You are forewarned!!! Check out this article about how the Illinois State Police will be doing a specific crackdown across the state on seat belt violators. Then note the very last sentence- that a DUI arrest may be the end result of what starts out as a seemingly innocuous seat belt violation. While not wearing a seat belt can be dangerous in and of itself, seat belt laws have long engendered controversy.  This is because it’s a prime example of government acting as a nanny-to-the person endangered by not wearing a seat belt.  But more insidiously, these types of campaigns are actually used to seek out and arrest potentially intoxicated drivers. While many think this a laudable goal, the average driver has no idea that arresting them for DUI is actually the main goal.  But more importantly, they have no idea on how such a domino effect can occur.

Here’s the very simple reason why; stopping you for not wearing a seat belt gives the police reasonable grounds in and of itself for the stop! Once the police have reasonable grounds, they are now in a legally justified position to assess every step of the police-motorist interaction.  The police can decide if you are acting too talkative, or not talkative enough, (both are used as indicators of impairment!) as well as smell the inside of the vehicle, and/or the motorist’s breath.  Again, ironically either the odor of alcohol or the odor of a breath mint will both be used against you if an officer is really looking for a DUI arrest.  The mere odor of alcohol is definitely going to result in police going further, despite the fact that said odor in reality tells the officer nothing about the impairment/lack thereof of the motorist.  An odor of alcohol can come from a passenger, a previous passenger, cold medication, someone spilling on you in a restaurant, etc.  Even if the odor comes from the motorist directly, all it can really tell police is that at some point the motorist may have consumed alcohol which is not illegal in and of itself.  And even worse, you may just simply be a person addicted to altoids or fresh breath, but the scent of a breath mint even without the odor of alcohol is amazingly considered a sign of DUI impairment.  The National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration (NHTSA) puts out the bible of instructions for law enforcement across the country to train them in DUI detection and breath mints, chewing gum, and cigarettes are all considered cover up odors that the police will now document to support a DUI arrest.

The domino effect thus continues; now the officer has reasonable grounds for the stop, and the motorist was too talkative and had the smell of breath mints. There are legions of litigated cases where courts have held such facts sufficient to ask you to step out and do what are called Field Sobriety Tests. These are tests subjectively scored by the officer that most sober beings could never pass. They are designed for you to fail, but the bigger point is that an officer is NOT required to tell you that these are voluntary.  In practice, many officers do not ask your permission to do these tests, they just start doing them telling you; “Oh, we’re just going to do a few tests now”, or words to that effect. In Illinois there is no penalty for refusing these tests unlike the station house breathalyzer.  What will happen is that the officer will most likely place you under arrest. However, you will not have provided police the evidence they need to convict you and in reality once a police officer has decided to ask you out of the car and perform FST tests, he has already decided you are impaired and following the tests, you will be arrested anyways and you will have unwittingly given the police and prosecution the evidence needed to convict you of DUI.

DUI Defense

Now, you have gone from a mere seat belt violator to being arrested and charged with one of the most costly, life altering offenses possible. A DUI conviction will revoke your license, ruin your insurance, possibly cost you your employment, affect your ability to raise your children, affect all future employment, and is non expungable.  It will be on your record forever.  So this Memorial Day weekend, please take this to heart! Obviously do not drive at all if you have imbibed, (That’s what Uber and Lyft are there for!) and just take the two-three seconds it takes to put on your seat belt.

Since DUI defense is one of our practice areas here at lauralaw, don’t hesitate to contact us if you have been involved in a DUI or have questions regarding these laws and one of our skilled attorneys will be happy to assist you.