Breath Test Refusal

North Carolina treats a driver under 21 who has alcohol in the system very differently from an adult. For an adult, the question is impairment or a 0.08 reading. For anyone who has not turned 21, N.C.G.S. § 20-138.3 makes it a crime to drive on a highway or public vehicular area while consuming alcohol, or at any time while any previously consumed alcohol or controlled substance remains in the body. The State does not have to show impairment. The presence of alcohol is the offense.

People search for this as underage DUI or underage DWI, and the terms are worth sorting out before anything else. North Carolina’s formal name for the adult offense is impaired driving under N.C.G.S. § 20-138.1, and neither acronym of DUI nor DWI is referenced within statute. It does refer to driving “while under the influence of an impairing substance,” which many folks understand as “DUI.” The underage charge (N.C.G.S. § 20-138.3) is a separate offense with its own name, driving after consuming under 21, and it is not technically an impaired driving charge at all. That distinction is not academic. The two offenses are proven and punished in different ways, and the difference works in real cases.

Two pending DWI charges in North Carolina can create a license problem that comes as a shock, because a substantial consequence lands before either case is decided. The criminal exposure usually gets the attention. Jail, probation, community service, fines, court costs, substance abuse assessment, treatment, and insurance consequences may all be part of the discussion. The harder reality is what happens to the license while both cases remain pending.

Pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 20-16.5, a second pending DWI may keep the license revoked indefinitely, even after the first 30-day civil revocation has already ended. The driver is kept off the road before any conviction, on charges that have not yet been proven.

For many defendants, that result feels like a penalty imposed before the State has proven its case. The civil revocation is not without Due Process of Law. It rests on a judicial determination that the statutory conditions for civil revocation have been met, and the law provides a right to a hearing to contest it.

Articles Tagged with Breath Test Refusal

Underage DUI in North Carolina | Driving After Consuming Under 21