DUI/DWAI
Law enforcement focusing on ‘high-risk impaired drivers’
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), drunk driving accounted for 29% of all fatal motor vehicle accidents in 2018. The good news is that the percentage has been going down ever since 1982, when NHTSA started reporting alcohol data. There was even a 3.6% drop in fatal drunk driving accidents between...
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Police look to diversify sobriety test evaluations
DUIs are no longer just for drinking and driving. As Colorado and other states have legalized other mind-altering substances, some law enforcement officials have had to reevaluate how they conduct sobriety tests. In a typical DUI police stop, the officer often looks at several factors to determine whether a person is driving while intoxicated. Some of...
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How a DUI conviction can impact college students
College is an exciting time in young people’s lives. They experience living away from home, making new friends and getting involved on campus. Along with these new experiences, college is also a time when many experiment with alcohol, and when some experiment with recreational drug use. Unfortunately, this sometimes leads to the poor decision...
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What happens when the police conduct a warrentless search?
In most cases, the police need to have a search warrant issued by a judge before they can enter a private residence, search the residence, or seize items from the residence. If they do not have a warrant, they are not permitted to search a residence or seize items that they find in it...
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Driving while high: ‘If you feel different, you drive different’
Since marijuana was legalized in Colorado, we’ve learned a lot about driving while high. A surprising number of people seem to be unaware that driving under the influence of marijuana can get you charged with DUI. Some people don’t even think that driving while high is dangerous. It is dangerous, and it is illegal....
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4 tips to avoid a DUI or DWAI arrest
It’s easy to avoid an being stopped for impaired or intoxicated driving, right? Just don’t use alcohol or other substances that could impair you. If it were that easy, we wouldn’t see so many people arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, marijuana or other drugs in Colorado. We all understand that driving...
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2 justices dissent in DUI appeal citing Sixth Amendment violation
An interesting question came before the U.S. Supreme Court recently. In Stuart v. Alabama, a woman was charged with DUI and criminally negligent homicide for rear-ending another driver’s car, causing it to strike a tree and kill the driver. Prosecutors submitted a lab report to prove the woman was under the influence of alcohol,...
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Can police draw blood from an unconscious person without a warrant?
Colorado’s express consent law provides that drivers, by virtue of driving on state roadways, have already consented to take a breath or blood test when an officer has probable cause to believe the person is impaired by alcohol or drugs. Refusal to take the test results in a revocation of the driver’s license. Moreover,...
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Study shows link between recreational marijuana and car accidents
Colorado drivers may now have more reasons to be concerned while on the roads. A recent study shows that the legalization of recreational marijuana may be contributing to a rise in car crashes in the state. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Highway Loss Data Institute both conducted studies in states that...
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10th Circuit Oks filing DUI charges before BAC tests are even in
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Colorado and several other western states, has ruled against a woman who was sober when she was arrested for DUI in Utah. She contended that, without a breathalyzer or blood-alcohol test showing she was under the influence, the state had insufficient evidence to charge her with...
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