Pittsburgh DUI Lawyer Blog

Pennsylvania's ARD program, which stands for "Accelerated Rehabilitation Disposition," allows first-time offenders to enter a specialized program without pleading guilty to the charges against them. The designated rehabilitation and punishment varies for each of those admitted to the program, but all are promised the chance to have their record expunged upon its completion.

However, not everyone is happy with the system as it currently stands.

The ARD program is meant predominantly for non-violent offenders, many of whom were arrested for DUI-related offenses. Still, some have claimed that the justice system allows too many accused of violent crimes into the program, such as a former college basketball player who was charged with assault in 2007.

With Labor Day weekend closer than ever, Pennsylvania police officers are planning another big weekend for DUI arrests and driver fines. According to The Pike County Courier, "more than 600 municipal police departments, as well as the Pennsylvania State Police" will continue to target drivers across the state in a massive drunk driving crackdown.

DUI checkpoints and traffic stops started in earnest last weekend in Pennsylvania, and across the country, with police officers making stops and taking names. The best way to avoid a DUI citation is to prepare ahead of time. Designate a driver who will not be drinking so that, if you are pulled over, there is no question as to his or her sobriety.

Being said, and it's been said before, breathalyzer tests are notoriously dependent on device quality and the ability of the officer administering the test. Breath tests can be an indicator, but are far from an exact science.

Red light cameras were subject to a lot of negative press when they first started appearing in towns and cities across the country, citing drivers for traffic violations out of the blue.

To this day, the question of their fairness to drivers is a contentious one. Impersonal and without discretion, a growing number of people have accused city and county government officials of putting them up simply to balance the budget.

In Pennsylvania, Governor Ed Rendell is making no bones about his intention to fill state budget gaps. The nearly $500 million-a-year he had hoped to receive from tolls on Interstate 80 disappeared in a puff of smoke when the federal government rejected the plan.

A new plan put forth by the governor involves the installation of cameras on Pennsylvania highways that would scan the license plates of cars that pass, checking them against a database to determine whether or not the owner has valid auto insurance.

Those found without valid insurance would be assessed a fine.

Police officers across the country, including Pennsylvania, will be watching the road like hawks this weekend and on into September as the "Over the Limit - Under Arrest" campaign kicks in. If you're planning a night out on the town, plan accordingly and be aware that officers will be looking to make stops.

The campaign runs from August 20 to September 6, cutting through Labor Day weekend and beyond. The second tier slogan, "Cops are cracking down," certainly makes the point for cautious driving.

Even if you are driving responsibly, it is possible you could be pulled over as part of a random check. During a three hour timespan in Springettsbury last weekend, police officers made more than 30 DUI stops. We covered the story earlier this week in our post on DUI checkpoints.

Law enforcement officers from Springettsbury Township, Spring Garden Township and the York Area Regional Police participated in a DUI checkpoint last weekend in Springettsbury, making a total of 15 DUI arrests. The checkpoint ran from 11:50 p.m. on Friday to 3:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. Of the 170 vehicles that passed through the checkpoint, police stopped 34 drivers - nearly 20 percent.

In addition to drunken driving citations, police also handed out tickets for a number of additional traffic violations.

This coming weekend, DUI checkpoints are set to be conducted in Adams and Lancaster Counties. While the official start and end times were not revealed, law enforcement officials did say that the checkpoints would occur sometime between 6:00 p.m. on Friday and 6:00 p.m. on Sunday.

For Pennsylvania drivers on the road this weekend, especially in Adams and Lancaster Counties, that means beware.

This post is simply a breakdown of Pennsylvania DUI law as it appears on the books. The following is only meant as an overview of Pennsylvania law.

Pennsylvania DUI Law

In Pennsylvania, drivers are considered impaired if they are found to have .08 percent blood-alcohol content or higher. This number is the national standard for impairment, but blowing .08 on a breathalyzer test does not mean that you are intoxicated at an illegal level.

Everything from mouthwash to incompetent test administration has been found to skew the results of breathalyzer tests.

For commercial vehicle drivers, Pennsylvania law halves the tolerable BAC level to .04 percent. For drivers under the age of 21, there is a zero-tolerance policy. Even a .005 BAC percentage would be considered a traffic offense.

Pennsylvania has three levels of BAC. These three levels vary in punishment against one another and vary in punishment based on the number of offenses on a particular driver's record.

Pennsylvania's three BAC levels are:

• 0.08 to 0.099
• 0.1 to 0.159
• 0.16 and above

In Blair County, Pennsylvania everyone is given an equal shot at justice under the law. That is unless, of course, one cannot pay the bill.

Cricket R.A. Hughes learned this the hard way on Tuesday when she was unable to enroll in the Blair County's Intermediate Punishment Program (IPP). Focused on drivers who have been convicted of DUI offenses, the county's IPP would have allowed Hughes to spend only 20 days in the county prison and the remaining 70 days at her home.

However, since the 61-year-old does not have $1,000 to spare, she will be serving 90 days in the Blair County Prison instead.

Said Judge Daniel Milliron, "I hate economic justice."

In the last post, we discussed several different types of Pennsylvania traffic violations and several different scenarios in which you might be ticketed. However, what happens following the ticket is just about as important as the ticket itself.

This is when you have the opportunity to stand up for yourself and, if improperly cited, fight to have the traffic violation cleared from your record.

Most traffic tickets given out in Pennsylvania result in fines and points added to your driving record, though more serious accusations can cost you much more and may even result in jail time.

Important: For "simple" infractions, those that do not require a court appearance, paying the fine is the same as admitting guilt. There is no such thing as paying now and fighting back later. If you plan to defend your innocence, then you need to retain an attorney as soon as possible after receiving the ticket.