Wisconsin has extremely tough penalties on drunk driving, and if you’re not sure whether you’re over the legal limit, it’s probably best to have someone else get behind the wheel.
With that said, we all make mistakes. If you’ve been caught drinking and driving in Milwaukee or its suburbs, the best thing you can do is call an attorney as soon as possible – hopefully before your arraignment.
How Do Police Determine How Drunk You Are?
Sobriety tests don’t tell police how drunk you are. They simply alert police that you may need a chemical test to determine how much alcohol is in your bloodstream.
The police may measure your blood alcohol concentration through a breath test or a blood test. What they’re looking for is a specific percentage; all across the country, the legal limit is 0.08 percent.
Your BAC is the percentage of your bloodstream that is made up of alcohol. It can be a good measure of your general level of impairment, but every person’s body is unique and responds to alcohol differently.
For instance, a BAC of 0.08 percent means that your bloodstream contains 99.02 percent blood and 0.08 percent alcohol by volume.
How Drunk is Too Drunk to Drive?
In Wisconsin, drivers with a BAC of .05 percent are considered impaired, which can still result in a criminal charge. The limit for commercial drivers is .04 percent, and drivers under 21 are held to an even stricter limit of 0.02 percent.
Numbers don’t mean much without a bit of context. Just how many drinks does it take to reach the legal drunk-driving limit?
That depends on:
- Weight of the drinker
- Age of the drinker
- Gender of the drinker
- The type of alcohol being consumed
- How long it takes the drinker to finish a drink
- Whether the drinker has any medical conditions
- A variety of other factors
In most cases, one drink an hour may be safe. Anything more than that and you could be setting yourself up for a drunk driving charge in Milwaukee.
First and Second OWI Offenses
The penalties for a conviction for operating while intoxicated, or OWI, can be very severe.
The first offense includes fines, and your license will be revoked for 6 to 9 months. If your BAC is 0.15 percent or higher, you’ll have to install (and pay for) an Ignition Interlock Device.
