Traffic rules and road safety should be paramount in every driver’s mind when behind the wheel. But when said rules are violated, whether deliberately or by accident, most are left perplexed, let alone highly worried about what the legal repercussions are. This leaves many almost completely unaware of what to do when such an occurrence takes place.
What You Should Do When Charged With A DUI
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Below are basic steps you should immediately do following the receipt of a DUI charge.
1. Transportation Provided By Others
Once charged with a DUI, your dui defense lawyer in cumberland country will advise you not to go behind the wheel from now and until a sentence is passed regarding your case. This will prove practical since having a DUI charge may spell being sent to jail for a short period of time (possible overnight), and until you are bailed out or are sober enough to make a call to your friends and family, and your lawyer.
Simultaneously, should a temporary license suspension be in the offing, have your friends and family drive you if you need to head from place to place sans public transportation.
2. Hire A Legal Representative And Urgently Seek Legal Advice
We have repeatedly stressed this fact: that Driving Under the Influence is a serious charge, and is a criminal offence. Therefore, it should not be treated lightly. The best thing you can and will have to do is to pursue the support of a legal expert, or team of experts (law firm) knowledgeable in DUI cases, and of the law in the state where you are located (and where the accident took place), as a whole.
Doing so may aid in reducing your sentence, and/or the duration for which you are to comply with said sentence’s terms. All the more so if you are indeed guilty of the crime, and that the shreds of evidence to back this fact point strongly towards the same.
Besides reducing sentences, a DUI attorney will help you with processing paperwork and ensuring that you are able to resume your daily routine as soon as, and as close to your regular activities as possible.
3. Court Appearance
Anticipate that you will be required to appear in court following being briefly held in prison. Now, “court appearance” here is not simply being in court on the scheduled time and date. It is also about preparing documents, recordings, photographs, witness statements, and other pieces of evidence to support your claim against the interrogatories. Add to this, dressing appropriately for each occasion.
It will be best to work with your legal advisor in this matter until charges are reduced. And to continue working with said law advocate/s into the completion of the mandated fines, probation, community service, and/or the suspension of your driver’s license.
4. Understand What An SR-22 Insurance Implicates
This type of legal document is a certificate that affirms you are an owner of a vehicle. Additionally, this will prove vital especially because insurance rates will increase precisely because of the DUI charge.
Contact your insurer and seek their recommendation regarding how you can go about signing up for this alternate insurance program. In parallel to this, have a detailed itemization of how long these increased rates will remain in accordance with the duration of your sentence.
