If you imagine a cliché DUI stop, you’re probably imagining a police officer pulling over a driver in the middle of the night. Maybe it’s just after 2:00 AM, the bar recently closed and that person was driving home. It is true that many drunk driving stops happen at this time, as the percentage of impaired drivers on the road increases.
However, it’s important to note that you can get a DUI at any time, and these arrests often happen in the middle of the day. Here are two examples of why that could occur.
Your BAC is still too high after the previous night
Your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) only drops at a rate of 0.015% each hour after drinking. This is not very fast and is likely much slower than you would increase that BAC while drinking. People will sometimes wake up the morning after a late night of drinking, get in the car and then get pulled over on the way to work. They will still have a BAC over the legal limit, even though they haven’t had any alcohol for hours.
The lunchtime DUI
Additionally, many bars and restaurants will run happy hour specials or lunchtime drink specials in the middle of the day. Business professionals might go out for lunch with their coworkers, have a few too many drinks and then get pulled over on the way back to the office. This often happens simply because they never planned on drinking and didn’t realize how much they consumed.
If you’re facing drunk driving charges for either of these reasons (or under any circumstances), they can have a dramatic impact on your future. You need to know what legal options you have.