Los Angeles DUI Attorney Blog

November 4, 2013

Glendale DUI Quiz: Which of These Three DUI Stories are True, Which are False?

Now for another Glendale DUI “true or false” quiz. Here’s how it works. You read the synopsis of six stories that may or may not have happened. Try to guess which three stories are made up and which actually occurred in real life.

Here we go:

1. Only in China: 10 employees shove their boss’s vehicle home, after he gets too inebriated to drive.

If you think punishments for Glendale DUI are harsh, they’re nothing compared to what the country of China metes out. Not only do convicted offenders get steep fines, but they also can spend six months or longer in jail for first misdemeanor DUI offenses. In any event… 10 Chinese workers and their boss partied too hard at a restaurant. Soon, no one was sober enough to drive. So the boss convinced his workers to push his car all the way home. The journey took 45 minutes!

2. Woman who did not like the results of her breathalyzer bites off cop’s thumb.

A woman in Louisiana was displeased with the results on her breathalyzer, which found her to be over 2.5 times the legal limit for Glendale DUI (0.08% BAC). She exhibited her displeasure by mangling the thumb of the arresting officer with her teeth. She later told authorities that she was “confused” and thought he had actually instructed her to bite him. Two years after her arrest, she was sadly institutionalized.

3. A woman arrested for DUI had 23 cats in the car with her!

A Meriden, Connecticut woman was pulled over on I-95, when an officer saw her veer suddenly across three lanes of traffic. During her subsequent field sobriety test, officers heard strange noises coming from the car. Upon inspection, they found 23 different cats in her car. Only 5 of them were in cages. The rest were freely moving through the vehicle. Obviously, the woman was arrested on animal cruelty charges. But the big kicker is that she blew a 0.23 on her breath test – the same as the number of cats in her vehicle!

4. Vladimir Putin often purposefully drove drunk to “sharpen his driving skills.”

Former Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, is famous for his rigorous self-discipline and eccentric forms of self-improvement. The ex-KGB op taught himself to drive under the influence “just in case” he ever needed that skill. The former Russian President even had advisers videotape his performances so he could improve his response times.

5. Man shows up for driving test while insanely under the influence.

A man in Romania had his license suspended for two years for driving under the influence. When he returned to the Romanian version of the DMV to retest, the organizers saw him stumbling around. Officers gave him an alcohol test, which he promptly failed.

6. Mother and her boyfriend force 13-year-old to drive, because both adults were DUI.

A 32-year-old woman and her boyfriend downed tons of wine at a local pizzeria. Since both the mom and her boyfriend had multiple DUIs on their record, they forced the woman’s 13-year-old son to drive them home. The young man became confused and disoriented and started driving in the wrong way. But his mom and her boyfriend were too busy making out in the back seat to pay any heed.

If you need help with your Glendale DUI case, connect with the team at the Kraut Law Group Criminal & DUI Lawyers, Inc. today for an insightful, useful free consultation.

ANSWER KEY:

1 (true); 2 (false); 3 (false); 4 (false); 5 (true); 6 (true)

November 1, 2013

Beverly Hills DUI Quiz: Are These Crazy DUI Stories Real or Made Up?

by Michael Kraut

Beverly Hills DUI stories have a reputation for being pretty outlandish. The real-life antics of movie stars like Lindsay Lohan and Mel Gibson – along with the strange, wild behavior that we’ve catalogued in hundreds of posts — speak to our weird collective proclivities.

Let’s test your mettle: try to figure out which DUI stories are true and which are false.

1. Son and both his parents all separately arrested for DUI on the same day.

A family in South Canterbury scored the ultimate DUI trifecta. The 15-year-old son got arrested at 12:15 a.m. for DUI, testing at nearly 3.5 times over the legal limit. Police took him to the station, where he called his mom. While on her way to the station to pick him up, the mom was stopped and busted for DUI (nearly twice the legal limit). She then called her husband, who came to get both offenders. The husband in turn was stopped and arrested for DUI!

2. 49-year-old Wisconsin woman called the police on herself after calling 911.

The dispatcher asked her if she was driving behind a DUI driver. She responded: “no, I am them.” BAC tests later showed that she had twice the legally acceptable amount of alcohol in her system.

3. Vermont man charged with DUI after letting his dog drive his pickup.

A 39-year-old farmer and dog trainer in rural Vermont rigged his truck so that his dog could operate the vehicle. Unfortunately, police spotted him “training” the dog on a rural road and found that the erstwhile owner had a BAC of nearly 0.20% — nearly three times the Beverly Hills DUI limit!

4. Woman claims that she couldn’t have been DUI because she is a “breatharian.”

Police in Arizona arrested a woman for driving under the influence – testing her to have a BAC of 0.12%. She denied the charges, claiming that she couldn’t have consumed alcohol, since she lives off of only air and sunlight. This bizarre “diet” – known as breatharianism — has a rich, chequered history going back thousands of years. (It’s obviously impossible, since the human body cannot survive for more than a few days without water or more than a few weeks without food). But the woman may have been the first breatharian ever arrested for DUI.

5. Student arrested for DUI while dressed as a breathalyzer test.

Irony alert! A student in Ohio got arrested for DUI while dressed as the very test that he later failed (he blew a 0.158% — nearly twice the Beverly Hills DUI limit). His costume different drunkenness levels including “boring,” “life of the party,” and “sotally tober.”

6. Police officer singlehandedly arrests 18 different people (in different cars!) for DUI.

In the outskirts of Dublin, an officer was tired of taking flak from patrons at a local pub.

Many people in the pub apparently knew the police officer since he was a child and didn’t respect his authority. To mess with them, nearly two dozen patrons decided to leave the pub at once (while DUI) and drive away. Rather than call back-up, the officer proceeded to find and ticket each one of the drivers.

If you need help deal with your Beverly Hills DUI case, connect with an experienced and highly respected attorney at the Kraut Law Group Criminal & DUI Lawyers, Inc. for a free consultation.

ANSWER KEY:

1 (true); 2 (true); 3 (false); 4 (false); 5 (true); 6 (false)

October 28, 2013

Horrendous Hollywood DUI News: Barbara Walters’ Daughter Busted with 0.218% BAC

by Michael Kraut

Some breaking Hollywood DUI news.

Jacqueline Walters Danforth, the 44-year-old daughter of recently retired news anchor Barbara Walters, was recently arrested for DUI in Naples, Florida. According to reports from the New York Daily News and TMZ, Jacqueline and her boyfriend had been driving a Honda Pilot on the highway, when police stopped them for driving without their lights on.

Police described a volatile encounter with Jackie and her male passenger, who appeared to be extremely under the influence. As the police arrested the boyfriend, Jackie apparently “began shouting,” prompting the arresting officer to take action. In his report, he wrote “I was afraid the suspect might run into traffic on the highway, so she was taken to the ground due to her unpredictable behavior, and then secured in handcuffs.”

When the now 44-year-old was a teenager, she got into lots of trouble. She even appeared with her mom on several TV specials to discuss her issues, in the hopes that other parents and troubled kids could learn lessons.

Per the police report, Jackie’s breathalyzer test result was 0.218%. For those of you keeping score, that’s more than 2.5 times (!!) the limit for DUI in Hollywood or anywhere else in California. Shortly after her arrest, she paid her bond of $1000.

Jackie is Barbara Walters’ child with her second husband, Lee Guber. Walter, who discussed Jackie’s difficult childhood and substance abuse issues in her biography, just retired from TV journalism as the host of The View, after a 50-year broadcast career.

Lessons for Other Hollywood DUI Defendants
Being a child of privilege or celebrity does not inoculate you from stress, pain, and bad decision making. In fact, anecdotal evidence (at least) supports the idea that children brought up in the spotlight – i.e., kids who have extremely famous parents – face extra challenges and pressures that can lead to bad decisions and dangerous behavior.

Examples abound. Think about the high profile Los Angeles DUI arrests of people like Lindsay Lohan and Mel Gibson. Or consider the Los Angeles lewd conduct charges against famous grown up child stars, like Macaulay Culkin and Nick Stahl.

The point is that many people arrested for driving under the influence in Hollywood (or elsewhere) deserve kindness and help. Everyone experiences rough spots. And everyone deserves a chance to make amends.

The big question is: how do you do that, safely, ethically, and legally?

In other words, what should you do about your Hollywood DUI charges?

Every case is different. Fortunately, an experienced lawyer at the Kraut Law Group Criminal & DUI Lawyers, Inc. can help you. Mr. Kraut is an ex-prosecutor (14 plus years as a Deputy District Attorney) who maintains close relationships with his ex-prosecutorial colleagues and judges. Connect with attorney Kraut today for insight and a free case evaluation.

October 25, 2013

Beverly Hills DUI Update: Amanda Bynes Not Fit To Stand Trial for Her Arrest, Claims Lawyer

by Michael Kraut

Many Beverly Hills DUI stories are tragic-comic tales of celebrities upstaged by their own hubris and overreach.

Millions of Americans like to ponder the odd behavior of divas like Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears – as well as the atrocious rants and acts committed by the likes of celebrities like Mel Gibson.

But sometimes Hollywood DUI stories aren’t funny. They aren’t object lessons. They’re just plain tragic.

Such appears to be the case with actress Amanda Bynes, who was arrested last April in West Hollywood for driving under the influence. As our Beverly Hills DUI law blog (and many other sources) reported at the time, Bynes tweeted to President Obama asking for lenience in her case: “Hey, @BarackObama…please fire the cop who arrested me. I also don’t hit and run. The end.”

At the time, many chided Bynes for her behavior — they considered it just another example of a bubble gum actress/pop star gone bad. However, Bynes’s behavior continued to deteriorate – but not in a “normal” celebrity meltdown kind of way.

Earlier in the year, she was found lighting a fire in the driveway of Los Angeles home, and she was admitted to a psychiatric ward in July for treatment. The 27-year-old was due in court at the end of September for her DUI, but her lawyer said that she was mentally unfit to go to trial for her DUI, per California Penal Code 1368, which states “If counsel informs the court that he or she believes the defendant is, or may be, mentally incompetent, the court shall order that the question of the defendant’s mental competence is to be determined in a hearing.”

Bynes’ mother, Lynn, has applied to be her conservator, which would give her some legal rights over the actress. The Beverly Hills DUI criminal procedure against Bynes has been paused, while the justice system deliberates to determine whether she is competent to go to trial.

Can Bynes’ case teach us something about how to defend against Beverly Hills DUIs?

One of the interesting lessons here is that a DUI is often a symptom of larger and more complex problems in the life of the defendant.

Many Beverly Hills DUI defendants don’t really look at their DUIs in context. They just want to get out of trouble and get back to their regularly scheduled lives. But really they should see the DUI as a wake up call to get much needed help.

Fortunately, you can start the process effectively today by connecting with Beverly Hills DUI criminal defense lawyer, Michael Kraut, of the Kraut Law Group Criminal & DUI Lawyers, Inc.. Mr. Kraut is an experienced ex-prosecutor who has the wherewithal and experience to get results for you.

October 23, 2013

Arrested for DUI near USC or UCLA and Underage?

by Michael Kraut

Whether you’re a budding filmmaker at USC – hoping to become your generation’s next “George Lucas” — or you’re a UCLA grad student barely able to afford rent in Westwood, your recent UCLA DUI or USC DUI has been a catastrophe.

You’re afraid things are going to get worse, probably because you’re not yet 21-years-old.

