Walk It Through: The Breath Test After the Rodeo
A preliminary breath test, an arrest, the request for the real test, and 30 days to go to court on the license.
Driving home from a rodeo, a driver is stopped and asked to blow into a handheld device at the roadside.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
A DUI arrest of an adult driver who refuses a breath sample. A blood warrant, a commercial license, a driver under 21, and sentencing after a conviction are left out of this one.
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.
- DUIDriving, or being in actual physical control of, a vehicle on the ways of the state open to the public while under the influence of alcohol or any drug, or with an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more, or a THC level of 5 ng/ml or more.
- Implied consentA person who drives on the ways of the state open to the public is considered to have consented to tests of blood, breath or oral fluid for alcohol or drugs. The officer informs the person of the right to refuse, and that refusing will suspend the license for up to 1 year.