Virginia Implied Consent
Understating an Agreement You Probably Knew Nothing About
When you operate a vehicle on Virginia’s roadways, you’re already agreeing to the Implied Consent law. Recently, every state (including Virginia) decided to mandate this new law. Whether you are a licensed Virginia driver or not, this law applies to you every time you’re on the highway. Basically, by using the roads, you are agreeing to submit either a blood, urine or breath sample to police if they have probable cause to believe you were drinking and driving.
By submitting to a chemical test, police can determine whether or not you have alcohol, drugs or a combination of these in your system while you were driving. Because alcohol and drugs affect a person’s central nervous system, it is illegal to drive with such substances in you. Virginia’s legal limit is a blood alcohol content of .08%. Anything higher and you are considered DUI (driving under the influence).
When police stop your vehicle they must have probable cause. Probable cause means that the officer has observed you doing something wrong (usually a traffic offense such as speeding or driving with a headlight out). Upon approaching your car, if they notice a smell of alcohol, observe strange behavior from the driver or see alcohol containers in your car they now have probable cause that you were drinking and driving. The police will ask you to submit to a chemical test (in Virginia this is a breath test). They must inform you that you have a right to observe the process of the test’s analysis and to see your BAC reading on the breath test machine.
If at this time you refuse the breath test, but the officer suspects you to have drugs in your system, the officer can require you to take a blood test. Remember, a DUI also refers to driving under the influence of drugs, not just alcohol.
You should be aware that refusing to take a breath test results in harsh penalties. In court, the prosecution will convince the judge or jury that you refused to take the breath test as consciousness of your guilt. It’s important to know that breath tests are not always accurate. No matter what your test results, your DUI attorney can challenge the results.
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