Many states use the phrase “driving under the influence” to describe many charges involving drunk driving and use “driving while intoxicated” to describe other drunk driving charges. Frequently, driving under the influence is a misdemeanor charge and driving while intoxicated is a felony, or at least a more serious charge. In Texas, all charges for…
Strictly speaking, checkpoints for driving while intoxicated (DWI) are unconstitutional in Texas. No Texas statute outlaws such checkpoints, but they were declared unconstitutional by a Texas criminal court of appeals in a 1994 case. Such checkpoints were ruled constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court so long as state legislatures established reasonable guidelines for the use…
In 2019, there were 2,436 alcohol-related traffic accidents in Houston. In those traffic accidents, there were 73 deaths and an estimated 730 injuries. Houston is the most populous city in Texas, but no other municipality even came close in terms of alcohol-related traffic fatalities, accidents, or injuries. San Antonio, the second-largest municipality in the state…
Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) laws are one of the ways in which Texas lives up to its reputation as being a “tough on crime” state. In Texas, your third DWI charge is automatically a felony. Contrast this with some other states like North Dakota, where your third DWI is usually a misdemeanor and your fourth…
If you were a child or teenager in the 1980s, you probably remember Lou Diamond Phillips for his appearances in films based on true stories. In 1987, he portrayed Ritchie Valens, one of the singers whose death marked “the day the music died,” in La Bamba, and the following year, he appeared in Stand and…
Driving while intoxicated is not just for party animals of barely-legal drinking age on spring break. All of the news items in this week’s Texas DWI news roundup involves people who were at least 50 years old at the time of their arrest or conviction for DWI. This week’s news reports also show that, in…
March is the third month of the year, and in March of 2018, Houston police made 33 arrests for driving while intoxicated, the equivalent of more than one DWI per day. A disproportionate share of Houston’s alleged drunk drivers last month were being stopped for their third DWI defense. In Texas, a third DWI offense…
The saying goes that everything is big in Texas, and in fact, Texas is home to three of the 10 biggest cities in the United States – Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas. Driving while intoxicated is dangerous no matter where you do it, but the risks of a catastrophic crash are even greater on the…
How To Get Your License Back After DWI in Texas Even a DWI first offense can result in the suspension of your driver’s license. If a DWI is your first run-in with the law, you might feel relief at how lucky you are. At least you did not cause an accident, and no one was…
Fasten your seatbelts, and make sure the person in the driver’s seat is your sober designated driver. It is time for another recap of recent news stories involving DWI in Texas. One of this week’s stories involves a suspect driving a police cruiser while drunk, and another of this week’s DWI suspects is a tow…
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