Loss of License due to DUI

In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a driver who carries a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) and who is either convicted of or pleads guilty to Driving Under the Influence, will lose their license for a year, even if he or she enters the Accelerated Rehabilitation Disposition (ARD) program. ARD is a first-time offenders program in Pennsylvania. This is a federal law, and since certain funding in Pennsylvania comes with the requirement that it is enforced, Pennsylvania does so.

If you are a person who carries a Commercial Driver’s License, be it to drive a big rig, tanker truck, bus, or box truck, and you have been arrested for Driving Under the Influence, it’s vital to your livelihood that you contact an experienced Pittsburgh criminal defense attorney right away. He will be able to explain your charges to you in detail, as well as describe your options, and will stand beside you as you navigate the criminal justice system. He will work with you to get your charges dismissed or reduced to something like careless driving or reckless endangerment; something that would allow you to keep your Commercial Driver’s License and your job.

CDL holders can lose their license over a DUI charge even if they were not driving their professional vehicle at the time of their arrest. Associated with a DUI arrest for professional drivers is a mandatory one-year disqualification from holding a CDL. If a person charged with DUI was, in fact, driving their commercial vehicle at the time of their arrest, that year becomes two, and if they were hauling hazardous materials, the two years becomes three. The drivers will lose their personal driving privileges as well as their professional ones, and face the same jail time and fines as a non-CDL holder would.

The legal limit for CDL holders is 0.04 percent blood alcohol content. This is half the legal limit for non-CDL holders, which means they can drink even less than drivers who hold a regular license.

If you have a regular driver’s license, you are also in danger of losing it due to a Driving Under the Influence conviction. Having a High Blood Alcohol Concentration (0.10 percent to 0.159 percent) or a Highest Blood Alcohol Concentration (0.16 percent or above), or causing an accident, while drunk driving, that results in injury will lead to a license suspension. If you refuse a blood or breath test and your Blood Alcohol Concentration is in the High or Highest category, you will automatically lose your driver’s license for a full 12 months. Other factors that could cause you to lose your license for a Driving Under the Influence conviction include the number of previous convictions you have, and having one or more children under the age of 14 in the car with you when you have been drinking and driving.

It is also important for a person holding a regular driver’s license, who was arrested for Driving Under the Influence, to contact an experience Pittsburgh DUI attorney. A DUI conviction, in general, will have a negative effect on your life; add a license suspension to it, and your job and ability to care for your family are in danger.

If you or a loved one have been charged with Driving Under the Influence in or around the city of Pittsburgh, you will need an experienced criminal defense attorney. The Logue Criminal Defense team serves Pittsburgh, PA, and the surrounding areas, including West Virginia and Ohio. To get in touch and schedule a free initial consultation with an experienced Pittsburgh Criminal Defense lawyer from Logue Law Group, call us today at 844.PITT.DUI or 844.PITT.DUI. Or, you can contact us online.

Don’t wait to call! The longer you wait to hire an attorney, the more difficult it becomes for him or her to get a good outcome for you and your case. Call today!