The effects of driving under the influence, or “DUI”, has a permanent costs at a number of different levels. The efforts to prevent people from drinking and driving may seem muted against the annual numbers of DUI victims. Simply stated, DUI is a costly experience. More people have been killed by DUI and affected by the impact than all the wars in the past 100 years. The cost to one’s life or the life of an innocent overshadows the economic cost that is also very penalizing.
If you are arrested for a DUI, by the time you pay fines, court costs, bail, attorney fees and increased insurance, one can easily find their financial hit at about $10,000. This does not include medical expenses, lost wages or great increases in insurance if you or someone else is harmed, injured or killed. Some may think this is a steep financial cost, but this pales in comparison to the fatalities that result each day from DUI accidents. On average some one person dies from an alcohol related driving death every 45 minutes. Nearly 35% of all vehicular fatalities on U. S. roads are alcohol related. According to statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, this is about 11,000 deaths each year. Many of these deaths involve innocent victims who were not driving under the influence but were the victims of someone else’s bad judgement.
Since the threshold for what is considered DUI is the same standard of 0.08% blood alcohol level in every state in the United States, law enforcement has reported that over 1.4 million people are arrested each year for DUI related offenses.
This means that harsh measure are taken to deter DUI behavior. For example, A DUI driver will expect to pay significant increase insurance premiums that may affect their rates over the next several years. Furthermore, these rates may easily double, triple or more.
The other cost is your official DUI record. many people are not aware but they will have to live with two different DUI records. The first is a criminal record that regardless of whether the DUI charge is a misdemeanor or a felony, remains as a criminal record and could affect job assignments as well as relationships. The second record is your driving record. That is management by a different branch of the government. That can also remain on your record for several years and affect you driving privileges depending on which state you are located.
