The Drinker's Guide to Driving: The Secrets of DUI, From One of America's Top DUI Lawyers

By Tom Hudson

This book is a practical manual of driving under the influence. What DUI means, how to avoid doing it, how to avoid getting caught if you do it, how to avoid a conviction if you do get caught. Told by one of the nation’s leading DUI specialists, with over thirty years of legal experience, this is a book with solid practical advice on every page.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jun 19, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483501277

Book preview

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Chapter One

The Legal Landscape

Every book and article about driving and alcohol starts out with a pro forma warning, so here it is:

The best way to avoid a DUI charge is to not drive after drinking. Drunk driving is truly a dangerous practice that has ruined thousands of lives. If you drink too much, you should stop. I find that Alcoholics Anonymous is as good a way to control problem drinking as any other method, and it’s free.

I also find that many people with drinking problems have an underlying mental health issue, such as depression, bipolar disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder. So if you are drinking too much, it pays to be evaluated by a professional. Neuroscience has made amazing strides in the past few decades, and there exist many new medications which can make you feel better so that you won’t need alcohol to dull the pain.

But most importantly, don’t drive after you’ve had too much to drink.

There. I said it. Everything that comes after that sentence is just a footnote.

Now let’s talk about reality.

This book starts out with the recognition that hundreds of millions of times a year, Americans (and others around the globe) have a drink or two and get behind the wheel of a car. Some have more than a drink or two. The vast majority of these people are good and decent people, who just have a momentary lapse in judgment. Even those who routinely drink and drive aren’t trying to hurt anyone. They are, for the most part, just trying to get home.

The Unspeakable Truths

With the knowledge that real people DO drink and drive, this book attempts to explore some of the unspeakable truths about drinking and driving:

There are a lot of well-meaning people trying to scare us with lies about drunk driving.

There are safer and less safe ways to drink and drive.

There are means to reduce the effect of alcohol on your system so that you may drive more safely after drinking.

There are techniques to avoid the worst consequences for drinking and driving.

These truths are unspeakable because of the public pressure against drinking and driving. Common sense advice is called encouraging drunk driving. What sort of an evil person would encourage people to drive drunk and possibly kill someone?

The truths are also unspeakable because our elected representatives have found it useful to tee off on DUI offenders. In a time of increasing polarization of our politics, and stalemate in the state house, politicians have to find something that they can all agree on. When they return to their districts, they can have something to show for their government salaries. Frequently, this subject is DUI. And so, the penalties for drunk driving have been slowly ratcheting up all over the U.S. year by year, state legislatures have added sanctions for conviction of DUI. Recent additions have included:

Increased fines

Lowered maximum allowable blood alcohol levels

Mandatory jail time

DUI School (between 10 to 100 hours, depending upon the jurisdiction)

Victim Impact Panels

License suspensions

Community Service

Immobilization or impoundment of the vehicle driven at the time of arrest

Ignition interlocks-portable breath testing machines in the car for a pre-start test

Pink license plates that prominently say DUI Offender

Each of these ideas may have some value. Or maybe not. My point is that in the group-think of American culture, there are many ideas related to drinking and driving that we have failed to consider