DMV Penalties

These penalties relate to persons over 21 years of age, who were not operating a commercial vehicle. For additional information, please complete a CASE EVALUATION FORM.

First Offense: Where a chemical test was performed, and the results show a BAC of .08 or more, the DMV will suspend the driver’s license for four months.

Where a chemical test is refused, the DMV will suspend for one year. In a first time D.U.I. case where a chemical test is taken, a restricted license may be obtained. Please consult an attorney for details on obtaining a restricted license.

Second Offense (within 10 years of prior offense): Where the chemical test is performed, and results are .08 or greater, DMV will suspend for one year. Where chemical test is refused, two-year revocation.

Third Offense (within 10 years of prior offenses): With chemical test resulting in .08 or greater, two-year revocation; with refusal, three-year revocation.

Fourth Offense (within 10 years of prior offenses): The punishment is the same, whether a chemical test is taken or not. In either case, there is a four-year revocation of driving privileges.

Take note: these license suspensions/revocations are separate and apart from any action taken by the court; these are only the California DMV’s punishment. Curiously, the courts have no problem imposing double punishment in the field of DUI law; that is, both the court and the DMV are taking the person’s driver’s license in separate processes related to the same event.

In any other area of the law, this would be considered double jeopardy. With DUI’s the court considers the court’s suspension to be punishment, but the DMV’s suspension to merely be an administrative sanction. Tell that to the person who just suffered an “administrative sanction.” As far as they are concerned, it is a punishment. For more information about court-imposed punishment, see the criminal punishment section.

Also, be aware that any suspension or revocation imposed by the court does not usually start to run until after the DMV suspension is over with. That means that these suspensions run consecutively, not concurrently.

If you have any questions about the DMV suspensions, or any other aspect of DUI defense, please contact a lawyer in your area that is experienced in defending DUI cases. You are welcome to call Darren, a Southern California DUI lawyer, at any time for more information about DMV penalties.