administrator's blog

This article is by guest author Adam Rosenblum

Driving on a suspended license is a serious offense no matter where you are in the country. It is not just a traffic offense to lightly dismiss; it is a crime that you can go to jail for.

There are some unique distinctions between California and New York law that you need to be aware of.

Cruising in California

California Vehicle Code 14601 makes it a misdemeanor for any individual to knowingly drive a vehicle when his license is suspended.

Driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI), more commonly known as drunk-driving, is a criminal offense in every state. A driver who is caught driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher can be charged with DUI, and if convicted could face penalties ranging from fines and a suspended driver’s license, to possible jail time and/or probation.

13-year-old Kaely Camacho was asleep in the back seat of her family’s minivan when it was struck by an SUV being driven by Sandor Guillen in Miami, Florida earlier this month. Guillen’s Range Rover was travelling at 100 miles per hour when it crashed into the Camacho’s minivan as it was turning on to a Miami-Dade County road. According to a police report, the force of the collision tore the van in two.

Golfer Matthew Giles needs to practice his driving, both on and off the tee.

Giles was arrested last week for allegedly operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. Police officers in Phoenix, Arizona said that in his drunken stupor the professional athlete had driven his car right into a single-family residence in the Gilbert suburbs.

The 22-year-old drunken driver from Hayward, California was sentenced April 11 for a DUI accident that took place after a Giants baseball game last summer. Previously, Andrew Alan Vargas had spoken publically about the incident and had expressed his sorrow for Ryan White, the then 9-year-old boy from Pennsylvania that Vargas hit and severely injured in the stadium parking lot. A judge sentenced Vargas to a total of 1 year in state prison for his felony.

According to a press release, a sheriff deputy from Orange County, California pleaded guilty to charges accusing her of driving drunk on the wrong side of the street toward another police car that had been on-duty. The officer, 33-year-old Mario Manuel Castro, was offered a misdemeanor count of DUI with an enhanced sentence for having more than .15 percent blood-alcohol content (BAC).

On March 16 a driver from Palo Cedro, California was put in county jail on $50K bail for allegedly causing injury to two small children following an alcohol-related automobile accident. The man is Nicolas Myrtle, who now faces one felonious DUI charge and another charge for endangerment of children. At the time of the accident, Myrtle reported he crashed into a bridge while driving because he had been impaired by the influence of prescriptions drugs.

Guest post by North Carolina consumer lawyer John S. O’Connor

In 2010, the state of California reported a bigger decline in deaths caused by drinking and driving than was reported in any other state. More recently, a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety amounting to $232K given to the Health Education Center at the University of California at Irvine (UCI) is estimated to keep these fine statistics in motion. The California Office of Traffic Safety issued the grant through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

In a year’s time, on 3 separate occasions, a district attorney examining DUI in California has announced that Breathalyzer tests used by police force have been faulty or ill-calibrated. The most recent announcement was made in regards to a Bay Area review of about 1,000 incidents of DUI in San Francisco. But, keeping to the outcomes of the previous two announcements, drivers convicted of DUI in San Francisco are unlikely to be pardoned of their alleged offenses. Dismissals will only occur in cases where recorded BAC levels remains the main source of evidence.