DUI/DWI LAWS as of March 2004

All 50 states and the District of Columbia have per se laws defining it as a crime to drive with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at or above a proscribed level, usually 0.08 percent.

License suspension or revocation traditionally follows conviction for alcohol-impaired driving. Under a procedure called administrative license suspension, licenses are taken before conviction when a driver fails or refuses to take a chemical test. Because administrative license suspension laws are independent of criminal procedures and are invoked right after arrest, they've been found to be more effective than traditional post-conviction sanctions. Forty-two states and the District of Columbia have administrative license suspension laws.

Forty-three states permit some offenders to drive only if their vehicles have been equipped with ignition interlocks. These devices analyze a driver's breath and disable the ignition if the driver has been drinking.

In 29 states, multiple offenders may forfeit vehicles that are driven while impaired by alcohol.

Forty-two states and Washington D.C. have laws prohibiting the driver, passengers or both from possessing an open container of alcohol in the passenger compartment of a vehicle.

1Information pertains to drivers in violation of the BAC defined as illegal per se for all drivers, not the special BAC for young drivers.

2Drivers usually must demonstrate special hardship to justify restoring privileges during suspension, and then privileges often are restricted.

3A multiple offender's vehicle may be seized and disposed.

4In Indiana, the open container restriction only applies if the driver has a BAC of 0.04.

5The 0.08 per se BAC law in Michgan contains a sunset clause which states that the legal BAC will revert to 0.10 on October 1, 2013.

6In New York, administrative license suspension lasts until prosecution is complete.

7In Tennessee, the open container law does not prohibit any municipality, by ordinance, or any county, by resolution, from prohibiting passengers from possessing an open container.

©1996-2004, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Highway Loss Data Institute | Copyright and Use of Images Notice
Last modified: 26-Mar-2004

The above chart is provided by OHS, Inc. to you through the courtesy of The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Highway Loss Data Institute | http://www.highwaysafety.org
Last modified: 26-Mar-2004

Please note, that this information is for general informational purposes only and is subject to change without notice. At any given time one or more states may be reviewing or revising their drunk driving laws, and the legal limits they set for BAC while operating a motor vehicle. Therefore, if you need this information for legal purposes, please confirm the information shown above for your state with your state's own department of transportation or with a state or local police agency.