Drugged Driving in Utah

Utah has some of the strictest drugged driving laws in the country, under which a driver with any detectible amount of a controlled substance in his or her body while driving can face DUI charges.

2012-03-22

March 22, 2012 (Press-News.org) Drugged Driving in Utah

Most people know that if they drink and drive they face the possibility of being charged with driving under the influence. However, authorities across the country have passed laws outlawing operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well. Utah is no exception, and the state has some of the strictest drugged driving laws in the country.

DUI Charges

There are two ways that a person can be charged with DUI in Utah:
-Operating a vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent or higher
-Operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, any drug or a combination of the two that impairs the driver's ability to safely operate a vehicle

Utah has per se drugged driving laws, meaning that it prohibits a person from driving with any measureable trace of a controlled illegal substance in his or her system. If the authorities are charging someone with DUI for drug use, they need not show that the person was impaired by the drugs, just that the drug was present in his or her system at the time of operating the vehicle.

No Affirmative Defense to DUI Charges

A person facing DUI charges for drugs cannot use the fact that he or she is legally entitled to use the drug as an affirmative defense to the charges. Thus, those who have doctors' prescriptions for controlled substances cannot drive while the medication is still present in their bodies, lest they run the risk of DUI charges.

Similarly, those who are legally entitled to use marijuana medicinally in other states still run the risk of DUI charges if they drive in Utah after having used marijuana.

Penalties for DUI Conviction

A first DUI conviction in Utah is a class B misdemeanor, and the penalties a driver faces for can be severe:
-48 consecutive hours in jail, 48 hours of house arrest or 48 hours of community service
-A $700 fine
-Mandatory participation in an alcohol education course
-A 120-day driver's license suspension

Consult a Lawyer

Utah authorities take DUI charges very seriously and will not hesitate to prosecute people to the fullest extent. If you are facing DUI charges, talk to an experienced criminal defense attorney who can look out for your best interests.

Article provided by Frazier Law Firm
Visit us at http://www.frazierutahlawyers.com/

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Drunk Driving Penalties in Missouri: Driver's License Suspension

2012-03-22

Drunk Driving Penalties in Missouri: Driver's License Suspension Anyone convicted of driving while intoxicated in Missouri faces numerous penalties. These penalties are both criminal in nature, such as fines and potential jail time, and administrative, which includes potential driver's license suspension or revocation. While all penalties are severe, when a DWI removes a person's ability to get to work or to other essential locations it can be life-changing. Thus, many charged with a DWI worry about retaining the legal ability to drive. At the time of arrest, the ...

Mobile Clinician Practice Improves Efficiency & Security with Online Tech's HIPAA Compliant Cloud

2012-03-22

Northeast Behavioral Associates needed to overhaul their IT infrastructure. Their mobile health IT workflow needed to support secure clinical documentation for 25 clinicians on the road across multiple states in New England, all making extensive clinical documentation for each of several visits throughout the day. "We work with children and their families who are struggling with disruptive behaviors. You have to work with them in the context of their home environment, because the behavior changes once you bring them to an office setting," explained Stephen ...

Autism Spectrum Disorder Foundation (MyASDF) Benefits Children with Autism

2012-03-22

The Autism Spectrum Disorder Foundation (www.myasdf.org) is a small organization helping to meet big needs in the lives of children and their families affected by autism. The cost of providing services and treatment for a child with autism can be taxing to a family's budget. Families make significant sacrifices to get their children into therapies and schools that address their child's needs. In spite of these efforts, they often must compromise and prioritize basic family needs to help the individual with autism. These financial challenges can be especially glaring during ...

ConnectDFW Makes Spring Break More Fun!

2012-03-22

With Spring Break in full effect across Texas for the next few weeks, the term "staycation" has become all the rage in DFW. A staycation is described as "persons vacationing within their own town, city or county." There are a multitude of reasons these staycations have continued to increase in popularity over the past several years, including the steady rise in oil prices, baggage fees and ticket prices, as well as offering more time for rest and relaxation and also to help support the local economy. Connect DFW has partnered with a multitude of local ...

OnApp Announces High Performance Pay-as-you-Grow SAN for Service Providers and Enterprises

2012-03-22

OnApp has announced OnApp Storage, a new storage platform for service providers and enterprises that, for the first time, offers the performance and resilience of high-end SAN products using off-the-shelf disks and server hardware. OnApp Storage is a distributed block storage platform that enables companies to build high performance, highly resilient SANs using standard SATA and SSD drives in hypervisor servers. It uses patent-pending, 'smart disk' technology to overcome the performance, scalability and price limitations of legacy SAN products, creating a fast, resilient ...

How to Establish Paternity in Pennsylvania

2012-03-22

How to Establish Paternity in Pennsylvania When a child is born to unmarried parents there can be confusion over the biological parents' rights and responsibilities. Both father and mother have equal rights and responsibilities towards the care of their child. In Pennsylvania, unmarried parents can establish the paternity of a child by filing the Acknowledgment of Paternity form, which is readily available from the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare. Completing this form is a voluntary way to not only establish paternity, but it also is a way to establish the ...

New Technology Is Throwing Doubt Onto Certain Arson Cases

2012-03-22

New Technology Is Throwing Doubt Onto Certain Arson Cases New forensic technology and fire research methods are casting doubt onto arson convictions from decades ago -- and continue to provide doubt in the prosecution of many new arson cases. Much as DNA testing has helped to exonerate inmates on death row, newer, more accurate methods of arson investigation are helping those convicted or accused of arson to proclaim their innocence. John Hall, the director of analysis and research for the National Fire Protection Association, for example, told Sci-Tech Today that ...

Homeowner's Insurance Policy May Not Be What You Expect

2012-03-22

Homeowner's Insurance Policy May Not Be What You Expect Unlike car insurance, people are not required to carry homeowner's insurance, although many banks and mortgage lenders require the purchaser to have insurance to protect their investments. Individual states monitor insurance companies, regulating them to ensure that they can pay claims to policyholders and that they conduct themselves lawfully and fairly. This means the vast majority of homeowners are insured and protected against such unlawful practices as conducting business in bad faith. But what are homeowners ...

Home Staging Expert Advises Stagers to Evaluate Furniture Rental Issues

2012-03-22

On the Home Staging Business Report blog, home staging expert Debra Gould discusses the reasons why home stagers should carefully consider the pros and cons of maintaining their own inventory of rental furniture. "While I teach the pros and cons of having your own home staging inventory, I'm a big fan of not having it," says Gould. "It's really not necessary to invest tens of thousands of dollars in home staging furniture, art and accessories, and I say this as someone who has staged hundreds of homes, many of them vacant or only partially furnished. There ...

Scottsdale Resort Honored Again with Radisson President's Award

2012-03-22

Selected from among more than 420 Radisson hotels worldwide, the Radisson Fort McDowell Resort was recently awarded a 2011 Radisson President's Award by the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group. After having received this prestigious accolade in 2007, the Scottsdale resort is proud to represent hotel properties that have achieved top scores in guest satisfaction, as measured by guest feedback for cleanliness and consistency in meeting or exceeding the brand's product quality standards. The Radisson President's Award recognizes hotels and resorts that have excelled in the following ...