The DUI Stop
NRS 484C.150 and NRS 484C.160 — consent to the tests is implied, and refusing costs the license
A driver on a highway or premises open to the public is deemed to consent to a preliminary breath test at a crash scene or a stop where the officer has reasonable grounds to believe the driver is impaired. A refusal leads, where grounds otherwise exist, to arrest and an evidentiary test. The preliminary result can be used in a criminal case only to show grounds for the arrest.
The evidentiary test, and the warning. A driver is also deemed to consent to an evidentiary test of blood, urine, breath or another bodily substance on an officer's request with reasonable grounds. The officer tells the driver that the license will be revoked if they fail to submit.
Where alcohol is the question, a driver may refuse a blood test if a breath test is reasonably available, or may ask for a blood test and, if convicted, pay its cost. Not more than three samples of blood or breath may be taken in the 5-hour period after arrest, with the exception the section names.
Testing is also limited by the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court of the United States has held that a breath test may be taken without a warrant as part of a lawful arrest for drunk driving and a blood test may not; that a driver may not be criminally punished for refusing a blood test where no warrant was obtained; and that the natural fall of alcohol in the blood does not by itself create an emergency excusing a warrant in every case, which is decided case by case on all the circumstances. Those holdings are a floor: a state's own constitution and statutes can give more protection than they do, never less.
A person with hemophilia or a heart condition requiring an anticoagulant is exempt from a blood test but must take a breath or urine test. The driving under the influence offense itself is printed in two versions at once, so this guide does not quote its limits.
Sources for this section (4)
- NRS 484C.150 — Implied consent to preliminary test of person’s breath
- NRS 484C.160 — Implied consent to evidentiary test
- Birchfield v. North Dakota, 579 U.S. 438 (2016) — A breath test may be taken incident to arrest, a blood draw needs a warrant
- Missouri v. McNeely, 569 U.S. 141 (2013) — The natural fall of blood alcohol is not by itself an emergency justifying a warrantless draw
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Nevada attorney.