidents, according to a recent California Department of Motor Vehicles Research and Development Branch publication. In 1990, the 0.08% blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit and administrative license suspension laws were implemented in California and were expected to have a large potential for reducing the incidence of drunk driving. At the time, California was only the fourth state to introduce such a low BAC limit.
The administrative license suspension law imposed an immediate driver license suspension on DUI offenders whose BAC was in excess of the legal limit. This administrative per se (APS) action represents a more timely civil action, taken independently of the criminal DUI charge.
The APS law was expected to carry a strong deterrent potential since other studies have shown that license suspension is among the most effective DUI sanctions available in preventing subsequent DUI incidents. In the first five years of the law, over one million APS actions were taken in California.
If you've been charged with a California DUI offense, it is vital that you contact a lawyer who has experience defending DUI and felony drunk driving charges. Please don't delay; contact us at once.
Since the two laws were implemented only six months apart, the analyses of the various accident categories could not completely disentangle the relative contributions of the two laws to the overall reductions in accidents. Consequently, it is best to view the impact of the two laws as an interrelated effect. Some of the major findings from the evaluation were:
- In general, all the alcohol-related accident measures showed a stronger impact of the APS law than the 0.08% law.
- The APS law was associated with significant 9% to 13% declines in the most sensitive HBD (Had-Been-Drinking) alcohol-related accident categories.
- There were no reductions in total HBD accidents attributable to the 0.08% law
- Proportionately, the largest accident reductions occurred in the hour between 2 and 3 a.m., when a relatively high number of drivers are alcohol-impaired (since it is the first hour after California's bars are required to close). During that one hour, there was evidence of a 16.5% reduction in accidents attributable to the .08 law and a 15.5% reduction due to the APS law.
- There was some evidence that accident reductions may have been bolstered by a media campaign begun one year after enacting the APS law.
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While the general deterrent impact was only modest, a second evaluation was conducted by the DMV which was limited to groups of drivers who were either arrested or convicted of a DUI offense either before or after the new laws. In that study, reductions in subsequent accidents and DUI offenses among offenders affected by the laws were from 19.5% to 37.1% less than the pre-law rates. The laws were found to be highly effective in reducing accidents and recidivism among DUI offenders, whether or not the offenders were ever convicted of their offense. These specific effects on apprehended DUI offenders were, in fact, substantially larger than the general effect of the laws on the total drinking driving population, as reflected in the general deterrence study. Taken together, both studies provide compelling evidence that the two laws have reduced the incidence of drunk driving and alcohol-related accidents.
If you've been arrested for a California DUI or related drinking and driving charge, contact a California DUI criminal defense lawyer that is skilled in defending these cases. California DUI cases present unique issues that not all criminal defense attorneys are equipped to solve. Insistent that your case be defended by a criminal defense lawyer who knows DUI laws inside and out.
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