Costly road of ramifications follows DUI arrest in state
A motorist who gets arrested for driving under the influence better be prepared to travel down a costly road of ramifications.
“It’s not worth it,” said Brian Morton, a DUI attorney and driver’s license consultant for law firms in Oklahoma City and Tulsa.
“In today’s age, ... the cost of Uber is a whole lot less than the thousands of dollars you’re going to pay,” Morton said. “Sometimes people will ... say a first-time DUI can cost you upwards of $10,000. Well, by the time you actually sit down and put all the dollar figures together, you’re going to start getting close to that number.”
After a DUI arrest, a driver likely will need hundreds of dollars to pay a towing company and to bond out of jail, Morton said.
If the district attorney decides to file a charge against the driver, a first-time DUI will be a misdemeanor. The driver could spend up to a year in jail and pay a $1,000 fine, if convicted. An attorney likely will charge a few thousand dollars in a firsttime DUI case, Morton said.
When a driver is arrested for DUI, the arresting officer will present the driver with a license revocation notice. Morton said that notice basically acts as a temporary license for a 30-day period. At the end of 30 days, the Department of Public Safety will revoke that person’s license for six months, if it’s the first DUI arrest.
But there’s a way to delay that revocation, Morton said.
If a driver requests an administrative hearing with DPS within the first 15 days after getting the revocation notice, the driver can continue driving until the hearing. Morton said it could take DPS more than a year to hold that hearing.
A driver’s criminal case likely would be resolved before the administrative hearing. If a driver gets a conviction, it’s an automatic revocation. But if a driver receives probation, the DPS hearing will determine if the license gets revoked.
Morton said if a driver loses the DPS hearing, an appeal can be filed, further delaying the possible revocation.
“I’ve got some clients who were arrested over two years ago and have been driving all this time,” Morton said. “That’s one of the great things about this country . ... They just can’t take your property without due process of law.”
At any point, a driver could decide not to fight the revocation and simply get the six months over with, Morton said. A driver could, though, ask for a modified license, meaning that driver could still drive during revocation if an ignition interlock device is installed in the driver’s vehicle.
An interlock device could cost $75 to $100 per month plus installation fees, Morton said. He also noted that if a driver arrested for a first-time DUI refused to take a breath or blood test or has a blood alcohol level of .15 or higher, that driver will be required to have an interlock device installed for an additional 18 months after license reinstatement.
“You tack that on, now you’re looking at ... two years of interlock. So if you’re getting charged $100 a month, that’s $2,400 additional over the course of two years,” Morton said. “We have some clients who sit out the six month revocation and don’t have the interlock device. Unfortunately, the 18 months isn’t something that they get to sit out.”
In those cases, DPS won’t reinstate a license until a driver shows proof of an interlock device being installed, said Stephen Krise, general counsel for DPS.
Krise said reinstating a driver’s license after a DUI also requires completion of a DUI school, proof of insurance and a reinstatement fee.
“The more offenses you get, the harsher those requirements become,” Krise said.
On a second DUI offense within 10 years, a driver will be revoked for a year. For a third offense, three years revoked, Morton said. If a driver is required to have an interlock device installed for reinstatement, four additional years are required on second offenses and five years on third offenses.
Morton’s warning to motorists: DUI’s “cost a substantial amount of money. (Don’t) put your livelihood at risk.”
Irven Box, another Oklahoma City attorney familiar with DUI cases, said the ramifications of DUIs are “far-reaching.”
“Besides being the most dangerous thing, it is so costly,” Box said.
He said insurance companies check drivers’ traffic records which could lead to higher rates.
“It takes food off the table of some of these families who can’t afford that. It’s pretty easy not to be a drunk driver, you just don’t get in that car,” Box said.
He said he tells his clients, “You need to thank the Lord for the fact that you didn’t run over and kill someone, you didn’t hurt yourself ... but this ought to be a wake-up call.”