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You may not be aware after a few drinks you drive home, and it just happens that one of your lights are not working and the police officer stops you. When pulls you over there’s a strong smell of alcohol and he suspects you’ve been drinking. He asks you for your license, registration and insurance. As you’re a bit nervous you fumble around unable to find all the information he requests. This could be a sign of impairment to the officer, if you can’t get him the information that you’re required to get him. It’s good practice to have a place to keep all this information so you don’t appear nervous and give the officer any signs you may be drunk.

The best way to avoid this situation is to make sure your car is fully functioning without any issues, most police officers will pull you over for any infractions, broken headlights, broken tail lights, missing license plates or any other minor driving infraction. You should always make sure your vehicle doesn’t violate any of these equipment malfunctions, this gives the officer a reason to pull you over. The officer must have a reason to stop your vehicle, but it doesn’t necessary have to be a probable cause in Orange County, California. In most cases the officer can pull you over no matter how minor the infraction might be; violation of traffic laws, any equipment violations, or unusual driving habits.

The officer can stop you for any infractions; aggressive driving, driving too slow, responding too slowly to a change in traffic light. Some of these infractions will be up to the officer’s discretion. The signs for impairment that an officer looks for are weaving between lanes, driving outside of your lane these are classic signs of a DUI. You can attempt to give the officer a reason for driving impaired, but be advised if they recognize that you’re lying they’ll also take this into consideration and may make the situation even more difficult for you.

If the officer believes you’ve been driving while impaired, they’ll first start with giving you a breathalyzer even if you pass the breathalyzer test, they’ll have you do a field sobriety test and they will be the judge of your pass or failure with the field sobriety testing. This is where they could be a lot less lenient with you if they believe you’ve lied about your situation. Even if you pass the breathalyzer and fail the field sobriety tests according to their judgment you will be charged with impaired driving.

In this situation you’ll want to contact an Orange County DUI lawyer as soon as you can, so they can help you protect your rights. It’s best you don’t admit to being drunk even if you are, you can refuse to answer the question and let them know you want your attorney present before you answer any questions.

There are several defenses your lawyer can use, the most obvious is to challenge the officer’s findings. They’ll start of seeing if there any technicalities if your fifth amendment has been violated in any way. They’ll also check to see if there are any inconsistencies in the equipment used to test blood alcohol level and if the person performing the tests was doing it properly.

Your DUI attorney will have many options to help you through the process, if you’ve been caught drinking and driving it’s in your best interest to contact an attorney as soon as you possibly can.