Basic Information About Underage DUI Charges

Sadly, the official statistical data clearly demonstrates that more and more people are injured or even killed during the DUI accidents in Chicago. It is all the more tragic that many underage individuals do not think that it is dangerous to drink alcohol and to get behind the wheel afterwards. Too many people suffered the consequences of such negligence and disregard for other people’s safety.

With that said, after a recent Chicago DUI accident five people ended up in the hospital – two of them in critical condition. The driver, who was involved in an accident, is only 19 years old. The law enforcement authorities established that he was driving under the influence of alcohol. Furthermore, he had a 15 years old passenger. He managed to hit an SUV vehicle that overturned and collided with another car – there was also a fourth vehicle involved in the incident. All five of the victims were taken to the hospital and two of them still remain in critical condition.

The 19 years old driver is also in the hospital and a police officer is there with him too. Seeing how California has a Zero Tolerance law when it comes to underage DUI.

DUI is without a doubt a very serious offense and, unfortunately, one that takes place way too often these days. The penalties for driving under the influence of alcohol are quite severe. Furthermore, there is a certain threshold of BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentration), which is allowed for adults - .08%. However, in case the driver is not yet 21 years of age, the legal BAC limit is even lower. Moreover, the state of California has a Zero Tolerance law with regards to underage DUI. This basically implies that an underage driver has no right to have any alcohol in his or her system while behind the wheel of the vehicle. Despite the fact that legal consequences for driving under the influence of alcohol differ from state to state, these are genuinely severe and will imply a detrimental impact on one’s day to day living.

In order for you to understand just how serious the matter really is, here is some official statistics that may well clear things up a bit:

• Almost 30% of all underage drivers (15-20 years of age), who were killed in car collisions, were drinking. 
• If we take the sane age range, more make drivers (24%) were killed in DUI accidents when compared to females (12%), who were killed in DUI accidents. 
• During a survey, more than 28% of high school students in America did say that they were driving a car under the influence of alcohol at least once in their lives. 
• Furthermore, more and more teenage drivers neglect even the most basic safety measures and disregard to wear seat-belts after drinking. Hence, if we take that age group, nearly 75% of all the drivers involved in fatal collisions were not wearing seat belts when the accident took place. 
• By the 8th grade more than 40% of children have drunk at least a few sips of alcohol and 20% of those children stated that they were drunk at least once. 
• By the time they graduated, 75% of high school seniors states that they have consumed more than a few sips of alcohol and 5% of the same age group admitted to being drunk at least once before. 
• In the age group between 15 and 20, nearly 11 million people admitted that they were drinking alcohol at least once in the past month. 6% of those admitted to being heavy drinkers and only 18,8% to binge drinking. 

Of course, in case your teenage son or daughter were charged with Chicago DUI, there is a big chance that those charges will have a very negative impact on his or her life indeed. Hence, it is very important to get in touch with a qualified as well as genuinely experienced Chicago DUI attorney, who will be able to use one of the following defense strategies in court:

• Your son or daughter were not the ones behind the wheel 
• The testing gear for DUI was not working properly, 
• The arresting officer, who was performing the DUI testing was not following the official procedures, 
• The results were within the margin of error for acceptable BAC levels, 
• Your son or daughter’s BAC was rising during the test and this could be an indication that it was lower before, 
• Another source of alcohol was present – mouthwash for example, 
• Your son or daughter had a medical conditions, such as GERD or reflux for example, 
• Your son or daughter were on a high protein and low carbohydrate diet, • The traffic stop was unlawful to begin with, 
• The arrest was unlawful to begin with, 
• The arresting officer did not tell you about your rights.

If you were arrested and charged with DUI in Chicago, you need help of a professional Chicago DUI lawyer to avoid harsh penalties. Call our law offices at (888) 828-2305 or use online contact form to request case review.

Law Offices of Chicago DUI Experts