When you are pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving, you may be taken by surprise. If you are driving in a manner that leads a law enforcement officer to stop you, chances are you aren’t aware that you are doing anything wrong, whether or not you ultimately are shown to be over the legal limit for DUI in Georgia.
As a result of being pulled over when you are not expecting it, you may seem nervous and act panicked in the eyes of the officer who stopped you. Many people feel as if they are trying to hide something, even if they are not, when they find themselves in this situation. Poor performance on field sobriety tests could lead you down a path where the officer might decide to arrest you on suspicion of DUI.
At this point, you may have to consider the consequences of what could happen next. An experienced DUI defense attorney can advise you of your rights, but here are three important points to keep in mind:
- You don’t necessarily have to be over the legal limit. Depending on the circumstances and your metabolism, even a single drink could affect your driving in such a way that you might be arrested, even if you aren’t over a .08 blood alcohol concentration.
- Even if you’ve never had a DUI before, you could lose your license. Revocation proceedings can begin very quickly, unless you take quick action.
- You could spend time behind bars even for a first offense. At a minimum, you can expect to be fined and have to go through a lot of red tape to get your driving privileges restored.