Consequences of driving drunk in Illinois

With the holiday season fast approaching, there will be lots of opportunities to attend parties that offer alcoholic beverages. Many partygoers who decide to drink may then decide to drive a car afterwards, even though it is no secret that the roads are heavily policed around the holidays to nab intoxicated drivers. The Secretary of State’s office recorded more than 50,100 DUI arrests in 2005, and the Peoria police department has made 341 DUI arrests this year alone.

In Illinois a person is considered to be driving under the influence if they have a “blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08% or greater, has used any illegal substances, or is impaired by medication.” Drivers under 21 years of age and school bus drivers have a BAC of 0, and commercial driver license holders have a BAC of 0.04%. A person’s BAC is the ratio of alcohol to blood. DUI facts put out by the state declare: “At 0.08%, a driver is three times more likely to be involved in a car crash than a sober driver, and 11 times more likely to be killed in a single-vehicle crash.” Illinois was the 15th state in the nation to lower their legal BAC limit from 0.10% to 0.08% in July 1997, and today all 50 states have a legal BAC of 0.08.

Exactly how much alcohol does it take to reach a BAC of 0.08%? A 137-pound female would need to consume three drinks in an hour, and a 170-pound male would need to consume 4 drinks in an hour to reach a BAC of 0.08%. A drink is considered 0.54 ounces of pure alcohol, which roughly equals one 12 ounce beer, 5 ounce glass of wine, and 1.5 ounce shot of liquor.

Law enforcement agencies may set up roadblocks to search for intoxicated drivers, or individual officers may stop drivers they believe to be impaired. If an officer has reason to suspect a person is intoxicated after conducting field tests, then chemical tests will be conducted to determine a driver’s BAC.

First time offenders who fail a chemical test—either by breath, blood, or urine—by having a BAC of 0.08% or more face a mandatory 3-month suspension of their driver’s license, and first time offenders who refuse to submit to such a test face a six-month suspension of their license. Both first offenses are eligible to receive a state controlled driving permit if a hardship is shown to the court. The earliest a driving permit may be issued is on the 31st day of the suspension.

Those who fail a chemical test the second time within five years will have their license revoked for at least 12 months, while those who refuse for the second time within five years will lose driving privileges for a mandatory of 36 months. Second offenses are not eligible for any sort of driving permit.

Drivers who fail or refuse chemical testing in another state will lose driving privileges in Illinois.

Officers generally first conduct a series of field sobriety tests to determine if a person is intoxicated before giving a chemical test. There are three tests that are the most commonly used during field sobriety testing but others may be used instead, like counting backwards and reciting the alphabet. Other non-standardized tests include the Rhomberg stationary balance test— a person stands with their feet together and leans their head back while holding their arms out to the side—and the finger-to-nose test, where a person closes their eyes and touches their nose with a finger.

Usually, though, officers use a combination of three standardized sobriety tests. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) developed this standardized series of sobriety tests to be used roadside or at another public area to help officers determine if a driver is impaired. The three tests were developed using research funded by the NHTSA to test balance, coordination, and dexterity, as well as the ability to perform simple tasks simultaneously. The standardized tests in the series are: walk-and-turn, one-leg stand, and horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN).

During the walk-and-turn test, an officer directs a person to walk nine steps heel-to-toe along a straight line, then turn on one foot and return in the opposite direction in the same manner. During this test, the officer looks for eight indicators of impairment: unable to balance while listening to the instructions, begins before the instructions are finished, stops while walking to regain balance, does not walk heel-to-toe, steps off the line, uses arms to balance, makes the turn differently than instructed, and takes an incorrect number of steps. If the person exhibits at least two of these indicators, the officer has reasonable cause to believe impairment. NHTSA studies have shown that 79% of people with two or more of these indicators have a BAC of 0.08% or higher.

The one-leg stand test involves a person to hold one foot six inches above the ground and count by thousands (one-thousand, two-thousand, three-thousand, etc.), while the officer times it for 30 seconds. The four indicators of impairment for this test are: swaying while balancing, using arms to balance, hopping to balance, and putting the foot down. Eighty-three percent of people who show two or more of these indicators have a BAC of 0.08% or higher.

In the HGN test, an officer holds a pen (or similar object) about 10 inches from a person’s nose, then moves the pen side-to-side. If the person is able to follow the movement with their eyes in a fluid motion, they are presumed sober; however, if a person’s eyes move in a jerking motion, then the officer has reason to suspect the person is impaired.

In recent weeks, the validity of HGN has come into question. The NHTSA says that HGN tests are 77% accurate in identifying drunk/impaired drivers, but opponents of the test argue that other factors can contribute to the twitching of eyes, especially irregularities in the inner ear and nervous system. An Illinois Supreme Court decision illustrates this argument by returning a case to Peoria County to dispute the test’s validity and question the scientific nature of such a test.

On June 8, 2002, a Peoria driver, who was believed to be intoxicated at the time, hit three motorcycles. The Sheriff deputy who arrived at the accident scene perform an HGN test at the hospital a short while after the accident, and later testified he smelled beer on the driver’s breath. No other field sobriety tests were used because the driver had a broken toe and could not perform the other standardized field sobriety tests (walking heel-to-toe and balancing on one foot). The driver did not submit to a blood test until the court ordered one, and the test results showed no signs of alcohol.

The driver was convicted of aggravated driving under the influence and aggravated reckless driving and was sentenced to two years in prison. The case was appealed and went all the way to the Illinois state Supreme Court who made a unanimous decision to send the case back to Peoria County. The Supreme Court ruled that Peoria County judge improperly allowed HGN results to be used at the trial and should have held a hearing to determine the scientific validity of the test. The Court sent the case back to Peoria County and mandated a hearing be scheduled within 90 days of the September 20 decision to determine if HGN is “generally accepted as a reliable indicator of alcohol impairment.” Once the hearing is over, the case goes back to the Supreme Court where they will have the final say in the matter.

Nationally, only a handful of states do not have set rules on whether HGN results without any other field sobriety test results are allowable for a conviction. At least three states—Kansas, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania—do not allow HGN results, and the majority of states allow juries to decide whether or not to allow results from HGN testing.

No word on when the Peoria County Court is conducing this hearing.

For more information on Illinois DUI law, visit www.cyberdriveillinois.com.