LAFAYETTE, IN — There’s no shortage of people booked into jails accused of drunk driving on any given day or weekend, and there’s no end in sight.
Drunk drivers can be poor, rich, notable, notorious and everywhere in between.
Impaired driving carries a financial cost as well as criminal convictions that can escalate if there are future drunk driving arrests.
People also should know that operating while intoxicated — the proper name of the charge in Indiana — isn’t merely operating a car or truck or SUV. The charge covers any form of transportation on land or in the air, West Lafayette police Lt. Jon Eager said, citing the Indiana statute.
Is riding a horse while drunk considered operating while intoxicated? Yes, Eager said. A skateboard? Yes. A bicycle? Yes. A lawnmower? Yes, he said. A horse-drawn buggy? Yes.
Even on private property, if one is impaired, it is still a chargeable offense, he noted.
Driving a motorized wheelchair while drunk, however, is the only conveyance that is not included in the state’s operating-while-intoxicated laws.
“The court found that an electric wheelchair was an extension of the person’s leg,” Eager said. “They can’t walk. This is their equivalent to walking, so you can’t give them an OWI for that.”
Eager explained there are two drunk driving laws.
One is a per se law, which essentially means if a driver’s blood-alcohol content tests .08 or higher, regardless of the person’s impairment, the person is drunk and going to jail, Eager said. This is typically a Class C misdemeanor, unless the person’s blood-alcohol tests .15 or higher or the driver endangered others. Then it’s a Class A misdemeanor, according to Indiana law.
The law rachets up the seriousness of the charge based on other circumstances such as endangering another person, injuring another person or killing another person — regardless of whether the person was in the drunk person’s car, another car or walking along the side of the street, according to Indiana law.
Even if a driver doesn’t test above .08, police might still arrest the person.
“Somebody that’s never drank alcohol before, they could be falling down drunk at .06,” Eager said. “That doesn’t mean that since they didn’t reach that magic number of .08 that they not impaired and that they can’t be arrested.”
OWI can also be charged if the driver is impaired by drugs other than alcohol, Eater said.
The financial and legal costs
What happens when someone is arrested on suspicion of OWI?
They go to jail, where there is a specific delay before they can be released based on the person’s weight and blood-alcohol content, according to Indiana law.
The first expense of drunk driving is posting bond to be released from jail. The second, and possibly larger expense, is the change in the suspect’s car insurance rates.
Just an OWI arrest — not just a conviction — affects one’s car insurance.
First off, after an OWI arrest, the driver must provide the state of Indiana with proof that the person was properly insured at the time of the arrest, said Trent Johnson, a State Farm Insurance agent in West Lafayette.
Anyone arrested also can expect their driver’s license to be suspended, Johnson said.
If the driver refused to submit to a chemical or blood test, the person’s license is automatically suspended for a year, Eager said, explaining that Indiana’s licenses include an implied consent to submit to the tests. Failure to do so is an automatic suspension, Eager said, regardless of the resolution to the OWI allegations.
Being without a license will affect how one gets to and from work or school, putting a crimp in their earning potential.
“First and foremost, they’re probably going to get canceled as a result of their DUI and have to go to a high-risk insurance carrier,” Johnson said.
High-risk insurance costs significantly more than regular insurance, Johnson said, not to mention that those between 16 and 30 pay higher premiums anyway, based on the actuary science data.
“It would probably be over a three-year period, a minimum $5,000 mistake, I’d guess,” Johnson said about the increase costs associated with a drunk driving arrest or conviction.
Legally, if a person is convicted of a Class C misdemeanor OWI, the driver faces a possible incarceration of 60 days and a $500 fine. If the offense is a Class A misdemeanor, the possible prison sentence is up to a year in jail and as much as a $5,000 fine, according to Indiana law.
Then the driver also will have to pay court costs, applicable fees for court service, as well as the expense of hiring an attorney.
What to do if stopped by police?
“Don’t be fidgeting around,” Eager said when asked what drivers should do if they are stopped. “Keep your hands where the officer can see them.
“If somebody has a firearm, we appreciate — even though it’s not required — we appreciate people letting us know there’s a firearm in the car. Cooperating with the officer.”
The driver has the right to refuse a search of the car without an officer having probable cause, but if the officer finds probable cause — such as when a police K9 “hits” on a car — it will likely be searched, Eager said.
Most important, don’t make a problem worse by creating another one.
“If you’re driving while impaired, you’ve screwed up,” Eager said. “You’re compounding the issue by not cooperating and not submitting to a chemical test.
“You’re still facing the OWI that you were facing before you didn’t cooperate, but you’ve also lost your license for a year.”
How to safely get home after drinking
There are ways to safely get home after a night of imbibing.
“It’s too easy to get an Uber or a Lyft,” Johnson said as a way to avoid driving drunk. “Just don’t do it.
“The number of DUIs I still see every morning is just amazing to me in this day and age with the education and the Uber or Lyft,” Johnson said. “It just baffles me.”
Technically, if someone is drunk, sitting in their car to sober up is not unlawful — if the car is not running and the keys are not in the ignition, Eager said. The decision to charge is in the prosecutor’s hands.
Starting the car to stay warm, however, likely elevates the incident to a crime.
“You are theoretically in control of that car,” Eager said. “It’s started. I do know people who have had a conviction of that.”
Johnson warned, “You may get away with it once or twice, but you’re going to get it eventually.”
Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.
Based in New York, Stephen Freeman is a Senior Editor at Trending Insurance News. Previously he has worked for Forbes and The Huffington Post. Steven is a graduate of Risk Management at the University of New York.