DUI DEFENSES: Alcohol and Drugs are NOT the Only Causes of Bad Driving

LOS ANGELES DUI LAWYER
Everyone knows a bad driver or two (or three).  Sometimes an inexperienced driver can misjudge a turn or lose control of a car.  An elderly person might have poor vision, hearing or concentration that makes driving more difficult.  Others might be impatient or careless by nature.  The point here is that people can be bad drivers, even when sober.

If police observe poor driving or there is a traffic accident, chemical tests for drugs and alcohol are often sought of the driver(s) involved.  Now, if the results of the test show high levels of drugs or alcohol, arguing this defense becomes more difficult.  But, often times people are charged with DUI based on their bad driving, not caused by drug or alcohol impairment.

People who take certain prescription medications are at particular risk of being wrongfully arrested for DUI.  Granted, sometimes prescription medications do impair someone's ability to drive.  Pain medications like percocet, oxycodone, oxycontin, hydrocodone, etc. and anti-anxiety medications like xanax and valium, in high doses, can make it difficult to safely operate a motor vehicle.  But just because some level of these drugs is present in the blood does not mean that they were too impaired to drive.  Paired with bad driving or an accident, a DUI charge is not unlikely, even though the bad driving might be due to other health conditions or poor vision, and not impairment.

In addition, young people who use recreational drugs and are still learning to drive safely, might be arrested based on drugs in their blood or urine which had stopped affecting them long before they started driving.  Marijuana, for example, is present in the urine for weeks after even a single use.  If a teenager who occasionally smokes marijuana is involved in a car accident, they are at risk of being arrested for DUI, even if they hadn't smoked within days of the accident.  Officers can falsely testify to having observed symptoms of intoxication, and all of a sudden, there is enough evidence to proceed on DUI charges.

The police officer will typically testify that the reason for their stop indicated to them that the driver might be under the influence of alcohol.  In many cases, the driving pattern is the strongest evidence of impairment.  While it may be persuasive to a jury that inability to perform difficult field sobriety tests does not prove an inability to drive safely.  Bad driving on the other hand does seem to correlate to an inability to drive safely.  Still, impairment is not the only cause of poor driving, and it takes effective cross examination to get the jury to see the other possible causes of an erratic move.  Additionally, this is a strong opportunity for your lawyer to show the jury how biased the officer is towards believing the driver is drunk, but exploring how little thought the officer gave to the other reasons someone might violate a traffic law, swerve or drift.

If you have been charged with DUI, contact our office immediately for a free consultation.

IMPORTANT LINKS:
LA Sheriff's Inmate Locator 
Los Angeles Superior Court  
Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Felony Bail Schedule
Los Angeles Misdemeanor Bail Schedule

Nicholas M. Loncar, Esq. 
Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney
t: 213-375-3775 | f: 213-375-3099
Mobile: 323-803-4352 
[email protected]
1200 Wilshire Blvd | Suite 406
Los Angeles, CA | 90017
www.iDefendLosAngeles.com

By Nicholas Loncar

---