Texas Drunk Driving

In the State of Texas there is a person injured or killed by an alcohol-related crash every 19 minutes, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. This means that there is a death five times a day related to Texas drunk driving.

When it comes to drunk driving, Texas is among the national leaders in drunk driving deaths. In fact, the Texas Department of Public Safety has reported that there were 98,349 Texas drunk driving arrests made in 1994. The majority of the offenders in Texas drunk driving cases are individuals between the ages of 16 and 19 and there are even more individuals between the ages of 17 and 20 that are arrested for Texas drunk driving each year.

The legal limit for intoxication in the state of Texas is a blood alcohol concentration of .08. However, Texas also has a zero tolerance law that requires drivers who are stopped for impaired driving be ticketed, regardless of their blood alcohol concentration. Under Texas law, impaired driving begins with the first drink, meaning that it takes very few drinks for a person to be considered for Texas drunk driving. It is also important to remember that women and young adults have lower alcohol lower tolerances.

Texas drunk driving has a fine and jail schedule for each offense. For example, a Texas drunk driving first offense can result in a fine of up to $2,000, 72 hours to 180 days in jail and your driver's license suspended from 90 days up to a year, depending on the severity of the Texas drunk driving charge. A second offense can result in a fine up to $4,000, 30 days to a year in jail and driver's license suspension from 180 days to 2 years. A third offense may result in up to a $10,000 fine, 2 to 10 years in a penitentiary, and driver's license up to 180 days to 2 years in jail.