Driving Patterns That Indicate Impairment

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “NHTSA” has a “DUI Detection Guide” that was written to help the police with detecting and arresting impaired drivers.  The guide lists numerous “cues” that they believe are suggestive of impairment. The guide lists 24 indicators that the NHTSA tells the police they should look for in your driving pattern that could suggest you are DUI.  The factors are broken up into four separate sections:

(1) Problems Maintaining Proper Lane Position - Weaving, weaving outside the lane, straddling the lane line, swerving, making wide turns, drifting, almost hitting another vehicle or object;

(2) Speed and Braking Problems - stopping too far/short/jerky, accelerating or slowing for no apparent reason, varying speed, speed more than 10 M.P.H. slower then the speed limit;

(3) Vigilance (alertness) Problems - driving the wrong way down a one-way street, responding slowly to traffic signals, slow or failure to respond to police signals, stopping in lane without an apparent reason, driving at night without headlines on, signal issues (failure to signal, signaling inconsistent with action);

(4) Judgment Problems - Following too closely, Improper or unsafe lane changes, illegal/improper turns, driving on undesignated sections of the road, pulling over incorrectly when directed by police, display of inappropriate or unusual actions of belligerence, appearance of impairment.

Whether the police had suspicion reasonable enough to justify your stop is an issue you will definitely want to discuss with an experienced Los Angeles criminal defense attorney who can help you defend your case. If you or a loved one have been accused or charged with drunk driving, it is very important that you speak with an experienced criminal defense attorney immediately, like the attorneys at Wallin & Klarich. We have over 40 years of experienced handling this type of matters and can assist you in obtaining the best possible result. Call the law firm of Wallin& Klarich today at, (888) 749-0034 to speak to an experienced Los Angeles criminal defense attorney about your case.