What happens if you refuse to take a BAC test?

The consequences for refusal to submit to a DUI blood alcohol test vary from state to state. In some states you have a right to refuse a blood alcohol test with no additional penalties for doing so, but in others you will face penalties beyond your DUI charges. Become familiar with your states laws regarding a DUI blood alcohol test by contacting an experienced DUI attorney.

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You can Get a DUI from Taking Cough Syrup

Whether or not you will successfully be able to fight a codeine-based DUI charge will depend on several factors. However, in most states, driving under the influence of drugs is the same as driving under the influence of alcohol. In a situation in which you have not been drinking or abusing drugs, it is always best to opt for a breath test and/or road-side sobriety test to prove to the officer on-the-spot that you are not intoxicated. Driving while intoxicated laws also differ on this issue from state to state, you can find out about the laws in your state here.

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Refusing a DUI Breathalyzer Test

Refusing a DUI test may be tempting if you only consumed a small amount of alcohol, or if you didn’t drink at all and feel the officer is treating you unfairly. However, it is important to understand what the possible advantages or consequences resulting from refusal to submit to a blood alcohol test. Consult a DUI attorney with specific questions about how the law in your state treats refusal to take a DUI test.

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Do I have a choice which BAC test I take, and if so, what should I choose?

In most states, there are three ways of determining how much alcohol you have in your system: breath or blood, and in a few states, urine. The urine test has fallen into disfavor because retention of urine for hours results in mixing in the bladder urine with higher concentrations of alcohol and urine with lower concentrations, thus distorting the results. California, for example, stopped offering a urine test in 1999, except in unusual circumstances. Usually, you can choose which sobriety test you want to take.

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What is a penlight sobriety test and how does it work?

If you were stopped at a roadside DUI checkpoint and an officer moved a penlight in front of your face and asked you to follow it with your eyes, this is the ‘horizontal gaze nystagmus’ test. The officer attempts to estimate the angle at which the eye begins to jerk and the smoothness of how the eye tracks the penlight to (theoretically) determine if a person has a high blood-alcohol concentration (BAC).

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