It’s bad enough to get stopped for DUI “normally” – as someone who’s over 21, driving with a BAC of 0.08%. Even if you don’t hurt anybody, you can face license suspension, fees, fines, insurance rate spikes, jail time, tough probation terms, and beyond. (If you did hurt someone or did commit other crimes while DUI near USC or UCLA, prosecutors can have that much more to “throw at you.”)

If you’re a minor, your situation is actually even more complicated and fraught. According to CVC Section 23136 – the so-called “Zero Tolerance” Policy Section — if you’re younger than 21, and an officer stops you and tests your BAC at just 0.01%, you can lose your license for a full year, or suffer a full year delay in getting your license, if you haven’t passed your test yet.

0.01% is actually just one-eighth the limit of normal DUI in Los Angeles, as CVC 23152(b) defines it. An overly ambitious swig of mouthwash, a ketogenic (low carb) diet, or even a big helping of cough syrup can put you over this threshold.

Violating CVC 23136 is an infraction rather than a misdemeanor, but you can still lose your license.

Fortunately, you can talk to a UCLA or USC DUI defense attorney, like Michael Kraut of the Kraut Law Group Criminal & DUI Lawyers, Inc., to represent you at your DMV hearing and help you challenge the suspension.

(You only have 10 days to do so, so get busy!)

If you are under 21, and you get caught with a BAC between 0.05% and 0.07%, you can be hit with an infraction, per California Vehicle Code 23140. This leads to fines as opposed to jail, but it still triggers the Golden State Zero Tolerance Policy and can lead to a full year of suspension of driving privileges.

Lastly, if you are under 21 and you tip over the legal limit of 0.08%, not only can you face the standard charges that an adult driver might face – such as $2,000 in fines, a year behind bars, up to five years of summary probation, etc – but you also face a zero tolerance suspension.

The loss of driver’s license means a ton, if you’re a college or grad student. At an East Coast university campus, perhaps you could just “walk everywhere.” But it’s devilishly difficult to get around Los Angeles – to attend classes, have a social life, do your job, etc – if you have no vehicle.

Fortunately, you do not need to stand helplessly by as events unfold. An experienced, intelligent, compassionate UCLA and USC DUI defense lawyer with the Kraut Law Group Criminal & DUI Lawyers, Inc. can help you meet your challenges and rebound from unfortunate events.

October 21, 2013

Glendale DUI Cautionary Tale: Aldon Smith’s DUI Arrest and Legal Trouble

by Michael Kraut

Whether you got arrested for DUI in Glendale, after police stopped you for speeding on the 134, or police snagged you at a Pasadena DUI checkpoint near Old Town Pasadena, you’re facing a serious legal crisis.

Join the club.

Aldon Smith of the San Francisco 49ers also just got busted for driving under the influence in California, after he smashed his truck into a tree. While such an event would render many people unable to walk or engage in vigorous activity, Smith took to the field against the Colts just two days later… and made five tackles on the way to a 27 to 7 defeat.

Jed York, the CEO of the 49ers, said that the team had the right to play him, despite his DUI: “our opinion is, if you’re sitting someone down and paying them to sit down when they’re going to seek treatment in the future, we didn’t feel like that was an appropriate punishment. We’re not trying to circumvent what the NFL will do. This is about making sure that Aldon has the opportunity to work on something, to get better…”

Last season Smith had 19 1/2 sacks – a record for the 49ers, and the second most sacks in NFL. But he’s apparently equally aggressive on and off the gridiron.

• In 2012, Smith got into a car accident in Santa Clara County, and he sustained a deep cut on his face.
• In June 2012, Smith and Delanie Walker (also on the 49ers squad) allegedly got intoxicated at Smith’s house and shot guns into the air to stop their party. Unsurprisingly, in shooting off their guns in a crowded area, they allegedly hit a man, who later filed a lawsuit against Smith.

