Are Drivers under the Age of 21 Subject to the Same DUI Investigation as an Adult Is?

Police Will Conduct a Thorough DUI Investigation If the Driver Is Under Age of 21

When we look at someone who is under 21 and they’re stopped for a possible DUI, police officers will usually do a full-blown DUI investigation. It’s not unusual to have someone who is under 21 have a blood alcohol level that is 0.08 or above. So we would expect to see officers doing field sobriety tests.

For example, if somebody had a blood alcohol level over 0.15, even if they are under 21 we would expect to see impairment on the field sobriety test, we would expect to see driving impairment and the officers would be looking for that and it would be indicated in their report. We would expect to see field sobriety tests as well as breath tests in the field and breath and blood tests later on.

Drivers under the Age of 21 Are Obligated to Undergo the Preliminary Breath Test; Drivers over the Age of 21 Are Not

If somebody is under 21 and they’re below 0.08 then we may not see any field sobriety tests problems; they probably are not impaired from the alcohol but they are in violation of the 0.05 or the 0.01 statute. If somebody is under 21 they have an obligation to submit or agree to do a breath test in the field. On the other hand, if somebody is over 21 they do not have to do a preliminary breath test.

The Preliminary Breath Test Device Has Inherent Issues, Which Is Why the Results Are Inadmissible in Court

We will see many times that officers will skip to the breath test for somebody who is under 21. Rather than go through the walking turn, the one leg stand, the horizontal gaze, and the staggering test they will just go straight to a preliminary alcohol screening device. It is important to remember this device may or may not be calibrated, and the officer may or may not be trained on that machine.

If it reads a 0.02 or 0.03, even a 0.01, they’re positive for alcohol; they have alcohol in their system. Many times that’s enough for the Department of Motor Vehicles to suspend the license for one year.

If it’s a relatively low blood alcohol level below 0.08, we may not see field sobriety tests. If it’s 0.08 or above, we usually will see the officers conduct a full-blown DUI investigation.

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