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Washington State is slowly moving forward with plans to deploy new DUI breath testing machines.  The state has already purchased a number of machines, the Draeger 9510, and is in the process of testing them before deploying them to be used in actual DUI arrests.  The state is buying new breath test machines because the [...]

As of June 10, 2010, Washington State has a new cell phone law.  The publicity surrounding this law has mainly focused on the fact that the new law changes cell phone violations from a “secondary offense” for which a police officer may not stop you, to a “primary offense” for which a police officer may [...]

Every year, Washington State legislature amends the DUI laws in an effort to make the DUI laws even tougher or to “tune up ” the laws. This year’s legislative session resulted in the passage of HB 3124, a law that went into effect June 10, 2010. The law requires that a police officer who …

Experience has shown that many DUI arrests result from the police stopping a car for reasons that have nothing to do with driving under the influence. For instance, many DUI arrests in Washington State result from an investigation following an officer stopping a vehicle for speeding, failing to use a signal, or similar …

One of the relatively unknown aspects of Washington State DUI law is that the penalties for violations of certain mandatory requirements of probation will result in mandatory sentences that the judge must impose. Take the case of an individual for whom this is the first DUI conviction. Either one or two days of jail time [...]

Recent happenings (March, 2010) reveal some unusual defenses to DUI charges. First, there was the decision of the Court of Appeals in State of Washington vs. Richard Charles Tracer, No. 37812-4-II. This was a Washington State DUI/Vehicular Assault case where the Court of Appeals discussed the propriety of the legal procedure employed by the trial [...]

Businesswire.com recently reported that a company is developing technology that detects a person’s alcohol level by measuring having the subject place a finger on a device known as the TruTouch 2000.  The device was announced as being aimed at industry and at law enforcement such as Washington state DUI squads for use in DUI trials. There, accurate measurement [...]

Whenever you see a DUI arrest documented on one of the police television police shows, there is always a videotape of the driving, the field sobriety tests, and other parts of the processing.  Sometimes, the video also includes the actual breath test.  People expect that DUI arrests will be recorded.Most people are shocked, however,  to [...]

December 11, 2009 was the evening of the annual “Night of a Thousand Stars” kickoff in Snohomish County. The name derives from the badges worn by the reported nearly 1,000 DUI officers who patrolled throughout Washington state on this date, looking for drunk drivers. The Night of a Thousand Stars is part of a continued [...]

Every holiday season, Washington State police agencies step up DUI patrols as part of an increased DUI awareness and enforcement program. In most cases, a DUI arrest happens after an officer observes some driving error and pulls the vehicle over.  Two recently reported cases are unique in that the police vehicles were struck by vehicles and the [...]