Sure, most of us fear the idea of being arrested for any reason. But, if you have been drinking alcohol, or consuming an impairing substance, an arrest is likely to occur anyway. How much alcohol or drugs you have consumed will not matter much to the officer. He is likely to place you under arrest. Here’s the reason: the officer has to place you under arrest before he can even ask you to submit to the state-administered tests of you blood, breath or urine!

So in this situation, being arrested might not be a bad thing. The constitutional and procedural safeguards afforded a person "under arrest" or "in custody" may be worth the risk of raising the officer's ire. Even if you were to pass the state-administered test (usually conducted on a Intoxilizer 5000®) by scoring even a low score of say, 0.05, the fact remains that you will still be placed under arrest for DUI for being "Less Safe." It would be unusual for the officer to try to dismiss his own charge against you and admit his judgment was wrong when he made the earlier decision to arrest.

The law affords the officer discretion to make just such an arrest. The decision to arrest is always purely subjective. The officer will seldom be criticized for making an arrest of an individual whose charges are subsequently dismissed. He has no real reason to fear a lawsuit of any kind. That same officer will likely be criticized and seldom praised by his superiors and peers for letting a "close-call" drive away into the night. His motivation, training and supervision all point to more and more arrests for impaired driving.

So, click the link above to print out the Driver’s Rights Statement. Keep it handy and be familiar with its contents and meaning. Keep it near or with your insurance and auto registration documentation. If you are stopped and have been drinking and decide to use this statement, pull it out and sign it while the officer is checking your tag. You might consider using some of this time to phone family members or friends and let them know what is going on. The officer will not want you doing that, but until you exit the car you still have access to your phone. Having someone come and pick up the car can save you a tow fee. You might also suggest they bring money to pay for a private blood test if you do not have the means to do so yourself.

When the officer approaches, crack the window slightly and pass your license, registration, proof of insurance and the signed statement out to the officer. Remain silent. He will likely tell you to roll the window down. He wants to sniff for alcohol. Don't do it. Point to the statement. He will order you to exit the vehicle. He will begin asking questions. For every question, point to the statement.

When you get out of the vehicle consider yourself under arrest. Be polite. The officer has not been trained to deal with a moment like this, so expect him to be frustrated. He will likely try to "rattle your cage." Whatever he asks, politely point to the statement you have given him. It has lots of information in it, much like citation he will give you to read later, so give him all the time he needs.

Remember, you are likely on video, but then so is the officer. Unless the officer is extremely well-trained, I expect he or she will say or do something while on the video that might later be embarrassing and might even be helpful to your case. You just remain silent. You may acknowledge consent or refusal by nodding you head. The officer will have a harder time establishing that your breath smelled of alcohol and your speech was slurred and your tongue was thick, if he never hears you speak. That's all called evidence in the courtroom.

If you are drinking and driving, you may have to decide many of these matters in the couple of minutes after the blue lights come on behind you and the officer steps up to your window, so consult with an attorney before using this Driver’s Rights Statement. For that reason, and others, this website and the Driver's Rights Statement should be considered for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered to be legal advice.

Now … back to the traffic stop. Most drivers have never been stopped for any violation. Many do not know what they should or should not do if they are stopped for any reason, much less in a case involving the real possibility of arrest and prosecution for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. If a police officer suspects either of those conditions exists, you should likely expect an arrest will occur.

Many people think or believe that if they act sober and are polite and cooperate in everything the officer requests of them, that the officer will "give them a break," even if they don't perform well. Others think that if things do not go well, they can stop and call a lawyer for advice as to what they should do next. Still others think they may be able to talk their way out of being arrested because they think they performed the roadside tests fine, are close to home or only slightly tipsy because they only had two beers. In reality, these drivers are probably naïve.

