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DWI / DUI – Part 2
What Happens to My Driver’s License When I Get Charged with a DWI?
Generally, a DWI charge in North Carolina will immediately suspend your license for an initial 30-day period.
Often the officer that charges you will confiscate your license during the arrest process. Sometimes the officer will not take your license, but you will receive a letter from the NC DMV requiring you to turn in your license for 30 days.
Once the 30-day period has passed, you may be able to retrieve your license from the Criminal Clerk’s office in your county, but not until you first pay a $100 civil revocation fee assessed by the NC DMV.
Our DWI attorneys understand that the ability to drive is a crucial part of life. When retained quickly after the charge, our attorneys may be able to investigate your eligibility and acquire you a Limited Driving Privilege during that 30 days to keep you on the road legally.
Our attorneys will also guide you through the process of getting your full license reinstated after the 30 days.
What Happens to My Driver’s License if I Get Convicted of a DWI?
Let’s say you got charged with a DWI, waited the 30 days to get your license back, paid the revocation fee and got your license reinstated by the NC DMV.
Now what?
You still have a DWI case pending in the court system, so how is your license impacted?
The general answer is that your license returns to the same status from before you were charged, as if you were never charged with a DWI, and it remains that way until your case is finished.
If you’re case ends with a conviction, then your license will be suspended or revoked again.
DWI convictions always include a suspension of your driver’s license.
The duration of the suspension differs depending on how many DWI convictions are on your record.
Generally, a first time DWI conviction will result in a one-year suspension of your license from the date of the conviction.
However, a second DWI conviction within three years of the first conviction will result in a four-year suspension.
A third DWI conviction within five years of the second conviction will result in a permanent suspension and can only be reinstated after several years and a successful reinstatement hearing through the NC DMV.
The DWI attorneys at Beaver Courie are familiar with representing drivers facing any and all of the possible suspension scenarios and are capable of guiding you through the suspension process, ensuring you take the right steps to make your suspension as short as possible, obtaining you a privilege to drive even while your license is suspended (if eligible), or even fighting to get your license back.
I’m Required to Have an Ignition Interlock System in My Vehicle, What Does That Mean?
In some cases, the impact of a DWI conviction doesn’t end after the suspension of your license ends. The court may require you to install and use an ignition interlock system.
In fact, any time a driver is convicted of a DWI with a recorded blood-alcohol content (BAC) of .15 or higher the court must require the driver install an ignition interlock system for at least one year from the date it is installed.
An ignition interlock system is commonly known as a “blow and go” device.
It requires the driver to blow into a machine installed to connect with the vehicle’s ignition. The driver will have to register a breath sample with no alcohol content in order for the engine to start.
Is Drunk Driving a Felony in NC?
Often an ignition interlock system can be installed in conjunction with a Limited Driving Privilege that will allow the period the interlock system is required to run during your license suspension period, not after.
This means that instead of having a suspended license for a year to be followed directly by another year with an ignition interlock, our DWI attorneys can provide you strategic information on how to navigate the interlock requirement in a way that may end the requirement in as little as 45 days after your license suspension has lifted.
Lawyers Who Handle DWI Charges in Fayetteville NC
We are available for legal consultations on DUI / DWI charges in Cumberland County, Fayetteville, Raeford, and Pinehurst.
If you have legal questions it would be an honor to help. Call now to schedule a free legal consultation: