DUI Cases Involving Accidents Penalties and Fines
For the number of injuries and deaths that occur due to driving under the influence, many states in the United States have enforced the strictest of penalties and punishments for anyone found guilty of DUI. The stiffest of penalties for DUI are implemented in the state of Florida. If you’re convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics, Florida DUI laws can make your life really difficult in the sense that the law will make an example of you to deter any would be DUI offenders.
If you’re involved in an accident because of DUI and the police suspect you’re driving under the influence, they will have to ask you to submit blood, urine, and breath samples for tests. In refusing to submit, your license will be suspended for one full year. The police can also forcibly draw blood from you if the accident you were involved in caused serious injury to others or if someone died in the accident. When you’re arrested for DUI and the evidence clearly shows that you are intoxicated, you will lose your right to drive and your car will be impounded. You can choose to get in touch with a DUI attorney because you will not be released until you’re no longer under the influence of alcohol or drugs, you’re no longer impaired, eight hours have passed since the time you were arrested and that your BAC is now below 0.05.
Conviction of DUI with accidents involved will weigh heavily on your case. The judge might also give a harsher ruling depending on the way he sees you as a threat to be driving on the road. If you’ve had a previous history with DUI and being convicted of a DUI, penalties, fines and jail time might also be harsher.
DUI misdemeanor conviction is a DUI case which involves accidents that involve property damage or personal injury. Not more than $1000 fine will be imposed and one year prison time. When DUI is tagged as felony conviction, this means that you’re either a repeat offender or that the accident involved serious bodily injury. This is punishable with a fine not more than $5000 and/or imprisonment of five years. When there’s vehicular homicide or manslaughter involved in the DUI case, either you stay on the scene or leave the scene, the fine can go up to $10000 and you could be looking at 15 to 30 years of incarceration.