With New Year’s pretty much in our collective rearview mirror it may not be totally inappropriate to look at the impact that drinking and driving has on our society, not only in terms of injuries and deaths from driving under the influence of alcohol or prescription drugs, but also from the standpoint of arrests and summonses issued to motorists for DWI, drug DUI, breath test refusal and other drunk driving-related offenses. To say the least, as New Jersey drunk driving defense lawyers, my office is dedicated to assisting those individuals who believe that they have been falsely accused of operating a motor vehicle while under impaired.
Here in the Garden State, more than one motorist has been stopped by a state police trooper, municipal patrolman, county sheriff’s deputy or other law enforcement officer after having been observed executing an improper traffic maneuver or other motor vehicle offense. Such stops most often result in some kind of traffic citation, though some also turn into full-blown drunken driving arrests.
By law, an officer cannot stop a car, truck or motorcycle solely on the suspicion that the driver is impaired by beer, wine, hard liquor, prescription medication or some kind of illicit drug, such as marijuana, cocaine or methamphetamine. But following a routine traffic stop, the door swings wide open for any potential drunken driving investigation by the officer in charge.
