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Drunk Driving - Taking a Breathalyzer Test?
Refusal to take the breath test calls for a 1 year revocation of driver's
license or your privilege to drive. If you refuse a breath test, the
police officer can confiscate your license on the spot and give you
a 30 day permit. You'll then have 30 days to contest the revocation
of your license.
Also, you'll only have 20 minutes to call your attorney for advice;
after that, you can't refuse the test without losing your license.
At the appeal of your revocation an attorney can attack a very narrow
set of issues with regard to your refusal. The number of these kind
of appeals that are won is not very high.
If you have never had a DWI before it is almost always in your best
interest to take the test. If your B.A.C does test over point zero
eight in Missouri or point zero eight in Kansas you will lose your
license for 30 days followed by a limited driving privilege for 60
days upon the filing of an SR-22, in Missouri, or for 330 days in
Kansas, but no SR-22 is required in Kansas.
If you have been stopped for a DUI before in Missouri and had your
license suspended for 90 days, (30 days of no driving at all followed
by 60 days restricted driving) because of having a B.A.C. in excess
of point zero eight (.08) (1.0 prior to September 30th, 2001 or 1.3
prior to July 1, 1992, ) then if you take the test and have a B.A.C.
in excess of point zero eight you will lose your license for an entire
year anyway and there is no chance for a hardship.
So if you have lost your license for 30 days once before and you have
never refused a breath test before, you may want to refuse and take
the one year revocation since at the end of the first 90 days you
will be eligible for a hardship license.
If, however, you have ever refused a breath test before, the second
refusal also results in a year's revocation, without the possibility
of a hardship license. In the state of Kansas there are no hardship
licenses. |