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Ohio
Drunk Driving Law
According
to the Ohio Department of Public Safety, 7,840 people
were killed and 345,441 were injured in 413,830 alcohol-related
crashes in Ohio from 1986 to 2000-an average of 523
deaths, 22,507 injuries and 27,589 crashes annually.
During 1993, major reforms were enacted, making Ohio
Drunk Driving Law some of the toughest in the country,
and additional legislation passed in 1996 aimed at repeat
drunk driving offenders. A key provision of Ohio Drunk
Driving Law is administrative license suspension, also
known as ALS. Under Ohio Drunk Driving Law, any motorist
stopped for drunk driving who refuses to take the sobriety
test or whose test results exceed the legal limit of
.10% Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) will have his/her
license taken administratively on the spot, with suspension
effective immediately. Depending on previous offenses,
the ALS period can range from 90 days to five years.
According
to Ohio Drunk Driving Law, If a person is stopped and
arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol
and either fails or refuses a blood alcohol or chemical
test, the officer seizes the offender's drivers license
on the spot, serves notice of suspension and sends the
offender's drivers license to the Ohio Bureau of Motor
Vehicles (BMV). The offender can appeal the suspension
orally at the initial court appearance, which is held
within five days of arrest.
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At
the hearing, the court addresses the following issues
if an appeal is requested :
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Did the law enforcement officer have probable cause
to stop and test the accused person?
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Did the arresting officer request the accused to submit
to a chemical test?
- Did
the arresting officer inform the accused person of
the consequences of refusing the test or submitting
to the test?
- Did
the accused person refuse to submit to the test or
fail the test?
In
July 1996 the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality
of the Administrative License Suspension (ALS) portion
of Ohio Drunk Driving Law, which allows for the immediate
suspension of the license of a person stopped for drunk
driving and either refusing to take a blood alcohol
content test or taking the test and failing. However,
the court voided a provision of the drunk driving law
that permitted the state to seize the vehicle without
a prior hearing when the driver was not the owner. Based
on previous DUI offenses, fines range from $200 to $10,000.
Jail time ranges from three days to one year. Alcohol
continues to be a major factor in traffic fatalities,
with one alcohol-related death every 33 minutes.
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