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Drunk driving penalties
penalties the court could impose are: (1) 6 months in the county jail: (2) $1,000 fine plus up to an additional 1,950 in penalty assessments; (3) 6 months driver's license suspension; (4) Your car impounded for 30 days.
Second, third and fourth offenses within 7 years are punished by increasingly more harsh penalties.
Alcoholism
Alcoholism, also known as “alcohol dependence,” Includes four symptoms: Craving: A strong need, or compulsion, to drink. Loss of control: The inability to limit one’s drinking on any given occasion. Physical dependence: Withdrawal symptoms, such as nausea, sweating, shakiness, and anxiety, occur when alcohol use is stopped after a period of heavy drinking. Tolerance: The need to drink greater amounts of alcohol in order to “get high.”
Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN)
Horizontal gaze nystagmus is a naturally occurring involuntary jerking of the eyeballs as they gaze side to side. It is theorized that when a person is impaired by alcohol, the nystagmus (the jerking of the eyeballs) is magnified or pronounced.
Reasonable suspicion
The officer must have what is legally termed a "reasonable suspicion," based on something unusual that is actually observed about the way a person is driving. This is a very low standard and it can be satisfied by virtually anything which appears out of the ordinary and that might be a sign of a driver being under the influence. In addition, during holiday seasons, police officers typically set up field sobriety checkpoints where they routinely stop every driver who passes through the checkpoint.
Child endangerment
Most states now have some kind of child endangerment statute. Currently, 27 states have statutes that create special sanctions for cases of driving under the influence while the offender is transporting a child at the time of the offense.
B.A.C.
B.A.C. is an acronym for Blood Alcohol Concentration. The most definitive way to test for B.A.C. is to test blood. The most common testing method is to take samples of breath (most usually in New Jersey with a “Breathalyzer”). The alcohol in the breath is mathematically converted to a blood alcohol reading.
Impairment
Well known is the fact that the consumption of alcohol can cause impairment. Perhaps less recognized is that fact that impairment rises gradually at lower levels but dramatically at higher levels of blood alcohol concentration (BAC).
Controlled Substances
Health and other public concerns have generated detailed Federal and state regulation of the sale and possession of alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, and a wide range of other "controlled substances."
Failed Sobriety Test
A sobriety test is a method of determining whether a person is intoxicated. Among the common sobriety tests are coordination tests and the use of mechanical devices to measure the blood alcohol content of a person’s breath sample.
Breathalyzer
Breathalyzer is the trademark (of National Draeger, Inc. which acquired the Breathalyzer division from Smith and Wesson) for the most commonly used breath-testing device in New Jersey. The Breathalyzer converts breath alcohol into a blood alcohol reading.
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