Alabama DUI Lawyer Blog

As a Birmingham DUI defense attorney, I represent individuals from Centerpoint, Bessemer, Anniston and Helena, as well as other municipalities across Alabama who have been charged with drunken driving. Whether a motorist is charged with driving while intoxicated, arrested for an alcohol-related injury accident or been taken into custody for breath test refusal following a DUI traffic stop, the consequences are all highly undesirable.

Recently, a news report showed what can happen as a result of bad choices when it comes to alcohol and driving while inebriated. According to police, a Clanton, AL, driver was charged with felony drunk driving as well as assault with a motor vehicle. The accident that precipitated the charges occurred on the evening of February 8 when a pickup truck apparently crossed the centerline and collided head-on with another vehicle.

Police records show that 30-year-old John Wesley Stewart was arrested and placed in the Chilton County Jail following the accident. According to the Clanton Police Department, suspect’s mid-size pickup truck collided with an SUV on Alabama Highway 22 West near LeCroy Career/Technical Center just before 10pm on a Monday evening.

The accident reportedly send all four of the SUV’s occupants to the hospital, including two children, as well as the Stewart. Police investigating the crash scene were reported to have commented that all the victims were “lucky to be alive.”

Clanton Police said that the family riding in the sport utility vehicle was from the Maplesville, Alabama, area. Based on the news reports at the time, one of the kids had been released from Children’s Hospital a couple of days after the crash. Two of the adult victims were supposedly undergoing surgery.

The pickup driver, who already had been charged with felony DUI and felony assault first degree, may also have been facing additional charges at the time and bond had not yet been set as a result.

Driver charged with felony DUI, assault, ClantonAdvertiser.com, February 10, 2010

From Mobile to Gadsden and Auburn to Florence, motorists all across Alabama have seen the effect of drunken driving enforcement throughout the state. Police agencies and local law enforcement departments have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to driving while intoxicated. Although driving under the influence of alcohol is a serious charge, the state may be looking elsewhere for addition sources of traffic fatalities.

As a Birmingham DUI defense lawyer, I represent Alabama drivers who have been arrested for inebriated driving. But more and more we may see arrests for other kinds of non-alcohol traffic offenses, but judged just as dangerous as DUI. According to reports, recent traffic safety data points to cell phones as presenting a distinct hazard to safe travel on public roads.

Based on these new statistics, talking and/or “texting” while driving has been pointed to as the cause for nearly 30 percent of all automobile crashes across the state. And while it’s not uncommon to see drivers reading, eating, adjusting their sound systems or disciplining their kids all while driving a vehicle at significant road speeds, talking on a cellphone or texting are big problems, according to authorities.

Based on news reports, the National Safety Council (NSC) announced that 1.6 million of the crashes that occur each year across the nation are caused by drivers using cell phones – that equates to 28 percent of all traffic crashes. Out of that 1.6 million crashes, the NSC says 200,000 are caused by drivers who were texting while driving.

Apparently, this happens with extreme frequency. A study by AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety reportedly showed that 53 percent of motorists around the U.S. said they have used a cellphone for either talking or texting while they were driving. That same study indicated that 60 percent of the drivers said they use a hand-held phone, compared to 34 percent who use a hands-free phone.

What some people have suggested is that cellphone use while driving could someday be treated like driving under the influence of alcohol. If that is so, could any one of us be arrested for TWD, or texting/talking while driving? Nobody can be certain, but there is always a chance.

Cell phones can be hazards, TimesDaily.com, January 25, 2010

As a drunk driving defense lawyer practicing in the Birmingham area, I understand how a few drinks can wind up costing a driver his or her license. Driving under the influence of alcohol (or DUI) can be costly in more ways than one. Whether you live or work in Montgomery, Hoover, Dothan or Decatur, being arrested for driving while intoxicated is never a minor matter. Local and state police have a very strict policy against drunken driving, which makes any kind of DUI arrest or drunk driving charges a serious situation.

Because of Alabama’s continued crackdown on inebriated drivers and other traffic violations, it comes as no surprise that deaths on our state’s highways have dropped from previous years. Not long ago law enforcement authorities announced progress in reducing highway fatalities. According to a report, Alabama traffic safety officials anticipated a 35 percent decrease in the number of state trooper-investigated highway deaths since 2006.

As of the end of 2009, troopers had investigated more than 500 highway fatalities. In 2006, about 800 deaths were reported by the end of the year. According to news reports, much of the reduction in deaths to law enforcement agencies focusing their efforts on areas where a large number of fatal crashes happen over time.

Statistics can result in police setting up sobriety roadblocks, also known as drunk driving checkpoints, during late evening and early morning hours. These checkpoints are designed to net drivers who may have been drinking and driving.

News reports show that state transportation officials instituted a series of “Take Back Our Highways” blitzes, during which 300 troopers patrolled the state 24 hours a day for a week at a time. Police also bought Dodge Chargers and motorcycles for patrols and even partnered with the Alabama Trucking Association to spot motorists driving unsafely around 18-wheelers.

State police also attacked drunken driving by taking advantage of funding from ADECA to buy so-called “Batmobiles,” which let officers check blood-alcohol levels in the field. The number of DUI arrests was up by more than 900 in 2009, according to news reports. Apparently, Alabama’s success in this area has also prompted surrounding states to adopt similar programs and procedures.

Although quite a few innocent drivers are charged with DUI offenses as a result of increased anti-drunk driving enforcement, there have apparently been noticeable improvements. For example, in 2009 there were 700 fewer injuries in trooper-investigated wrecks since 2006, as well as 500 fewer traffic crashes.

State efforts cited as fewer die in road crashes, AL.com, December 27, 2009

Drunken driving in Alabama is quite commonplace, although so-called dry counties that have laws against beer, wine and hard liquor sales may have fewer DUI arrests than the rest of the state. As a Birmingham drunken driving defense lawyer, I represent people who have been pulled over in Montgomery, Huntsville, Mobile and Tuscaloosa, to name just a few.

Lately, a number of municipalities are getting the chance to change from being a dry town, to being able to sell alcohol within city limits. The question is, will approval of the sales of alcohol such as hard liquors or beer and wine mean an increase in arrests for driving under the influence? Time will tell, but the fact remains, voters will decide.

Based on the latest new reports, residents of Town Creek and Moulton, AL, may be voting on whether to allow alcohol to be sold within their city’s boundaries. Already the mayors of these two municipalities have announced that folks are asking what it will take to get such as proposal on a future ballot.

Last year, the Alabama Legislature made changes in the state's liquor laws that allows more towns in dry counties to vote on the so-called “wet-dry issue.” This change in state law now allows towns with populations of at least 1,000 to vote on the issue. Based on the last census, both Moulton and Town Creek find themselves in this 1000-plus resident category.

The law also changed the number of names needed on a petition calling for a wet-dry referendum. It currently takes 30 percent of the total voters who participated in the last municipal election. The petition signers must be registered voters of the municipality holding the referendum.

It is not that easy to know how much revenue alcohol sales would produce for these towns, but the amount is not expected to be very great. Furthermore, while intuitively one might assume that drunk driving arrests would be poised to go up after a town goes wet, it may turn out to be just the opposite. According to reports, both Florence and Athens, Alabama, went wet a while ago, yet police in each town state that alcohol-related DUI arrests actually dropped since the switch.

City wet/dry votes possible, MoultonAdvertiser.com, January 28, 2010