DUI: When One Drink May Be One Too Many

There are many terms for impaired driving depending on where you reside. There is DUI - Driving Under The Influence - and DWI - Driving While Impaired - to name a couple, and I am sure there are more acronyms out there for this particular crime. But did you know this does not necessarily mean driving while drunk?

Driving under the influence means exactly what it says, you are driving while under the influence of something, usually alcohol or drugs (even legal ones). People have the misconception that you need to be over a certain limit to be arrested but the fact is, even if you are not over the "legal" blood alcohol limit you can still find yourself in legal trouble.

In certain states in the U.S., it is mandatory to give a blood sample if you are involved in a motor vehicle accident whether or not you appear to be impaired at the time. Later, if your blood work shows evidence of alcohol or drugs in your system you may possibly be arrested. What follows is an example of how only one or two drinks can cause major problems.

A woman has a couple of glasses of wine with dinner. She is an ordinary wife, a mother of three and not a big drinker by any means. Shortly after dinner she decides to run down to the convenience store at the end of her street. She has only had two glasses of wine mind you, so she does not give it a second thought, after all, it is less than a mile and she feels fine to drive. It is around 9:00 p.m. so it is already dark when she gets into her minivan and begins the short jaunt to the store. Across from the convenience store is an elementary school with outdoor basketball hoops that are often occupied long after school hours. Just as the woman is making the turn into the store, a young boy on a bike shoots out from the school parking lot and directly into the path of the minivan. The woman does not even have time to react before she hits the boy and his bike.