These tests are not given by the police to establish whether or not you are impaired. The officer has likely already made a subjective determination of that fact early on. He will ask you to perform a battery of balance tests; eye tests and maybe even ask you to blow into a hand-held device that many drivers confuse as being the Intoxilizer 5000® machine. It is not. The tests or "exercises" merely aid the officer in building his case against you. These aforementioned tests are not even required of a driver by the laws of Georgia. They are strictly voluntary. The officer can ask drivers to take them, but he cannot demand it against their will. If they refuse to take them, they eliminate that much evidence from bring admitted against them at trial.

Here is a hint: Never perform these tests or exercises! Ask the officer if they are voluntary! He will likely say, if you don't cooperate he will "take you downtown"! Hopefully, that statement will be on the recording and work to your benefit. The officer will probably ask you to submit to a test of your blood, breath or urine, or ANY COMBINATION of them, under the Georgia Implied Consent Law.

This law requires the officer to read to you certain rights in connection with those tests. He will typically read it from a card. The test or tests, as the case may be, are different than the roadside sobriety tests, which I have just described. The typical breath alcohol test is administered while seated. It is usually conducted at the police station or sometimes in a van especially designed for that purpose. But this machine is not a hand-held devise. It looks something like a copy machine or a computer, which it is, but just specially designed to analyze breath alcohol.

You may refuse this test as well, by law. However, if you do, that refusal will be noted on the file and may be used as evidence against you. If you know your BAC is well over the legal limit, you are under 21 or a commercial driver, or this is not your first DUI in the past five years, you may do well to just refuse this test on some health- or germ-related basis. If that is likely to be the case, you might want to ask for a blood test while you are still ON THE ROADSIDE, SO THE REQUEST IS MORE LIKELY TO BE RECORDED. It will be denied, by the officer, most likely, but you will be perceived by a viewer of the videotape as being willing to take a more accurate test!

Whether you consent or refuse to this test or tests (the officer can request you take them all) that consent or refusal will be noted on the report the officer makes. Generally, unless a death has occurred, you are under 21, have had a previous conviction within the past five years and you are not a commercial driver or involved in a serious accident, you will want to consent to these tests. But, you are foolish not to insist on taking the additional tests of blood, breath and urine, which are made available by law. They are not terribly expensive and can certainly result in different test result values, which your lawyer can argue on your behalf. Not paying to have these tests is another way many people throw away valuable evidence that could potentially help them defend themselves. If the results of these tests are not helpful to you, you are no worse off, than you would have been without the additional tests.

The officer or the hospital you request may inquire about how you will pay for this test. So plan ahead about how you intend to accomplish this, whether by cash, credit card, insurance or otherwise. Remember the phone call in the car? The people you call could meet you at a hospital with funds to pay for the private testing.

The refusal to take the tests will also trigger a request for administrative suspension of your drivers' license. The operative word is "request." The suspension is not at all automatic, despite what the officer may say. The officer will demand your driver's license on-the-spot and issue a "Temporary Permit." Detail review of this DMVS Form 1205 is imperative or an administrative hearing may be waived and a suspension be ordered even before you go to trial. What does this mean? You need to contact an experienced DUI attorney immediately ... that means as soon as you can, AT THE JAIL. Your subsequent tests, booking photo, personal contacts with family, friends and medical attendants may substantially contribute to a rebuttal to the police evidence of your intoxication level. Do not waste the opportunity.

The free Driver's Rights Statement on this site is the result of the efforts of Augusta DUI attorney Elmer H. (Pete) Young. Inspiration for the concept of a this formal statement has arisen from the work and ideas of the notable and well-respected DUI Attorney William C. Head of Atlanta, and credit is noted. His "Driver's Rights Card" and other work and efforts in the field are known throughout the country. It is hoped that the addition of ideas made by the author of the concept of handing a formal written statement to the police officer (and the request that the statement be made part of the documentary evidence held by the officer) is of value to all to whom it may apply.

Remember, Don't Drink and Drive

» Print Statement Here

E.H. (Pete) Young, Attorney - 800-841-6844