DUI Season might be officially over – the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years’ Day – but Super Bowl Sunday (February 7th) gives law enforcement all around the United States a chance to snag more seemingly intoxicated drivers than usual. Just about everybody who loves football also loves getting together with their friends, ordering a pizza, and cracking open some beers or blending up margaritas. But that also means just about everyone runs the risk of getting ticketed for driving under the influence when they’re on their way back home from watching the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos battle.
If you are going to visit a friend or hit a bar to watch Super Bowl 50, keep these tips to avoid a DUI arrest in mind:
- Drinks-per-hour (DPH): The average person metabolizes one beer, or one shot of hard liquor, per hour. Example: If you have two beers in a row, you can expect to be intoxicated for two hours. Keep your pace low if you have to drive home afterwards to avoid getting behind the wheel with an unsafe or illegal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level.
- Car maintenance: Law enforcement officials are going to be itching for a reason to pull someone over on Super Bowl Sunday. If your ride is missing a taillight or has an expired registration sticker, they are sure to target you first and foremost. Get your car maintained and up to code before the big game.
- Check on checkpoints: DUI checkpoints need to be announced publically before the police can use them. Local papers or the police’s own website should say where they will be. If you get pulled over in one that was not previously announced, the entire stop and any arrest or evidence stemming from it might be deemed inadmissible in court.
- Team up: No one football player has ever won a game – except for maybe Jerry Rice in Super Bowl XXIV and XXIX. Everyone knows it takes a team to succeed! If you want to do some drinking during Super Bowl 50, bring a friend with you who will stay sober as the designated driver.
At the end of the day, though, anybody can get pulled over by the police for suspicion of DUI. Even someone 100% sober can appear intoxicated due to the unbalanced, random nature of field sobriety tests. If you find yourself in this situation on the 7th, let Savannah’s “DUI Daddy”, Attorney Cris Schneider, come to your rescue. As a former prosecutor backed by an entire team of legal professionals, he can provide you with the focused criminal defense you need to secure a positive outcome for your DUI case. Call (912) 385-0854 today to schedule a confidential consultation with his firm.