The NFL’s personal conduct policy takes a Glendale DUI violation (or DUI violation anywhere) extremely seriously. But since Smith’s case had not been adjudicated, he was allowed to play against the Colts. Following that game, however, he was put on the non-football-injury leave of absence list.

As we reported in a separate post on Jacoby Jones and Pacman Jones, NFL players have gotten into some horrendous legal turmoil recently. (To refresh your memory, Jacoby Jones got smashed over the head with a bottle of champion (by a stripper, no less!) on a party bus. Pacman Jones, meanwhile, got hit with DUI charges and mouthed off to the officer arresting him.)

But the mayhem is not restricted to the NFL. Taylor Olander, a UConn basketball hero, recently also got suspended, after police busted him for driving under the influence without a license.

If you or someone you love has been arrested for driving under the influence in Glendale (or elsewhere in Southern California), consider getting in touch immediately with an experienced Glendale DUI defense lawyer at the Kraut Law Group Criminal & DUI Lawyers, Inc.. Mr. Kraut is a very experienced Harvard Law School educated ex-prosecutor. He is known for his excellent relationships with judges, prosecutors and other members of the Southern California legal system.

October 16, 2013

Long Beach DUI Blotter: A Tale of Two Joneses

by Michael Kraut

As someone who has recently been stopped for DUI in Long Beach, you may or may not be a football fan. But before you construct your defense, you might be well served to stop and consider the fate of two NFL Players named Jones, both of whom recently got into serious legal hot water. Their tales can instruct and inform your own defense.

First, we have the sad situation of Adam Bernard “Pacman” Jones, who was arrested at 2:30 a.m. on September 24th, after police stopped him for driving 60 miles per hour in a 45 miles per hour zone in Cincinnati. The star cornerback for the Cincinnati Bengals was busted on charges of OVI (operating a vehicle impaired – similar to a Long Beach DUI charge) and also hit with a disorderly conduct citation for making “offensive comments” to police officers. Per Ohio Law, that means that Jones probably said something during his DUI stop that was “likely to be offensive or to cause inconvenience, annoyance or alarm to persons of ordinary sensibilities.”

This is not the first time that cornerback has gotten into brouhahas with the law. In July 2011, he was hit with a disorderly conduct at a Cincinnati bar, and he yelled profanities to police officers who arrested him. In June, he got busted on an assault charges – he allegedly hit a woman at a nightclub. He pled not guilty to that charge. Perhaps most disturbing is this report from ESPN: “last year, Jones was ordered to pay $11 million to two Las Vegas strip club employees injured in 2007, when a gunman who claimed that he was doing Jones’ bidding, opened fire outside a club after Jones and his entourage were kicked out. A club manager who was paralyzed from the waist down, and a bouncer was wounded. Jones said he had no role in the shootings and pleaded an equivalent of no contest to misdemeanor and conspiracy to commit disorderly conduct. The gunman is serving 4 to 10 years in prison.”

It should go without saying — but it is worth restating and emphasizing — that the more you complicate your Long Beach DUI charges by mouthing off to police officers or engaging in illegal activities, like leaving the scene of an accident, the more complicated your defense will be, and the more likely you are to wind up with severe punishments, like jail time, long license suspensions, and the like.

Meanwhile, similarly disturbing news came from the camp of the Bengals’ rivals — the defending Super Bowl Champions, the Baltimore Ravens. Jacoby Jones – one of the Ravens’ star receivers – got into a fight on a party bus, following the Ravens victory over Houston. And… wait for it… he got hit over the head by a stripper with a champion bottle.

Coach John Harbaugh had this to say: “in our household…nothing good happens after midnight.” He rhetorically asked his players “what you want to be known for? Do you want to be known as a football player or do you want to be known for that? I don’t think it’s anything to be proud of.”

So what do with all these celebrity arrests and brawls with strippers have to do with your Long Beach DUI charge?

The frank answer is that it may not. Perhaps you were just at the wrong place at the wrong time, and your DUI was a fluke on an otherwise unbesmirchable record. But one thing that the Jones’ saga indicates is that Long Beach DUI trouble – and trouble with the law in general – is not as “random” as many people would like to believe.

