Walk It Through: Pulled Over In Arizona
Stopping, the license, a passenger asked for ID, a phone and the test.
Lights and a siren behind you on the highway.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One stop on a highway, and a passenger in another. Whether a stop was lawful, the roadside sobriety tests, a weapon in the car, and the penalties after a DUI conviction are not covered here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Evidence of identityWhat an unlicensed driver provides on request after a stop: full name, date of birth, residence address, a brief physical description, and signature.
- Misdemeanor classHow Arizona grades misdemeanors: class 1 carries up to six months and $2,500, class 2 up to four months and $750, class 3 up to 30 days and $500.
- Seat belt violationA front seat occupant not wearing a fastened belt while the vehicle is moving, or a passenger under sixteen years of age the driver does not require to wear one. The maximum civil penalty is $10.
- Stop and identifyThe duty of a person lawfully detained on reasonable suspicion of a crime, and advised that refusing is unlawful, to state a true full name on an officer's request.
- Extreme DUIDUI with an alcohol concentration of 0.15 or more. A first conviction carries not less than thirty consecutive days in jail, and at 0.20 or more, not less than forty-five.
- Impaired to the slightest degreeThe DUI standard: driving or being in actual physical control of a vehicle under the influence of liquor, a drug, a toxic vapor or any combination, if impaired to the slightest degree.
- Implied consentAfter a DUI arrest, a driver who refuses, or does not expressly agree to and complete, the test is told the license will be suspended for twelve months, or two years for a second or later refusal within eighty-four months.
- Marijuana metabolitesTraces of marijuana in the body. A person with them is guilty under the drug paragraph of the DUI section only if also impaired to the slightest degree.
- Hands freeUsing a device without holding or supporting it. Unless the vehicle is parked or stopped as the traffic laws allow, a driver may not physically hold a portable wireless device or write, send or read a text on one.