According to a study conducted by Siegfried and Jensen, Minnesota has the toughest drunk driving laws in the nation. However, the state ranked 17th in the nation in reducing DUI crashes per 100,000 drivers between 2004 and 2018. In 2004, Minnesota had a DUI crash rate of 5.1, and in 2018, that rate had dropped 39.4% to 3.1 per 100,000 crashes.
The report found that every state except for Connecticut saw a decrease in DUI crashes during the study period. In Connecticut, the DUI crash rate increased by 7.1%. Tennessee led the nation with a 57.1% decline in drunk driving crashes between 2004 and 2018. Individuals are encouraged to use Uber or Lyft to get a ride home when they are drunk or otherwise impaired. If they are not available in a given area, residents are urged to call a friend or family member for a ride home.
Individuals who are charged with drunk driving are not necessarily guilty of the offense. However, if a person is convicted of DUI, he or she may pay a fine, have a license suspended or revoked and spend time in jail. An attorney may be able to help a person avoid some or all of those penalties. For instance, a legal representative may assert that a driver had bloodshot eyes because of a medical condition.
It might also be possible to argue that there was no probable cause to stop a driver’s vehicle. Finally, an attorney may assert that a Breathalyzer test was performed incorrectly or that the machine used to perform the test was defective in some way. This may be enough to convince a judge to dismiss the charge before a trial or for a jury to determine that a person is not guilty of the charge.