Illinois DUI Lawyer Blawg

The Illinois Zero Tolerance (ZT) Law provides that if you are under the age of 21 years and are stopped for a traffic violation and the police suspect you may have been drinking, they are entitled to ask you to take a breath, blood or urine test to determine if there is any amount of alcohol or drugs in your system. Even though the legal limit for driving in Illinois for a driver over 21 is .08, for a driver under 21, any amount of alcohol (or drugs, including marijuana) above zero is illegal.

Upon finding alcohol or drugs in your system, the police will issue you a Zero Tolerance ticket and report it to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State will suspend your license for three (3) months for a first offense. If you refuse to submit to testing, you will be suspended for six (6) months for a first offense.

However, you can and will also lose your license in other circumstances in which you are not driving if you received a ticket for illegal consumption or possession of alcohol, or being in a tavern under the legal age. I will refer to these as drinking tickets.

You can also be suspended for the mere fact of being in possession of a driver's license or ID card that was issued to someone else, even if you are not issued a ticket. We will call these fake ID cases.

Continue reading "The Illinois Secretary of State can suspend your driver's license due to drinking tickets or a fake ID" »

You are probably reading this because the state in which you now reside either will not renew an existing license or will not issue an original one because the national registry has "flagged" an Illinois DUI. Your state's DMV has informed you that before it can issue you a license, you must remove the Illinois hold. In order to accomplish this, you must have a hearing (either through a mailed-in packet or in-person) with the Secretary of State (which is Illinois' DMV).

Each state is now required, before issuing a new driver's license, or renewing an existing one, to check the national registry of driving records to determine if the driver has received DUI arrests in any other states. This new requirement, driven by Federal law, can affect both Illinois and out-of-state residents.

The system is known as Problem Driver Pointer System (PDPS), as it is designed to "point" other states to problem drivers. Because of PDPS, the days of jumping from state to state in order to avoid DUI revocations is over, and many drivers are finding their pasts catching up to them.

While on rare occasions the national registry misses DUI offenses, for the most part, it picks them up, even very old ones. This occurs even in those instances where a judge or lawyer many years ago assured you that the case would be dismissed, expunged, not go on your record, disappear or not otherwise "count".

Even if the DUI itself was dropped, or was never charged, the arrest will show up if you were offered the breath test but refused to take it, or took the breath test and registered above the legal limit for that state.

Some states purge (remove) DUI arrests from their own records. (Illinois does not). However, despite being removed from the official driving record, the DUI is nonetheless likely to appear on the national registry.

Continue reading "Your out of state license is on hold because the national registry (PDPS) flagged an Illinois Driving Under the Influence (DUI)" »

Not every person who has a Driving Under the Influence conviction (DUI) is required to have the Breath Alcohol Interlock Ignition Device (BAIID) ("breath machine" or "blow machine").

The Breath Alcohol Interlock Ignition Device (BAIID) comes into play in many but not all Restricted Driving Permit (RDP) and reinstatement cases. The purpose of the machine is to detect alcohol on your breath.

If you are issued an RDP and are required to have a BAIID, you must hire a licensed installer to place the BAIID in any vehicle you intend to operate while the permit is in effect. The vehicle will not start unless you blow into a tube that is connected to the motor vehicle's ignition system.

In addition, while the car is moving, at random intervals you will be required to blow into the tube. The results are stored electronically in a computer chip that is part of the BAIID machine.

On a monthly basis, the results of the readings are electronically transmitted to the Secretary of State. If there are alcohol readings, the Secretary of State will mail you a letter requesting an explanation.

If the explanation is acceptable, that is the end of the inquiry. If the Secretary of State rejects the explanation and you are classified as alcohol dependent, the Secretary of State will cancel the permit or license. In that case, he will not give you a hearing to request a new license or permit for a year unless you successfully contest the cancellation by persuading a hearing officer that the alcohol readings and resulting cancellation were in error.

Continue reading "Breath Alcohol Interlock Ignition Device (BAIID) not always required for Illinois Driving Under the Influence (DUI) convictions" »

You are not always required to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings (AA) in order to reinstate your driver's license or obtain a work permit (RDP) after losing your license due to a DUI.

Only if an alcohol or drug counselor or treatment provider has identified you as alcohol or drug dependent (Level III) must you provide evidence to the Secretary of State that you are involved in a support program to help you maintain abstinence from alcohol and drugs. In those circumstances, you must demonstrate to the Secretary of State a lifetime commitment to, and involvement in, your support program.

The Secretary of State readily recognizes the effectiveness of AA but understands that it is not for everybody. He will accept non-traditional support programs, examples of which could include church, friends and family, Rational Emotive Therapy (RET), Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT), self-formed step groups and any other program designed to help an alcoholic control, by relying upon others, the urge to drink. However, if the evaluator or treatment agency (alcohol counselor) has recommended that you attend AA as a support program, you must follow that recommendation or ask the provider of the recommendation to withdraw the AA recommendation and endorse your non-traditional support program.

You must not confuse the lifelong commitment to a support program with those situations in which a judge, probation officer or alcohol/drug counselor has directed someone to attend AA or Narcotics Anonymous (NA) during a limited period of time. Since the lifetime support program commitment applies only to alcoholics, if you have not been classified as an alcoholic, attending AA meetings voluntarily may cause the Secretary of State improperly to suspect you of being an alcoholic. Do not attend AA unless you have been ordered to do so or are an alcoholic.

Continue reading "Reinstating Illinois driver's license due to DUI does not always require Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)" »