In North Carolina, against all good sense, you can be charged and convicted of DWI — driving while impaired — while riding your bike. Your common sense might lead you to think that criminalizing the far safer option of riding a bike after consuming alcohol would be encouraged, when the alternative is operating an automobile, but in North Carolina,...
Continue ReadingIn most cases, if you’re arrested for a DWI in North Carolina, the arresting officer will keep your license and inform you that it is being revoked for 30 days. This is known as a civil revocation of your license, and takes place at the time you are initially charged with a DWI by a magistrate, prior to your...
Continue ReadingIn North Carolina, in order for the State to introduce evidence of a BAC (Breath Alcohol Concentration) at a trial for driving while impaired (DWI), a number of criteria must be established to meet the admissibility requirements of that evidence of impairment. One such requirement relates to the number and sequence of breath tests on the Intoxilyzer EC/IR II...
Continue ReadingIf you’re pulled over and investigated for a DWI in Raleigh or anywhere else in Wake County, you’ll likely be asked to perform what’s called the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) test, which is one of three Standardized Field Sobriety Tests (SFSTs) promoted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to make it easier for cops and prosecutors to...
Continue ReadingOne method of securing DWI and other drunk driving arrests used by Raleigh and Wake County police is to set up DWI checkpoints, where the breathalyzer machine typically found only at the police station downtown is brought into the field in the so-called “BATmobile.” Last month, on July 13, 2012, a checkpoint was set up in Wake County that...
Continue ReadingMany people in North Carolina are entirely unaware of the State’s harsh law prohibiting the operation of a vehicle after consuming any amount of alcohol by individuals under 21. Under NCGS 20-138.3(a), “Driving by person less than 21 years old after consuming alcohol or drugs,” in the same section of the code as NC’s DWI statute, the law is...
Continue ReadingWhile North Carolina’s DWI statute is quite harsh for drivers in Raleigh and statewide, there is a limit to the State’s ability to prosecute individuals on weak evidence of impairment by alcohol. Specifically, an officer smelling alcohol on a driver’s breath, by itself, is not enough to support a finding of impairment. In a civil case, Atkins v. Moye,...
Continue ReadingOne of the most shocking aspects of the North Carolina’s already harsh DWI statute is the provision on aiding and abetting. In North Carolina, you don’t have to be driving a vehicle to be convicted of driving while impaired. If you simply ride in a vehicle with an impaired driver, “all who participate […] are guilty as principals.” State...
Continue ReadingSome states make it a crime to drive a vehicle “under the influence” of an intoxicant (as in a DUI), and in North Carolina it is a crime to drive “while impaired” (DWI). In NC, the Court of Appeals has directly addressed the question of what it means to be guilty of the impairment requirement of the DWI statute...
Continue ReadingIf you are convicted of a DWI (driving while impaired) in North Carolina, you will be required to obtain a substance abuse assessment from a local service provider, and complete the recommended treatment or education, in order to get your driver’s license reinstated. In fact, if you want to get a limited driving privilege during the initial suspension of...
Continue Reading