Fortunately, if you or your loved one has been arrested for driving under the influence in Burbank or elsewhere, the experienced team at the Kraut Law Group Criminal & DUI Lawyers, Inc. can help. Connect with former prosecutor and Harvard Law School educated Attorney Mr. Michael Kraut for incisive, insightful, and compassionate assistance.

October 14, 2013

Q: What Happens When You Drive Nearly 5 Times the Legal Limit for Burbank DUI?

by Michael Kraut

A: You crash into a gas station window.

There are many good reasons why to avoid driving under the influence in Burbank (or elsewhere in Southern California). Among them include:

• Your license could be suspended for a year;
• You might have to go to jail;
• Your insurance rates might balloon and stay high for years afterwards;
• You might have to pay incredibly steep fines and fees;
• You might have to endure uncomfortable prohibition terms;
• You might have to pay to install an interlock ignition device in your vehicle;
• Perhaps most vividly, you might do crazy things, like drive your car into the glass window of a gas station.

Such was the fate of 33-year-old Evelina Igor Bennett of Boise, Idaho, who allegedly drove through a gas station on the 100 block of South Broadway. According to reports, police arrived at the gas station to find the woman sitting in the lot, smelling intensely of alcohol.

They put Ms. Bennett through the paces of Field Sobriety Tests. (Probably, they were very similar to the Burbank Field Sobriety Tests that you had to do — such as the finger to the nose test, the stand on one leg test, the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, and the count backwards by threes test.)

But more astonishing than her failure at the FSTs was the intensity of her alleged intoxication.

Her two breath tests show that – which were taken later at jail (after she had time to metabolize some of the alcohol) showed that she had a 0.382% and 0.395% BAC, respectively. That’s astonishingly high. You’re considered legally over the limit at just 0.08%.

In fact, at that level of intoxication, Ms. Bennett is lucky to have survived the night. It’s not uncommon for people with BACs of 0.40% and above to become comatose or to suffer severe and permanent health effects due to the alcohol.

Bennett had been convicted twice before for DUI – once in 2006 and once in 2007. If you’re arrested three times in the span of ten years for DUI in Burbank (or elsewhere in Southern California), prosecutors can charge your third DUI as a felony, even if it ordinarily would be just a misdemeanor. That means you could go to jail for over a year (among other things), instead of just a few days.

Sobering thoughts.

Fortunately, if you’ve been arrested for a similar crime, you don’t have to passively accept your fate. Connect today with a Burbank DUI defense attorney at the Kraut Law Group Criminal & DUI Lawyers, Inc.. Attorney Kraut is a very experienced former prosecutor who has a tremendous record for delivering results, even in tough, complex cases. Mr. Kraut served for 14 plus years as a prosecutor in the capacity of Senior Deputy District Attorney.

October 11, 2013

Pasadena DUI Celebrity News Update: Dina Lohan (Lindsay’s Mom) Pleads Not Guilty to DUI Charges

by Michael Kraut

As someone who’s been arrested for Pasadena DUI, you were probably more sympathetic than most when you learned that 50-year-old Dina Lohan (mother of actress, Lindsay Lohan) got arrested on September 12th for driving under the influence in Long Island, New York.

Police pulled Dina Lohan over, after they saw her speeding. Based on her Field Sobriety Test performance (and other measures), they figured that she over the influence, and they arrested her just a few miles from her home in Merrick, New York. The bust came only a few months after 27-year-old Lindsay finished her 6th rehab stint connected to her Los Angeles DUI arrest.

On September 24, the elder Lohan entered a not guilty plea at New York’s Nassau County District to charges that she had been driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Judge Joy Watson did suspend her driver’s license. But that apparently wasn’t a problem: Dina returned home in a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce, and she is schedule to appear in court again on October 23.

Police said that Dina had been doing 77 miles per hour in a 55 miles per hour zone, and that she had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.20%. For those of you keeping score, that’s two and half times the legal limit for driving under the influence in Southern California.

A Family in Trouble
Lindsay and Dina are not the only members of the family to run a foul of the law. As this Pasadena DUI blog (and other sources) reported months ago, Lindsay’s father — Michael Lohan — has also been tormented by drug and alcohol issues, and he ALSO faces criminal charges.

What’s the Takeaway?

One salient takeaway from all the Lohan DUI drama is that dealing with addiction is complicated, emotionally challenging stuff. Fortunately, you don’t have to fight this battle on your own. An experienced, widely respected Pasadena DUI criminal defense lawyer with the Kraut Law Group Criminal & DUI Lawyers, Inc. can help you develop a sound strategy to deal with your charges.

October 9, 2013

Uncommon Facts about Los Angeles DUI

by Michael Kraut

As someone who’s hoping to defend against a Los Angeles DUI charge, you need solid, objective facts.

According to one survey from 10 years ago, 1.4 million drivers on U.S. roads get busted for DUI annually, and crashes that are “alcohol related” lead to $45 billon of damages a year.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) reports that over 100,000 people died in alcohol related crashes between 2000 and 2005. Of course, the definition of “alcohol related” is somewhat misleading. A crash can be considered “alcohol related,” even if the driver who caused the accident had not been drinking. For instance, let’s say you consumed a few drinks (not enough to be over the legal limit for DUI in Los Angeles of 0.08%). Then a sober driver blew through a stop sign and hit your car. That would be an “alcohol related” accident, even though the sober driver caused it, and you weren’t over the limit.

Of course, unsurprisingly, drivers who are under the influence are much more likely to cause these crashes – one large study found that fewer than 70% of sober drivers caused their collisions, while 94% DUI drivers were deemed responsible.

If you drive at more than twice the legal limit (say, 0.16% BAC), you’re 300 times more likely to get into a crash that kills someone that you’d be if you were sober. A “sobering statistic,” if there ever was one.

Alcohol is not the only factor that can lead to dangerous driving.

A lack of sleep, distraction, drugs, prescription medications, and even negative volatile emotions scan all radically escalate your likelihood of getting into a serious collision. Some studies even suggest that certain common activities may be way worse than driving under the influence.

For instance, one Virginia Tech study from several years ago found that truckers who texted were something like 21 more times likely than non-texting truckers to get into collisions. That means, perhaps, the texting while driving is even more dangerous than DUI driving.

Of course, the stigma against texting is nothing compared to the stigma against DUI driving.

Even though it’s not legal to text while behind the wheel in L.A., look around the next time you come to a stoplight on the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax (for instance). You will likely see at least one driver buried in his or her phone.

Technically speaking, why does DUI create such risk? Alcohol does multiple things to your capacities, none of them good:

• It inhibits co-ordination. If you see a deer or bike rider dart in front of you, you need to coordinate your body to avoid hitting that animal or person. But if you’re under the influence, your coordination is more slack, so you’re at greater risk for a collision;
• Alcohol damages your judgment. How fast is too fast on the road? It is that a stop sign or a yield sign? Your ability to make judgments like these are mission critical. Unfortunately, alcohol can deeply impair these abilities.
• Alcohol can affect your vision. We don’t let blind people drive for a reason – you need acute visual senses to navigate safely. Drinking a lot of alcohol can effectively render you — if not blind, than certainly less than 20/20 sighted –and thus make you more dangerous.

After Your Los Angeles DUI – What to Do Next?

The team at the Kraut Law Group Criminal & DUI Lawyers, Inc. can help you appreciate the charges against you and build a strong defensive case. Mr. Kraut is an ex-prosecutor, who retains robust and friendly relationships with his former prosecutorial colleagues. He is well-known and respected by judges, police officers, and other important players in the Southern California legal defense community.